I use an MX Ergo trackball and have for years. I love it, but lately as my daily usage has increased, I’m starting to get a lot of hand pain and am looking for some other solutions, maybe alternate between devices.
Those of you with high usage, what other ergonomic pointer solutions do you like? I’m on PC.
It’s nothing too out of the ordinary, but I’m happy with my Razer Basilisk V3. It’s wired (I don’t want to bother with wireless on my desktop), ergonomically comfortable, has a couple of extra programmable buttons, I can change the scroll amount via a button on the top if I want finer control, and it has a 4-way scroll wheel, which Dorico supports, so navigating horizontally is quick and easy too.
Probably plenty of equivalents from other makers, but I’ve been happy with mine anyway.
The main thing is to make sure that you wrists are not angled to your forearms, I find.
Does anyone use a vertical mouse?
I did for a number of years - a cheapo Anker one did fine - but I’ve gone back to a more conventional mouse: a Logitech MX Master 3.
During periods of heavy usage, do you ever experience any hand pain?
Using a vertical mouse certainly seemed to help, but I have to confess it’s more often shoulder or upper arm pain for me - so a cheapish vertical mouse is definitely worth a shot.
We probably weren’t designed to spend hours behind the piano, the desk or the wheel of a car. Sadly those are the places I tend to find myself, and there’s something my body doesn’t particularly like. I do find taping parts the worst, though…
I use a Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball and find the large diameter ball helpful in limiting the movement between my wrist and forearm and comfortable to use for extended periods. It works fine with both Windows and Mac and is available in both wired and wireless versions.
There is this one. I used it for a while, still have it.
However, maybe any different device might still give you problems as it is the same tendons (etc.) Presumably you have tried a trackpad for some input as it is a different position (or trackball or voice commands?) And you would be using key commands (maybe a Streamdeck) so it is not all mouse movements.
I have had problems in the past with this and since then realise there is a limit on my computer time unfortunately, otherwise for me, it takes months to recover each time. Have you tried a hand therapy specialist, physio, various lotions, acupuncture, etc?
I had started using my other hand, but it quickly got sore and was very inefficient and frustrating, but using a trackball was easier to learn the movements.
Best wishes with this, Dan
I find the so called ergonomic mice are exactly the opposite of that. They are way too large and angle your wrist at a bad angle as @benwiggy points out. I had a problem for a long time only to find out it was Microsoft’s ergonomic mouse causing the problem.
I find smaller and flatter mice to be far better as they keep your wrist at a more normal angle.
I agree with @Craig_F. I keep the armrest of my chair about half an inch above the desk level and use a small mouse (a basic logitech 3 button), so the wrist is essentially flat and the whole arm is supported.