Mouse Parade

This week has seen the opening of another chapter in my long-term process of caring for the tendons in my hand and arm.

I am referring to my acquisition of a new Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 (#4 in the picture).

When I first experienced problems because of mouse damage (RSI, OOS, whatever you call it), the only effective solution I found was the 3M Ergonomic Mouse (#1 in the picture).

Well, originally I got an Anir Vertical Mouse, which was the predecessor of the 3M edition, same basic design.

Over a period of a few years, I think I had a total of 4 of these upright mice.  This was a lifesaver.  This design has it's limitations, for example even the latest versions do not have wheels.  And they seem to wear out pretty quickly.  But they force your hand and arm to a position they naturally fall to by default, preventing further damage, which was critically important for me at the time.

Here is a nice picture of how to use it.

Eventually I found that my hand had strengthened, and I decided to give another product a try.  Enter the Evoluent Vertical Mouse (#2 in the picture).

Well, I used a couple of these over a couple of years, and I must say they are excellent.  It took a while to get used to initially, but after that, it certainly fit the bill.  Includes a mouse wheel, and ancillary buttons.  The only real problem we had was that occasionally they would just stop, until you re-plug it in to the USB port.  Some technical glitch, but it happened on both the units I had.

Then, last year, I got a desktop set.  I mainly wanted it for the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard (which, by the way, are magnificent beasts).  But since it came with a Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer (#3 in the picture), I decided to give this a go, given that it had some nice additional features, such as wireless, and a zoom button, and horizontal scrolling - stuff I had never had before.

This mouse (and it's current successor the Wireless Optical Mouse 5000), require you to twist your arm inwards to an unnatural position.  But there is enough of a lateral angle on it to provide a significant advantage over a standard horizontal design.  And the rest of the body of the unit is so nicely streamlined that it allows a very comfortable grip.  So much so, that I have been using it for normal daily use, with only occasional discomfort.

But then, when I heard about the new Natural Mouse, I just had to have one.  And so far it's working out very well.

In fact, I think they have come up with a winner this time.  This mouse seems to combine the best features of all the ergonomic products mentioned above.

It is a fully featured desktop mouse, with 5 button programmable functionality, scroll and tilt wheel and click the wheel.  The wheel action is very satisfyingly positive.  The zoom button (unlike the one on the Optical mouse) does not keep getting accidentally activated by coming in contact with the edge of the keyboard.

The lateral angle of the "top" of the mouse is only slightly "off" the natural position.  The height of the mouse, at least for my hand size, allows the pressure on the desk to be comfortable.  The contours of the base lend themselves to horizontal wrist movement as well as full arm control.  The width of the mouse, and the angle of the grips, mean you can control it without needing to squeeze inwards with the thumb, which makes it more comfortable in this regard than the Evoluent.

It did take some getting used to, of course, just because it's different.  Something slightly disconcerting at first was that the angle of movement of the mouse did not "line up" for me with what I felt were the horizontal and vertical coordinates.  There is no provision to adjust this tracking angle, which was one of the nice features of the Anir/3M mouse.

So, it's recommended.  And not just for those who need an ergonomic solution because of existing injury problems - I believe all regular computer users should use safe as possible tools.

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