Mouse Shoulder

[Pourme]

I hope the track ball helps you, John. I operate mine with my left hand probably more than I do my right hand. It being wireless is a advantage, not being tied down to basically one location.

Benny

[19and41]

I've started having it 3 times with about 3 months apiece to get rid of it.  I bought an adesso cat brand touchpad and operate it with my left hand and that distributes the work of each forearm.  One other thing, statin medications for cholesterol can aggravate and magnify it if you are so affected by them.  You find out by getting the pain.

[markosjal]

I had a LOT of neck shoulder and arm problems. I was in pain when using computer too.

Then, I fell down the stairs a few months ago and went to the best massage therapist I know all the way in another city. As I am trained in massage myself I wanted her opinion as to where my problems were . She said what I suspected. My problems were in the Psoas.

She gave me an aggressive (and painful) deep massage of the Psoas which is buried deep in the torso. I hurt for days from the massage . No only did my pain from the stair fall go away by my neck, sholder and arm problems did too.

Be warned a good chiropractor or massage therapist can do this , (better massage than chiropractic), but it will be painful as the psoas is buried deep

[Slal]

Five days a week, for 8-12 hours a day, clicking away with 'conventional' mouse while working in computer services at Kinko's in 1990's.  One morning my index finger was completely numb and simply stuck.  It was like I had jammed my finger or something.

Don't know if they still make them, but  Kensington Expert Mouse (a trackball with wrist support pad) much more ergonomic.  Still have problems with tendon in that hand, but any trackball much better imo.

Best wishes.  It's *not* fun.

--Bruce 

[TelePlay]

Mostly gone now after 3 months of investigation, new hardware and finding a very good LMT (Licensed Massage Therapist).

Turns out it wasn't a back issue, it was a front issue. After 15 years in my last and final job, I spent about 2,200 hours standing a bit bent over assembling 44,000 trays of medical instruments. That was a constant lean forward, arms forward activity. Then driving 200 to 400 miles a day was similar, arms forward at at times tense (black ice, snow, heavy rain condition). Then there were the usual suspects, shoveling snow being the worse - bent over arms together to hold the shovel.

Took  my newly found LMT to explain the lower left back pain when shoveling was due to me being right handed with the right shoulder and arm being used which pulls on the opposite area of the back muscles, the lower left. Well, finding out now is better late than never.

She said my pectorals were so tight that I could not lay down on a flat surface with my shoulders both touching the surface. All started to make sense.

When using a computer, being right handed, on my desk top computer, I was stressing the scapular muscles on the left side - terrible pain after 10 minutes. When using a laptop, the arm was in a different position pulling the right scapular muscles and shoulder already hurting from a work injury to a rotator cuff tendon some 8 months ago - again terrible pain.

Changing to a thumb mouse held on my chest helped greatly. A got a vertical mouse for another computer and that help quite a bit. Changed the height of my desk top monitor and chair to make it more ergonometric and that helped.

But the think that helped the best, really has helped me get rid of 90% of the problem, was getting three pillows, two of the same size and one smaller. I put one of the two similar pillows under my butt and the other under my head. The 3rd is 15 " long by 6" wide and I put it between the two other pillows touch each of them. Laying on my back, this keeps my back straight or normal but leaves a space under the shoulders so each night gravity comes into play allowing the front chest muscles to stretch, slowly. And it really works best laying with my arms in the "hands up" position, get the most stretch that way.

Other than muscle memory which causes pain if I do one of the things that caused pain in the first place, I am 90% pain free and my chiropractor has said my back is near straight each time I see him (my back muscles being pulled by my chest muscles no longer pull my spine out of alignment).

So, that's the update and tips for anyone else who may suffer with shoulder or back (upper or lower) pain. Nothing worse than a knot in the upper scapular which causes constant pain, pain with movement and headaches. Also, a lot of ibuprofen and acetaminophen help during the process.

So, thanks to the tips provided by members. It all worked together and worked out well for me.

[Pourme]

John,
Glad to hear you found the source of your discomfort and are on the road to comfort!
Benny

[19and41]

Glad to see the good news, hope the pain stays away!