I work on a computer 10-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. Most of that time I’m doing graphics with a mouse, involving a lot of repetitive clicking. Lately I’ve been having a lot of pain on the outside of my right elbow.
Is this the same as tennis elbow, and is it related to carpal tunnel syndrome? Is there any non-invasive treatment, e.g. an Ace elbow strap? Would it help if I use a graphics tablet rather than a mouse, or would that create different problems?
Damn! I thought this was going to be a thread about Mickey’s anatomy!
IMHO if you’re having repetitive injury due to work i’ll hazard a guess that you’re suffering more than just ‘mouse elbow’. take regular short breaks away from the pc to rest/stretch your hands/legs/eyes etc.
I had mouse elbow a few years ago. Yes, it is like tennis elbow. Here’s what helped me:
tablet! Makes a huge difference.
Left handed mouse (assuming that you’re now using a right handed mouse) and mousing with your left hand - at least during the healing process. It may take some getting used to, but it’s worth it to get rid of the pain. I’d suggest that once the elbow is back to normal, you can go back to your familiar mouse plus the tablet. After about a week of left-mousing, I was doing fine with it for general stuff but couldn’t have used it for graphics.
Pay attention to how you sit - your angle and height relative to your screen and work surface. I find that my tendency to slouch puts a surprising amount of strain on my shoulder and elbow.
The healing process takes longer than you expect, so don’t get impatient.
Good luck.
Carpaltunnel and related problems can be helped with Vitamin B6
I had similar problems a couple of years ago and once in awhile if I’m doing a lot of graphics work I’ll get similar or related issues. (Most recently – trying to meet a graphics deadline – I did something to the nerve in my thumb so my thumb was numb for a few days and I had to mouse left-handed to rest it.)
As Old Broad’s suggestions were all excellent. In the case where I was having elbow-nerve issues it was because my mouse was on a surface that was just a touch too high which put my elbow at a strange angle. Now I make sure my keyboard and mouse are essentially on my lap (I now have a drafting chair that is raised so that the keyboard shelf-thing of my desk rests on my thighs).
You need to figure out what is wrong about your workstation or the problem will keep coming back.
E.g. Once I sorted out my “optimal typing/mousing height” the problem went away pretty much for good. The occasional issues I have now is from extreme overuse – in which case I switch to left-handed mousing to give my dominant hand a chance to recover.
There are also different mouse-types. A friend of mine switched to a trackball type that seems to work well for him. I find I don’t have the finesse/dexterity with that one, but YMMV. Sniffs_Markers also uses a trackball style mouse where you use your thumb on the trackball.
Not a lot of people seem to know this. There is a form of physiotherapy involving deep massage of the damaged tendons which actually heals the damage and removes all pain. Using different forms of mouse or tools, and using the left hand, will not help in the long term, the tendons don’t heal themselves. If this treatment is unavailable the next best thing is a graphics tablet, (e.g. Nisis g2) as the movement involved is completely different from any form of mouse - more like holding a pen which rarely causes RSI!
The above was contributed by Mrs Vetch, who has just gone through the same symptoms. She also found using a free application from mousetool. com helped until she was able to get the massage treatment.
V
For a while I had my workstation set up in a corner, so that my mouse arm could rest on the desk while I worked. This was a very comfortable posture, but after a few weeks I developed an chronic ache in my elbow. It finally went away when I moved my computer so that there was no support under my elbow. From this I conclude that it’s a bad thing to have support under your mouse elbow, even though it feels comfortable.