Despite being invented back in 1994, the awareness of and benefits of ergonomic mouse products are poorly recognised in the world. The advantages of using an ergonomic mouse are countless! There’s a product for everyone, whether you’re someone who suffers from wrist and hand pain, arthritis or you are simply looking to prevent the onset of such muscle pain.
Even if you’re merely looking for a computer gadget that increases your computer or gaming efficiency. Perhaps you want something that looks more stylish than that old-fashioned antique that you hold onto. Either way, there’s an ergonomic mouse that caters to all needs!
The future is here, don’t be left behind…
In this article, I share with you the ways that an ergonomic mouse could not only improve your overall posture and well being, I also enlighten you with how an ergonomic mouse can catapult your productivity and satisfaction with your mouse to a whole new level.
Now who doesn’t want that? In fact, who can afford NOT to be more productive or satisfied with their work performance and gadgets?
Take a moment to read this article with me and I guarantee that you’ll never look at your basic mouse in the same way again! You’ll also be treated to some tips and fun facts along the way.
Did you know? Computer users tend to use their most almost three times more than their keyboard.
1. Greater comfort
2. Promotes a neutral wrist
3. Helps alleviate existing pain
4. Easier to use
5. Increased variety of styles
6. Better quality equipment
7. Increased productivity
Greater comfort
The traditional mouse has a tendency to increase pronation of the wrist which creates a deviation from the neutral wrist posture. Ergonomic mice, such as a vertical mouse, reduces pronation and consequently improves your posture. This can have indirect benefits to the rest of your upper posture as your body is not compensating to meet the design of the traditional mouse.
The shape of the ergonomic mouse itself is a defining feature which improves the comfort associated with using a mouse. The contours and surface material that is featured on an ergonomic mouse is designed with user ergonomics and comfort in mind.
Whether it’s a textured grip for greater handling or rubber sections to allow a stronger hold on the mouse, it all ultimately enhances your experience and comfort while you are clicking away.
Promotes a neutral wrist
The traditional mouse often requires you to hold it in a posture that causes deviation from your neutral wrist posture. Not only does it cause wrist pronation as can be seen in the below photo (twisting of the wrist), but it also causes wrist extension as you need to raise your wrist backwards to position it on the mouse. This can become painful overtime and lead to repetitive strain injuries (RSI).
It can even create tiredness and pain as your wrist is forced into an unnatural position. What’s more, the extent of this postural deviation is not merely confined to the hands, fingers and wrist. It can even spread up your arm and throughout the rest of your upper body as your posture tries to compensate to fit the shape of the ergonomic mouse.
With an ergonomic mouse, the design is fitted to your wrist and hand naturally with the ultimate goal of minimalizing awkward postures and enabling you to achieve a neutral wrist and hand posture while you execute your tasks with ease.
Helps alleviate existing pain
Repetitive strain injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, are prevalent widely throughout the world. For people who suffer from these, you may find that using your mouse on a regular basis can exacerbate the situation. Since the ergonomic mouse is designed to keep your posture in an unstrained position, it minimises the pressure imposed on major nerves, and consequently reduces the risk of inflammation and irritation inflicted on your wrist.
For sufferers of arthritis, pain, inflammation and stiffness in the hands and wrist region are common complaints. It can also create difficulty and pain when trying to move a mouse.
So, the last thing that you want to do as an arthritis sufferer is to exacerbate the pain by positioning your hand in an unnatural posture. But choosing the right mouse for your hand posture, it can help alleviate and prevent the risk of developing pain while using an ergonomic mouse.
Who doesn’t want added comfort and reduced risk of injury while working every day?
Easier to use
With a design that has a primary function of fitting to the user as opposed to the user fitting to the mouse, ergonomic mice are in their nature much easier to use than the traditional teardrop shaped mice. To top it off, you’re almost always guaranteed a greater user experience accompanied by higher quality material and performance when investing in an ergonomic mouse. These will be discussed in the coming paragraphs.
Increased productivity
Different designs of mice exist to cater to the different needs and desires; some ergonomic mice come equipped with programmable buttons which allow you to perform various shortcuts, such as clicking to go back to the previous website page or copying, pasting or undoing an action in a Word document.
