"Proper" Mouse Grip

Discussion in 'hardware' started by Joxx, Mar 20, 2017.

  1. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    Is there a proper way to hold your mouse in terms of wrist stress?
    I'm not talking comfort, but eventually forcing yourself to hold the mouse with a different grip than your natural one so your wrist is less strained.
    I used finger tip grip for years, but after starting to feel wrist pain changed to palm grip and after a couple of weeks I seam fell a slight improvement.
    What's your experience ?
     
  2. trott3r

    trott3r Registered Member

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    I use a trackball which helped with my pain
     
  3. plat1098

    plat1098 Guest

    Or, you can consider one of those wrist band support things, like for carpel tunnel syndrome. I looked it up, they're relatively cheap but I'd think the ones that cost a little more offer better support.
     
  4. Jarmo P

    Jarmo P Registered Member

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    Everything as natural as possible. Cordless mouse for sure If possible.

    People have different ways of holding it. Mine is loosely between thumb and third finger. The base of my hand and often also the wrist lays on table etc. mouse surface. The movements are small since my hand is anchored to the table.

    I would argue that my way is better than moving the whole arm. A technique chat demands also less sensitive mouse settings. And could cause tensions in hand?
     
  5. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    Yes. The proper way is the way that feels best to YOU. Not me or anyone else.

    But even so, the stress you refer to is called RSI - "repetitive stress injury" with repetitive being the key word there. Anything you do over and over again will cause wear and tear.

    One of the better things you can do is change hands. Years ago, I started having a lot of pain in my right wrist so I moved my mouse to the left side of my keyboard. This made a huge difference. And in fact, because my number pad is on the right side of my keyboard, having my mouse in my left hand and my right hand freed up to use the number pad made everything about using my computer easier. I type and use my mouse a lot every day and neither hand bothers me anymore.

    But I also use and recommend one of these wrist pads. I swear by them. My only complaint is on this computer desk, it slides around - but a little bit of double-stick tape fixed that. It does grip well on other desk surfaces so I blame my desk, not the pad.

    If your keyboard does not have a built-in wrist rest, you might consider one of these too.
     
  6. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    I use a similar gel filled wrist pad Bill and I wouldn't like to be without it.

    Makes such a difference and takes a lot of strain off the wrist when using a mouse.
     
  7. plat1098

    plat1098 Guest

    Yeah, I guess "wrist band support thing" didn't really cut it. But you use your mouse in a way that comes naturally to you the first time, so it's maybe better to take the pressure off your wrist so that you can continue to do so. :)
     
  8. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    I use mouse pads that have wrist support pads included on them. Works for me.
     
  9. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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  10. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    I highly recoomend switching to a vertical mouse. They feel awkward to use at first. But, after not much use they feel a lot more comfortable to use than a regular mouse, as it's more natural to have your hand positioned vertically. I used this Delux M618 wireless mouse. The quality of this mouse isn't too good, and it didn't last long. But it did feel awesome to use. With a little bit of searching you would be able to find a better quality one.

    At the moment I only ever use the trackpads on my laptops. But if I went back to using a mouse, I would definitely buy another vertical one.
     
  11. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    Every so often I switch hands. 1 or 2x a month for a day.
     
  12. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    I feel for the people that get wrist pain while on the computer. I don't get it anymore. A little over 10 years ago I had carpel tunnel surgery done on both hands. Now I can hold a mouse all day without pain. :) The down side, I lost my good grip in both hands. :(
     
  13. boredog

    boredog Registered Member

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    I don't get wrist pain but my fingers fall asleep.
     
  14. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    Thanks to all for the answers, it's been priceless :thumb:
    So I decided on:
    1 keep my change from finger tip to palm grip since it's been working so far
    2 move the mouse from right to left hand and back every fortnight (I've been using it left for the last two days and already feel the difference, also it's a nice change)
    3 use a wrist wrest
     
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