Ask HN: How do I deal with forearm tightness in my mousing hand? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do I deal with forearm tightness in my mousing hand?

4 pointsareesseye8 comments

I recently started experiencing tightness in the forearm of my mousing hand, and was wondering if any HNers had ideas on how to deal with it. I already switched mousing hands at work, but wanted to do everything that I could otherwise (assume I need to be typing).

Does stretching or strength training help?

Are there any good ergonomic guides that aren't really old, and that instead reflect a modern workplace environment (most of the guides I see have old CRT monitors and don't really explore how many options we have now with screens on joint-hinges, standing desks, etc).

Thanks

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You could (should?) switch to a trackpad or vertical mouse and/or get one of those timer apps to remind you to stop and stretch regularly. The basic idea of ergonomics is that your aren't bending your wrist or neck and that your chair doesn't impinge on your arms. If you have arms on your chair lower them or switch chairs, and make sure that you are looking straight into your screen. It would probably be better if you get an ergonomic eval. If you don't work for an organization that has that available it's probably worth it to pay for the service yourself. Also you probably should check with your doctor if you can afford it.

I can't give you any advice but I can tell you how my setup changed my wrist and elbow pain

This is the current setup I have; (https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-e7NziCicKmw/UipPp8ZC4qI/A...)

Freestyle2 keyboard with ascent setup. Basically a vertical keyboard, with a distance of 36cm between the two splits (about my width)

regular mouse. (always thought a vertical mouse would be good, but I don't want to shell out $100 for that)

distance between my hand: 6cm, at most.

This seems to work for me and has taken lot of pain away from my wrists and elbows

I switch between standing desk and sitting on a chair. My wrists are never twisted and that seems to have had the most effect. My typing speed never took a hit (probably because I touch type)

Also the biggest thing for me is I use a lot less mouse in anycase because I do most of the stuff with keyboard shortcuts. Pentadactyl for firefox is a lot more useful because I can pretty much avoid using the mouse even when I'm browsing the web.

Emacs is a little problematic but I remapped the ctrl key to caps lock and that took out half the issues

So, even when I use the mouse (very rarely) I don't have to reach out a big distance, it's at most 6cms away.

Also get a mechanical keyboard, or any keyboard which will give you tactile feedback of keys being registered. Also which require lot less force to actuate the keys (cherry mx brown, blue, clear keys or some topre switches)

I also got a kbt pure keyboard (a 60% keyboard), so even with that the travel between the jkl; row and mouse is short.

I've tried alternative input devices, but never can get the hang of them. Too many years of traditional mousing, I guess.

For me, I use a free app called Time Out Free. It does scheduled micro-breaks of 15 seconds every 20 minutes. I just stand up or lean back, do neck and arm stretches, and get back to work in 15 sec.

There are a slew of other apps that do the same thing. This is just one I found a while ago and it's free.

The issue is related repetitive motions made by the same muscles on a continual basis causes fatigue and damage due to the fatigue. You should examine your posture, change the motion and take appropriate breaks.

Personally I use a different style keyboard and mouse at work and at home to change my movements and posture. I also make sure I take appropriate breaks but I tend to have attention issues so that's not a problem for me.

I've got a vertical mouse. The basic gist is that you move the mouse with your large arm and shoulder muscles and move your whole arm rather than your weak wrist

I had similar problems and switched hands, and most importantly, use a trackball. For me, the act of gripping the mouse seriously exacerbated the problem.

How long did the pain go away in your primary mousing hand after switching to the other?

I did that in combination with getting a Kinesis, and over the period of a couple of months all the symptoms were gone. It was bad enough before that at the peak that I couldn't button the small buttons on my shirts.

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