Do We Really Need Mouse Wrist Rests?
May 15, 2009 by Rico Mossesgeld
Filed under Peripherals
While Wisegeek asserts that having any wrist rest for your mouse hand is better than nothing at all, it also points out that users of these accessories should continue maintaining proper keyboard and mouse use:
Proper typing technique stresses the importance of bending or cupping the hands in order for the fingers to strike the keys at a downward angle. If the user’s wrists are resting on a padded wrist rest while typing, the fingers must reach for the keys at a more stressful angle… The user’s wrists should not touch the wrist rest during active typing.
The same philosophy holds true for a mouse pad wrist rest… Flicking or pushing the mouse with the fingers or wrist alone is considered improper mousing form and can lead to inflammation of the upper back and neck muscles.
Courtesy of Belkin
Oops, looks like I’ve been perpetuating a bad habit. Though from personal experience, I can say that my chronic wrist pain disappeared once I started using a bigger mouse and a mouse pad with a built-in wrist rest. Perhaps the best way to determine a wrist rest’s usefulness for your productivity is actual experimentation. And that doesn’t have to be expensive. NewEgg, for instance, is selling this $8 mouse-pad-cum-wrist-rest (pictured above):
BELKIN WaveRest F8E262-BLK Gel Mouse Pad (Black)
Feel free to share the results of any experimentation, even if a bit informal.
