Every day those of us using a computer in our workplaces may well click on a mouse thousands of times. As someone who suffers from arm and shoulder pain when asked to try an ergonomic mouse I jumped at the chance of any help to reduce these symptoms.
The Speedlink Descano mouse that I trialled claimed, “You can say goodbye to the pain, irritation and inflammation in the arm and hand that used to result after using a standard computer mouse”, so I thought I’d give it a go.
Clicking your mouse uses some of the smallest muscles of the body, those in the fingers. Word processing can easily require pressing or clicking the mouse buttons 3,000, 4,000 even 5,000 times a day!
Symptoms
There are many symptoms of the repetitive strain injury (RSI) that this causes. Do you have any of the following?
- Fatigue and loss of stamina. If your hands tire more easily than they used to, or you are now noticeably less able to do the amount of work you once did, or have aches in your arms after playing sports or hurt after other recreational activities that did not hurt before.
- Pain in the mousing arm as aches, burning sensations to shooting pains, all of which can occur during or after work or wake you up at night.
- Weakness: Especially in the hands and forearms so lifting ordinary objects is a strain.
- Sensations such as tingling in the fingers, or numbness, your arm or part of it, feels as if it is has fallen asleep. Are you more sensitive to the cold in your hand?
- Accuracy and clumsiness: Are you making more typing errors and have to concentrate harder to hit the right keys? Dropping and knocking things over? You don’t feel in control of your hands and cooking, chopping and open jars is a problem to dead weight hands?
- Over sensitivity: do you get sensations that aren’t there? Like wearing a watch or jewellery when you are not, or a gentle touch causes tender muscles to feel like they are burning?
- Pain after opening a door or using a vacuum cleaner?
- Does something in your arm just ‘not feel’ right? Do you catch yourself rubbing or massaging the same spot on numerous occasions? If others talk about their pain does it trigger the sensation of pain in these places for you?
Recommended by physiotherapists
If any of the above symptoms give your cause for concern then do not wait, see a qualified medical practitioner as soon as you can.
The mouse is a major cause of RSI because many force the hand into a completely unnatural position.
That′s why ergonomic vertical mice are recommended by renowned physiotherapists.
I have to say that because of the vertical shape of the Speedlink Descano mouse my wrist rests on the desktop and always stays in a relaxed, neutral position even when making repetitive movements.
So that’s a good start, but how would it help over the next weeks and would it reduce my pain levels?
Well I’m glad to report it did just that. So if you suffer from ‘pins and needles’, arm or shoulder pain at all I would really recommend trying this device.
It certainly worked for me!
by Patricia Vine
You can buy your Speedlink Descano mouse at a discounted price here:
