Newsletter - Computer mouse

Improving Your Posture

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Recently we have had a number of RSI sufferers enquiring about ways to overcome mouse induced pain. The following scientific studies verify what sufferers have been reporting for years...

Computer mouse key culprit in repetitive strain injuries
from the 27th International Congress of Occupational Health

The more you click, the more damage you may be doing, say researchers
The more you click your mouse, the greater the chance of suffering from pain, swelling and other repetitive strain injuries in the hand, neck and shoulder, two teams of Danish researchers told a scientific conference.

In one study, Dr Chris Jensen and colleagues from the National Institute of Occupational Health in Copenhagen found that workers who used computers for more than two-thirds of their work time had a higher risk of developing hand or wrist problems....

"The problem is not only the mouse, but performing repetitive tasks," Jensen told reporters attending the 27th International Congress of Occupational Health in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

In a second study, researchers from the Odense University Hospital in Denmark found that those who used the mouse for more than 30 hours per week had as much as an eight-fold higher risk of developing forearm pain, double the risk of moderate to severe neck pain and triple the risk of right shoulder pain.

Neck and right shoulder symptoms started to become evident after more than 25 and five hours of weekly use, respectively. The findings come from a survey of nearly 7,000 technical assistants and machine technicians, with a follow-up one year later...

Jensen said that a variable pattern of mouse and keyboard use can be considered the best combination from an occupational health perspective. Around 80% of Danish workers use traditional instead of newer 'ergonomic' mouse devices, but none of these particular studies examined differences between users of either type of mouse.

"My impression is that it does not really matter so much which device you use," Jensen said. "I do not believe that you can invent a device capable of solving these problems, You could try some preventive exercises instead, but I think the best thing ... is that they keep you away from the mouse or the keyboard while doing them."

Matías A. Loewy - Reuters
full article on www.abc.net.au

One way of reducing mousing is to use keyboard shortcuts, for keyboard short cuts click here even though these were written for windows 95 most still work in windows XP too.

Also we do recommend RSIGuard as a very useful tool with its auto click feature. Click here for RSIGuard features page