Hand and wrist comfort is the foundation of a happy, healthy workspace. Avoid aches and pains by picking up one of these tested, top-rated ergonomic mice.
From vertical mice, to trackballs, to laser-pointer-style pen mice, you can find a whole brood of ergonomic approaches to mousing comfort. The common aim: minimizing the threat of repetitive strain injuries you may incur from using a mouse and keyboard for many hours each day. Repetitive strain injuries—often called RSIs for short—are a set of musculoskeletal disorders caused by holding an unnatural position for too long, or by repeating the same motion over and over again. Typing on a keyboard and using a mouse have both been known to cause RSIs after years of using a computer everyday, and these ailments tend to manifest initially as pain, weakness, or numbness in your fingers and wrists. All About the Ergo
A poor office setup can also lead to pain in your back and shoulders. (Note: If any of these symptoms sounds familiar, please consult a doctor.) Ergonomic mice are designed to limit or eliminate movements that have been known to cause these injuries or aggravate them in people who already suffer from RSIs. There is no ironclad proof that they can actually prevent RSIs, but they are more comfortable for people who already experience pain when using a standard mouse. Picking an ergonomic mouse can be a bit tricky, though. Unlike ergonomic keyboards, where there are two prominent types (curved and split layouts) that create a sliding scale of balancing familiarity and ergonomic benefit, ergonomic mice are more varied in design, and can convey different benefits. Some mice reduce strain on your wrist, but still require you to overextend a finger or thumb, where others may still oblige you to twist your wrist but keep hand movements to a minimum, preventing motions that could lead to damage over time. They also aren’t for everyone. Across the board, these mice tend not to be quite as precise as a more traditional design. (That’s not necessarily down to lesser hardware, as I’ll get to in a moment.) They’re perfectly fine for everyday tasks—word processing, web browsing, using productivity apps like Slack and Zoom—but I’ve yet to use one that didn’t hamper my performance while playing video games, or slow me down with certain apps that demand ultra-precise pointing and cursor movement, like those of Adobe’s Creative Suite. Again, these designs vary a lot, so you’re likely to find that one works better for you than the others. With that in mind, let’s break down the different kinds of ergo mice that we’ve reviewed and consider relevant. Vertical Mice: Flip Your Grip
The design that comes to mind when most of us hear the phrase « ergonomic mouse » is vertical. The shape is basically a conventional mouse turned 90 degrees, or the base of a mouse with a second sideways one stacked on top of it, which allows you to grip it without twisting your arm. Think of a handshake grasp, instead of holding the device with your palm down. Meanwhile, the click panels and face buttons have been rotated to the side of the mouse, where they’re accessible with the same finger motions that you’d make using a standard mouse.
