Did you know your mouse-hand side might suffer from issues that your non-mouse hand side doesn’t? Beyond the obvious problems like carpal tunnel or elbow pain, problems can actually stretch from the arm all the way up to the shoulder and back! It’s known as mouse-side neuropathy.
The first, most obvious fix is to get a wrist rest, and make sure the keyboard and mouse are far back enough on your desk to actually use them, so you’re not just dangling your arms off the edge. This puts strain on your wrist, but slowly, and over a long period of time. You may find yourself needing to adjust the height of your chair to do this – for the average person, the chair height that puts your feet comfortably flat on the ground also causes your elbows to dip slightly. You may need to raise your monitor, too, to avoid slouching forward to see it better.
The next is to get a more ergonomic mouse. If your hands are smaller or larger than average, or if you’re left-handed, an average mouse will require you to position your hand in a way that’s unnatural to you. This will also cause strain. You don’t have to break the bank to find one that suits your needs – something as simple as switching to a low-profile mouse, or getting one with a groove for your thumb so it’s not resting on the desk, can help. Swapping from a corded to a cordless mouse and increasing the sensitivity of the mouse itself might also help if your problems seem to be caused by specific motions rather than posture, because a higher sensitivity means you have to move the mouse (and by extension, your hand and arm) less.
The third, if all else fails, is to try a different kind of mouse. This also doesn’t have to break the bank. The laptop trackpad is one option, if you’re working off of a laptop! Simply changing the way you move for a period of time might improve symptoms of repetitive strain, or alter your posture. Other options include things like trackball mice, some of which use your thumb to scroll down pages instead of your fingers, or even more bizarre options like upright mice, which look sort of like a joystick and require you to hold the thing vertically.
Sources: https://theworkspacehero.com/hand-strain-using-mouse/
