Adjusting to Using a Left-Handed Ergonomic Mouse

Adjusting to Using a Left-Handed Ergonomic Mouse

Posted by Angela P on Feb 24th 2014

Before I started working at THS, I thought I had a pretty good office setup at home. I have an L-shaped desk, an "executive" style chair, and a nice, big monitor. Unfortunately, hours of working at home was leaving me with sore shoulders, numb arms, and a wrist that was almost constantly in pain because my chair is about as unergonomic as you can get, my desk is too high so I'm constantly reaching upward to type on my tiny keyboard, and my mouse is a travel-sized laptop mouse. Just having a chair at work with adjustable arms, a desk that's at the right height, and a keyboard tray to keep me from reaching for the keyboard all day has been really helpful in alleviating all of the pain that my home office was causing. Unfortunately, a weekend at home working on my computer all day reactivated these old pains, and it was suggested that I switch mice to avoid repetitive stress injuries. And not just switch mice, but switch the hand that I use to mouse. What?!

I had a moment of panic. I normally think of my left hand as being all but useless when it comes to precise movements. The idea of using it all day for mousing scared me a little, because I thought I'd end up being slow and unproductive. I went and got the left-handed mouse, though, determined to at least try it for a day or two. I normally use the Mousetrapper Advance, so I unplugged it so I wouldn't be tempted to just give up and use it instead, and plugged in the Evoluent Vertical Mouse 4: Left Hand Wired Mouse VM4L. The first thing I noticed was how natural it feels if you're used to using a traditional mouse. All of the buttons are in the same place, just at a 90 degree angle to the desk. You don't have to re-learn where to click or scroll. I am not going to lie, I was slower and less precise than normal at first, and did switch back to the Mousetrapper if I was in a hurry. The adjustment period was very short, though, and after a day or two, I was left-hand mousing like a pro! It's very helpful when using applications where I need to mouse and click while entering numbers, because I can mouse with my left hand and enter numbers from the numeric keypad with my right, so I've actually gained some productivity in that respect. I've also added the Mousetrapper back to my keyboard tray, and use it and the Evoluent interchangeably, and often at the same time.

Many people think that left-handed ergonomic mice are only useful for left-handed people, without thinking about the benefits for right-handed people who are trying to avoid repetitive stress injuries that come when you have a job that requires mousing and clicking all day. I never would have considered purchasing one for myself before being told to try one, even though I was well aware of the benefits, because I was afraid that it would take too long to adjust to using it. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the adjustment period was much shorter than I thought it would be. If you've been thinking about making the switch, but have put it off for fear that it wouldn't work out, wait no longer!

Find the entire line of Evoluent mice, and more ergonomic mice, at TheHumanSolution.com!

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