Code Campfire

Using a Vertical Mouse - 4 Months In

Joshua McKinnon -

Earlier this year, I started experiencing frequent and worsening wrist pain in my mouse hand. It seems to be a result of keeping pressure on my wrist when using a mouse. I bought some wrist straps, and decided to invest in a vertical mouse.

What's a vertical mouse, you say? Mine looks like this:

[](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__ZHZfK61_8U/Sv9_PlvbURI/AAAAAAAAAII/RSo5o3WdjXg/s1600-h/ztm.jpg) [![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__ZHZfK61_8U/Sv9_PlvbURI/AAAAAAAAAII/RSo5o3WdjXg/s200/ztm.jpg)](http://www.zerotensionmouse.com/)
The concept is that by keeping the hand in a neutral position, wrist pain will be alleviated - and it does.This mouse is amazing. It has basically eliminated my wrist pain. There's just one problem, well, two.
  1. They're hard to find (the website looks somewhat abandoned)
  2. They're expensive for what they are

Even so, this single device keeps my life in computing comfortable. There is a learning period - wherein you are nowhere near as accurate as with a normal mouse. 4 months in, I find its use very natural.

Now this is a mouse made to address a specific problem. I'm not advocating widespread use (but maybe I should? It would make my life easier...). I literally do not travel without one when I know significant computer use will be in order.

What, if any, special input (or other devices) do you rely on for PC use? Have you taken the time to find a good keyboard (and normal mouse)? If not, why not??? If you spend half of your day using something, it should be as comfortable as possible.