Ask HN: Wrist pain and recovery

Try a wacom pen. Different grip.

Been there. One set of (otherwise paired) muscles gets inflamed.

The two things that helped me were: (a) Microsoft Trackball Explorer which is a lovely ergonomically shaped mouse - providing you are right-handed. (b) Tennis ball (or similar) to squeeze which helps build up both sets of muscles and thereby helping "rebalance" your wrist muscles.

Ive had severe wrist pain before, saw occupational therapists, was diagnosed with repetitive stress disorder, changed hands for the mice, tried trackballs, trackpads, ergonomic mice, the only thing that worked for me was getting a Wacom tablet. It turned out that it was clicking the mouse button that aggravated my wrist. Been pain free for years except when I play too much with my phone. It takes about a week to get used to the tablet but I actually prefer it to the mouse now, even when not taking into account the wrist pain. Good luck.

I had exactly the same issue about 2 years ago. Long hours of mouse use and I was suddenly getting pain in my wrist.

I did the following:

1. Use the trackball, but do it left handed.

It doesn't slow you down any more than it does learning to use it right handed, but it gives your right hand a break (and yes, it totally SUCKS for about 3 weeks, and then you're roughly as productive).

2. Take a serious look at your mouse.

If you have any of the "magic mice" that support gestures, ditch that shit as fast as possible. Holding your fingers arched like that for long periods does damage.

If you don't have that mouse, look for two things:

- Very light weight (yes, a super cheap lightweight mouse is better than a heavy "ergonomic" mouse in most cases).

- Able to rest your fingers. You need to be able to relax the tendons in your hand/wrist, and you can't do that if you're supporting your fingers in the air (part of why the magic mouse is literally the devil).

3. After a month or two of using the trackball, feel free to switch back to using a decent mouse like normal. In my case, eliminating a magic mouse and giving my hand/wrist a few months to heal did the trick.

4. If none of the above helps, contact a therapist.