Advice needed on alternatives to using a mouse for desktop

tempbond · November 21

I've started to have pain and stiffness in my right hand and no matter what I do (stretches, modifying hand position on mouse...), nothing seems to help. Is there anything that you would suggest I try that WORKS as well as a mouse ?

I've thought about an external trackpad, vertical mouse, trackball... but leaning towards a trackpad, as my thinking is that I wouldn't be holding/clenching a device, so my hand, joints and ligaments would be less solicited.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great, thanks !

Coolmaster · November 21

The little nub thing on some keyboards. It isn't that precise but it gets the job done and you use one finger on it. It might be hard to find one on a external keyboard, but most Lenovo laptops have them.

wall03 · November 21

I imagine learning all the keyboard shortcuts wouldn't 100% work...

maybe it could?

tempbond · November 21

I do use some basic keyboard shortcuts, but that wouldn't be possible for all I need to do in my job.

tempbond · November 21

55 minutes ago, Coolmaster said:

The little nub thing on some keyboards. It isn't that precise but it gets the job done and you use one finger on it. It might be hard to find one on a external keyboard, but most Lenovo laptops have them.

That wouldn't work, I need something where I can rest my arm and wrist on the desk a bit. A nub like that would further concentrate my hand position to a small work surface. But thanks for the suggestion.

Coolmaster · November 21

2 minutes ago, tempbond said:

That wouldn't work, I need something where I can rest my arm and wrist on the desk a bit. A nub like that would further concentrate my hand position to a small work surface. But thanks for the suggestion.

The nub isn't its own mouse, it's part of the keyboard. You'll need a keyboard anyways.

It's that little red circle in between GHB.

Ωmegα · November 21

Oh, no. You might wanna pay a visit to your doctor. You might have early stages of carpal tunnel syndrome.

tempbond · November 22

On 11/21/2020 at 1:32 PM, Coolmaster said:

The nub isn't its own mouse, it's part of the keyboard. You'll need a keyboard anyways.

It's that little red circle in between GHB.

Hahaha I know what a nub looks like Those were on Thinkpads, just didn't know that regular keyboards could have them. But my point was I want to use something to the side of the keyboard

tempbond · November 22

On 11/21/2020 at 3:40 PM, Ωmegα said:

Oh, no. You might wanna pay a visit to your doctor. You might have early stages of carpal tunnel syndrome.

I don't have that, but have a lot of back and joint problems...I've seen every doctor, therapist and done every treatment possible, nothing really helps. Just have to live with it...