Have you done a DSE assessment, and ask the employee to do a self assessment DSE questionnaire, then see what the problems are, then put actions in place, if all fails pass the employee onto occupational health for an assessment, or offer other work

quote=terry556]Have you done a DSE assessment, and ask the employee to do a self assessment DSE questionnaire, then see what the problems are, then put actions in place, if all fails pass the employee onto occupational health for an assessment, or offer other work

I agree, keyboard shortcuts are the way. Not everyone knows these though so providing a list of them would be helpful. They might seem slow to begin with, but once you know them, they are actually quicker to use. It's just a case of getting to know them.

If she has had an operation on her wrist isn’t it likely that she might be suffering from some pain anyway? i.e. is she applying pressure to the wound site? Is the pain to be expected? It would be useful to know if the operation was for a WRULD e.g. CT release. Is it the wrist movement or the finger movement etc.

Briefly, and on the basis of the limited information provided you could consider:
WS assessment or review to identify causative issues (if any)
Wrist rest?
Use of keyboard short cuts
Alternative pointing devices (ball mouse, upright mouse, pen?)
Increased activity breaks during recovery period (if the operation itself is cause of the pain)
And as strange as it might sound, use the mouse with the other hand during the rehabilitation period and gradually increase the use over a period of time to see if this helps. I have done this in the past and have even had 2 mouse’s (or are they mice?) connected so that swapping is easier.
Work with the Dr, if he/she is happy to sign the person off they should (or am I being too hopeful?) be just as happy to work with you to seek a solution as well

hope that helps

I went for my lunch and CanOpener stole my thunder. Everything he said.

Ok first to acknowledge everyone is different.

I have had operations on both wrists for carpel tunnel, following the operations I found that my arms between wrist and elbow and my elbow were very sensitive to pressure, even the weight of my own arm. So resting my arm / elbow on anything including the squishy arm rest of my 3 piece suit seemed to make my fingers go a bit numb and my wrist ache. I found that when using my computer at home which is on an office type table, that my arm rested on the edge of the table and caused me problems. The solution was to fold a towel and put on the edge of the table, I also invested in some wrist rests (technically I don’t think you are supposed to lean on them, but everyone does). I tried several types before finding the ones that are gel filled and shaped like a ying yang shape stretched out, worked best ( don’t think I can say the make on here). This was due to them being a little bit softer and has a natural grove due to the shape that allowed the skin to breath a bit better. I bought both the keyboard and mouse mat versions ( I even bought the exact same ones with my own money for home). They were not expensive less than £20 the two a few years ago ( just checked and actually less than £15 if you shop around) the model seems to be “duo mouse wrist rest wave”.

I know lots of previous posts have discussed this issue and a lot don’t think much of wrist rests, but it definitely worked for me. I don’t disagree with the above posters and a more detailed assessment may be required, but this is a cheap enough test. If you just observe the person working you may be able to see if she is resting on the desk edge. By the way I use the normal standard mouse with centre scroll wheel, and is perfectly fine for me.

Just a thought, in an attempt to be helpful.

Martin,

try a track ball mouse

I broke my right shoulder at the beginning of the year and had to resprt to using the mouse left handed. My shoulder has recovered and I am still using the mouse left handed.

Thanks everyone for all the help, have spoken to the person involved and our HR manager and have all the details now. Between us we've come up with a few possible solutions and things that we are going to try. Thanks again for all the help and pointers its much appreciated

Martin

Some people do not like to issue wrist rests like the "mouse bean". personally I won't use one but a lot of our staff swear by them.
What are the objections to wrist rests?

Hi,

We offer a catalogue of adaptations but there has bean a run on the mouse bean. (See what I did then BEAN - note must stop listening to Steve Wright). But the most effective is instruction and training.

We send an annual on line questionnaire to all those with an email address within the Authority - then hound them to complete, once they do and state they are having problems we pounce on them to attend training.