Posted By Allan Kerrigan I was recently conducting a follow up for a DSE assessment and recommended get pads for mouse and keyboard, a member of staff sitting nearby said that she used to work for a major bank( who will remain nameless) and that the bank had banned gel pads as a means of helping prevent WRULD's RSI etc. Does anyone know if this is true? if so what argument is there for this action? as usual many thanks to IOSH members and apologies if this is a repeat problem.

Posted By Tabs I have used the mouse bean and love it... but it is a slightly different thing. Gel pads are often used in front of keyboards as well. Basically, anything that encourages you to keep your forearm planted and move your wrist is probably not best for you. Movement should come from shoulders, elbows and wrist in as free a motion as comfortable. Micro-movement will often lead to problems. The mouse bean keeps the wrist/mouse relationship constant and forces movements from the shoulders/elbows instead. I found that very comfortable (but I now use a pen). I worked for a large bank and frowned on gel pads.

Posted By Alison WR wrist rests encourage people to anchor their wrists, lean on them, hunch over even more, increase the vertical angle on the wrist, and wave their hands around like windscreen wipers. Pressing on your wrist is likely to increase the pressure in the carpal tunnel. We have one colleague who is able to use a wrist rest as a gentle reminder to keep her wrists straight. The other 800 are banned from using them. Mouse beans, however, are fab - they reduce the angle on the wrist, but support the weight on the muscular part of the hand, and have negligible impact on freedom of movement. We dole them out like sweeties.