All of these shortcuts not only make life easier, but they also increase your productivity and efficiency. Heck, they even add a touch of fun to your gadgets at home or in the office too.
Tip: By using these programmed buttons on your mouse to perform tasks on steps that you perform on a regular basis, it can surprisingly boost the speed at which you can execute your work.
Increased variety of styles and functions
Since not every hand or wrist is the same in terms of size, preferred position and shape, nor is the way that people prefer to use mouse, manufacturers of ergonomic mice have adopted to this by creating a variety of designs to accommodate the majority of people. The most popular type of ergonomic mouse is the vertical mouse, but there are also ambidextrous mice and size adjustable mice available to mention but a few.
For those of you who have issues finding mice that are either too small or too large to fit your hand comfortably, breathe a sigh of relief as you can purchase a size to suit virtually any hand size. So, whether you have large or small hands, rest assured that you can find a size that suits you.
Ever since I discovered these shortcuts on my mouse, particularly the one which lets me click to go back on a website page, it’s my go-to shortcut and I always miss it when I don’t have my own mouse with me. It’s amazing how accustomed and attached to different functions and shortcuts that you can get.
Fun fact: Ergonomic mice are usually much more stylish and fun to work with too.
Photo credit: Erik Charlton on VisualHunt / CC BY
Better quality equipment
The traditional mouse is not necessarily as concerned with having a smooth performance when compared with an ergonomic mouse. Plus, with an ergonomic mouse, you are almost guaranteed to have a smoother, seamless sweeping function to allow you to joyfully glide through web pages and documents or execute gaming moves with lightning speed and accuracy.
Speaking of smoother functions, they often feature left and right keys and cursor balls that click and roll much quieter and smoother than your standard mouse.
Manufacturers often consider the grip of the user, and this can be reflected by additional textured rubber surfaces which aid with a solid, natural hand grip.
Ergonomic mice are often equipped with advanced optical tracking, which is essentially a light source component which detects movement of the mouse and manoeuvres the screen cursor based on these movements.
But what’s better about that?
Well, optical tracking provides advanced tracking of mouse movement, so each time you move the mouse, you can expect a much sharper and faster response to your actions. This reduces hand movement by as much as 4 times when compared with a standard tracker. This ultimately assists in minimising hand and wrist fatigue.
Tip: Most top-end mice utilise a laser as opposed to LED for premium tracking performance.
Photo credit: Erik Charlton on VisualHunt / CC BY
Increased productivity
Studies have shown that perceived fatigue and preferences of users towards ergonomic mice was consistently better when compared with traditional mouse. Consequently, this improves your ability to perform computer or gaming activities with elevated comfort and feelings of reduced tiredness. Obviously, fewer breaks can lead to increase productivity as you don’t have to stop working as frequently because your wrist is tired.
In the long-run, it reduces the risk of absenteeism associated with hand and wrist strain injuries as it assists in preventing the onset of such injuries. Nobody wants to be out of work, and especially not for a condition which could have been so easily prevented!
Photo credit: Andri Koolme on Visualhunt / CC BY
Conclusion
As you have just witnessed yourself from this article, there’s endless benefits to owning an ergonomic mouse. Not only will you be in a more comfortable and healthy position while working day in, day out, your efficiency rates will increase at a mind-blowing rate that you wouldn’t even consider possible! Fortunately, such a valuable tool is at the reach of practically all budgets.
P.S. An ergonomic mouse is even an excellent gift for people working from home who may not even own a mouse if they work from their laptop!
Do you own an ergonomic mouse or are you tempted to invest in one after reading this? I’d love to hear your questions and comments.
While purchasing an ergonomic mouse, it makes sense to pair it with an ergonomic keyboard. Often a keyboard and mouse come ready to purchase as a pair anyway, and it’s often cheaper to buy them together than separately.
But what value has an ergonomic keyboard?
Well, if you want to perform your routine computer activities more effectively, type out emails and reports in lightning speed and with greater comfort, check out this article and you’ll find out how an ergonomic keyboard can put you ahead of the pack:
Photo credit: Jasentaja on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-SA
