Should you use a vibrating mouse and does it reduce arm pain?

Published in Mouse, touch pads + input devices on Tuesday, 14 July 2009
by Catherine Albert  |   Post RSS

The Vibrating mouse was developed to help reduce hand and forearm pain as a result of poor habits. One of these habits is where we hold our hand and fingers constantly on the mouse even when we are not using it. Hovering is where the hand is held just above the mouse. You might not even be aware you do this but perhaps you leave your hand on the mouse while reading a document. Find more about using a mouse

While it might not appear to be causing any problems just holding your fingers and hand either in mid-air or resting on the mouse is fatiguing especially for the small muscles of the hand. It reduces blood circulation and the lack of rest periods can lead to discomfort.

Research has shown that the position of your hand when using a mouse has a major affect on the amount of work the muscles of your hand  are doing. You might think you aren’t using your mouse much but if you are holding your hand over the mouse or hovering as it’s called than you are using the muscles pretty much constantly.

Its one reason that rest breaks and mini pauses should be taken by computer users. It helps to ensure muscles and joints are given adequate breaks and it makes a big difference in the amount of discomfort at the end of the day

What is the best position for your fingers and hand when using a mouse.

Of the three positions generally used those at the top of the list put the most stress on the fingers and hands and are likely to cause the most problem.

1.    Holding the hand just above the mouse put more force on the hand than even clicking and scrolling.

2.    Holding the hand on the mouse puts higher forces on the hand than resting the hand on the desk

3.    Resting the hand on the desk has the least muscle force.

So the best position is resting the hand on the desk when you are not actually using the mouse. And this is where the vibrating mouse is designed to help. It starts vibrating after 10secs if the hand is on or just above the mouse and the buttons or scroll wheel are not operated for more than 10 s. The vibration lasts just 4s until the mouse is clicked or the hand removed. The vibration does not react to cursor movement so stirring the mouse will not turn the vibration off  - you actually have to move your hand away.

The aim is to encourage you to take your hand off the mouse and rest it on the desk when you are not using it so you will giving your fingers and hand a well earned break.

Although this seems like a good idea there isn’t any evidence that it actually affects discomfort or productivity but if you think you have developed one of these poor working habits it might be one way to get out of the habit. It certainly encouraged computer users to use their mouse less

Of course the chances are that you might find it a distraction while you are working but I guess it depends on how much you think your hand positions are causing your problem and whether you need to do something about it.

Find out more about your mouse position and how to reduce pain while using a mouse.