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Good morning all,
Over the last few months, I’ve stepped-up my hours of music production – clicking and clicking with Apple’s magic mouse in LogicProX. My reward, besides a lot of new tracks, was the beginning of tendinitis in my right elbow (lifting anything with a supinated grip = ouch!).
So a little over a week ago, and to catch this early, I dug-out my wacom tablet/pen and made use of that, and the tendinitis is lessening with each passing day. But I’ve also read that Apple’s trackpad could be even better at preventing tendinitis.
My question is, if you are/were/ever have dealt with tendinitis from using a mouse, which device do you find option over using a mouse — apple’s trackpad or wacom’s tablet/pen?
Thanks!
Hi Paolo, I’ve dealt with elbow tendinitis a few times. Not from a mouse though. Once from improper guitar technique and once from fixing up an old house. Tendinitis is an overuse injury, so they say to stop doing the action that causes it. Not usually possible. Heat up your elbow before you start in the studio, then ice it down after your done.
My internet computer has a mouse, which sometimes can bother my wrist. So I switch off hands. Sometimes I use my right, sometimes my left (t’s easy for me being left handed). This helps me from overusing one or the other. Try it! Also, put a support under the heel of your hand so it’s not bending back at the wrist. A cassette box works nicely, but they do sell specific mouse supports.
In my studio, I have a trackball for the righthand. Can’t really switch off on this, but it doesn’t bother me.
Hi Paolo,
I had terrible tendinitis from using a mouse. It eventually got so bad, I had to learn how to control a mouse with my left hand…and then it got tendinitis too.
What’s worked for me is a vertical mouse. Looks a bit like a joystick but much easier to use as I’m clicking with my thumb. Here’s the one I use both at work and in the studio:
Hope this helps!
The trackpad on my macbook, made my tendinitis worse. I’m thinking of trying a track ball.
I occasionally deal with tendinitis. Everyone is different, but I found that the trackpad made things worse. The traditional mouse didn’t work for me either; the rotation of the wrist down to put my thumb in about the same horizontal plane as my other fingertips combined with another rotation moving my thumb towards the pinky side of my hand to use the traditional mouse caused me problems. The solution that I found was to use the 3M Vertical Mouse (the larger model for me; they come in two sizes). It has helped dramatically.
Someone sent me a link to the Swiftpoint Gesture Based Computer Mouse. It looks interesting, but I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t recommend it. But, it might be something to look into as well.
My sympathies. Been there myself. Tried everything: Doctors, Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Reiki, etc. The very best regime came from a hand & upper extremity physical therapist. Basically, it’s 1.Heat 2.Massage 3.Stretch. 4.Therapeutic Exercises. 5.Stretch (again) 6.Ice (if there is inflammation).
The therapist cautioned the exercises can worsen the problem if you’re not careful. Go see a good hand & upper extremity therapist. I was pleased with the suggestions they gave me. It helped a lot.
Remember: Tendonitis & the associated problems are an injury. There is no magic potion. It takes time to heal.
Most Important: I do stretches (hand & arms) all the time. It helps tremendously.
Get well.
Make sure your desk ergonomics are right for you. I exacerbated an old tendonitis injury (off-road motorcycle induced) after switching to a desk from a console. The result was catastrophic and I’m still working thru it. Bottom line : if it hurts, you’re reinsuring it. The thing that fixed it for me the first time was elbow braces 24/7 and a little magic : Naproxen.
Know that it tends to be chronic and lies “just below the surface” of feeling it. Take care of it and it will go away over time. sometimes it takes a year or two of being careful and doing everything you can to alleviate the pain.
Hoping it will eventually go away is the wrong approach. Be proactive with it and hopefully you’ll be fine. Best of luck.
LAw
EDIT : BTW, my latest bout was brought on using a trackball. I gave up on mice a decade ago and a trackball has served me well up until the last year. It was the ergonomics of the desk that wrecked things for me. Get those ergo’s right at any cost. Chair, desk height, angle of arm to mouse/trackball and musical keyboard height. Get em all right.
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