Posted By Robert S Woods Can anyone sugest a decent ergonomic mouse.

Posted By Dave Wilson Logitec trackball

Posted By Gordon Thelwell This should keep you abreast of new developments...... http://www.funpic.hu/en....hp?id=4470&c=7&s=dd&p=29

Posted By Russell Wilkinson Try this website http://www.connectsys.co.uk-enter the e-shop.Really good for egronomic equipment.

Posted By duncan abbott There is no such thing as an ergonomic mouse. What you want to do is find a point and click device that matches the users requirements and the tasks that he or she has to perform. If you do an ergonomic risk assessment you will find the characteristics of the piece of equipment you require. You may also be able to offload much of the mouse work by assigning keystrokes of using automated software tools. Avoid suggestions for mice that are made without any knowledge of the type of work undertaken or the functional ability of the user. I see this happening too many times and the result is that workers end up with needless MSDs and companies then get sued. If in doubt use an ergonomist.

Posted By Nick House I tend to use these, and have found them to be very effective, although they don't suit all applications. http://www.ergotype.nl/en/ieframeset.htm They are a little expensive, but I have found that if they ever break, simply cut off the plug and send it back to them explaining what the problem is, and they will send you a FOC replacement.

Posted By Robert S Woods Sorry for the futile request O mighty Duncan ruler of the heavens and the earth. How much do you charge for an assessment? No need to reply because the attitude conveyed in your answer would put me off ever using your services even if they were free. I'll find a nice caring understanding ergonomist to help with my problem.

Posted By duncan abbott That is a surprising reply? I've only stated the facts and offered you pointers, I would have thought you might reply with more facts. If you had done this others might also contribute. Instead of this you have acted superscillious and against the spirit of this forum. If you wish to respond please do so with common courtesy.

Posted By Robert S Woods Duncan, I would have another read of your posting. It comes across as being quite agressive. Mearly, futile are quite negative words, there are ways of putting things that encourage and motivate people. All advice is gratefully recieved and I always aim to convey respect where it is due.

Posted By duncan abbott Robert, The comments were written to be helpful not only to you but to others. Despite all the postings we still do not know the task requirements or the user profile. Therefore it would be impossible for anybody to suggest a specific mouse over another. Therefore I would suggest like all good ergnomic studies. start with a task analysis and end up with a user trial. BTW Toecap it is enor hippopota.

Posted By Nick House I do agree that the responses were a little aggressive, but would also agree that looking at a selection of mice, maybe having the affected person(s) try a few to see how they perform is the best way forward. However, historically, I think Robert has been around long enough to know this method by now. In my opinion, I think that the original post 'can anyone suggest an ergonomic mouse' was concise and to the point, with any suggestions offered then open for Robert (and perhaps others) to scrutinize further to see which one(s) would be the most appropriate for the given situation. Regards Nick.

Posted By Robert S Woods Lets not fall out. Duncan thanks for your advice. The reason I asked for suggestions re: the mice was that we were goiung to trial options as suggested by our occ health advisor. I was hoping for feedback from people with similar problems, which I have recieved both through replies to this thread and via email. I am sure you are aware (Duncan et al) getting management to fork out for good ergonomic advice is at best difficult even when you present the most convincing economic case study. This is why lots of us have to attempt other methods which in the long run can prove to be more costly both in humanitarian and economic terms.

Posted By Kieran J Duignan Robert In relation to your observation that 'getting management to fork out for good ergonomic advice is at best difficult even when you present the most convincing economic case study' there is a reliable method of offering management the opportunity base decisions about investing in ergonomically-designed input devices and other kinds of safety equipment. The method is to use a repertory grid, in which they are facilitated to make explicit their criteria for buying, and then to use their own criteria to rate the mice or other equipment typcially on a scale of 1-5 or 1-7. As Duncan's observations reflect over 20 years' research, since 'the mouse' was first invented, it is very likely that senior managers will include 'ergonomic' criteria even though they don't actually realise they are doing so. There are some good guides to the repertory grid. The most easily available is 'Easy Guide to Repertory Grid', D Jancowitz, John Wiley, 2003. Inexpensive software is also available for analysing the data at www.gridsuite.de As a safety practitioner (CMIOSH), occupational psychologist (C Psychol) and ergonomist (M Sc), I often find advantages in using tools such as the repertory grid to enable managers to check out emotioaal views against research in their own offices. Those with what it takes to adopt this Pragmatist approach are usually very pleased to recognise how much, much more EConomic it is when part of a coherent strategy of healthy business development.

Posted By Descarte Avoidance is probably the best answer, I am often amazed when I conduct DSE assessments and find high levels of mouse use compared to keyboard that they do not know the fundamental short cut keys which can not only make the job easier and quicker but also reduce the amount of mouse use from a safety point of view. My common favs are Win+D for minimising all open applications to desktop ctrl+x/+c/+v/b/u/i for either cut copy and paste, bold, italic, underlined ctrl s for save and then alt F4 to close ctrl a selects all txt

Posted By Robert S Woods Sheila, They're friends of Ginor.