Natural Hand Position Can Relieve Repetitive Stress Injury Caused by Mousing

Discomfort from repetitive movements is caused by “something.”  When you get rid of the “something” (the cause) your hand pain can also go away.

Here’s how it works:

Muscles prefer to move in certain ways.  If you move them in positions that they don’t like–especially frequently or for long periods–they get unhappy.  They complain.  That’s what this type of muscle pain is: It’s a complaint.

Sometimes the “something” is your computer keyboard or mouse.

Using your hands in the most natural and neutral position possible can prevent pain from repetitive stress injury and

help get rid of hand and arm pain from muscle strain or repetitive use.  What’s the most natural hand position?

Well, if you drop your hands to your sides and look down you will see that your fingers curl slightly toward your palm.

And, if you do a lot of mousing you might develop “mouse hand.”  You know if you have this–you have more pain when you are using your computer mouse.  But you might not feel you have an option if you must use your mouse.  I’m going to tell you about an option in a little bit.

If you hold your wrist with too much bend either up or down when you work, that can aggravate muscles in your hand and arm.  Try to keep your wrist straight.

Some people use too much force when they click on a mouse.  Using a more natural hand position and less force would both help.  Remember the slightly curled finger position you saw when you looked down at your hands?  PADandCLICK gel pads can help you use that more natural hand position as well as less force when mousing.

One more thing:  Stretching to reach your mouse will also cause muscle strain and pain.

Try to move your elbow closer to your waist when you work to avoid pain in your hand and arm from repetitive movement.  You can’t stretch or over-reach and strain muscles if your elbow is close to your waist.