What I would really like to try is the foot mouse: www.footmouse.com

I like the idea of not wasting time moving my hand from keyboard to mouse, which is not a problem in Visual Studio, but becomes difficult to avoid when navigating/testing a web application.

It's a bit pricey though. And the quality of the web site makes me wonder about the quality of the product...

We all need to become like Zimbu (from Dilbert) so we can operate the mouse with our tail.

For myself, I'm kind of a big guy (6'2"), I just go for the largest mouse I can find and that works.

I also use that keyboard and absolutely love it.. Apparently Jeff Attwood likes it as well (shown in an image).

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000770.html

I started to have problems with my wrists a year ago and bought a couple of carpal tunnel braces for my wrists that I wear while working on the computer and the problem has gone away. The braces were at first awkward, but now I forget they are even there. Your mileage may vary but it appears to have worked for me.

Have you thought of using a tablet? I switched to a Wacom Intuos3 6"x8" tablet last year and I love it. It is USD$330 off the manufacturer's website, but it helped significantly with wrist/arm pain. I think it may actually be faster than using a mouse after you're used to its absolute positioning. You could probably get by with a 4x5 ($230); I got the bigger one for work because of my 2x20" and 1x30". If you want a cheaper, not as nice version, you could go for Wacom's Graphire 4x5, which is $100.

The tablet will not work if you use Synergy (http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/) the last time I checked, in case you use that.

This looks like it would be very comfortable on the wrist:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2149559,00.asp

I recently bought Microsoft's Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 (http://kyle.baley.org/ct.ashx?id=070ad8e4-bb56-42f7-b181-42d43635cbf0&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.microsoft.com%2fhardware%2fmouseandkeyboard%2fproductdetails.aspx%3fpid%3d086).

It's okay but I don't think I'd recommend it highly. Comments are here: http://kyle.baley.org/ProductReviewsOrHowToEaseBuyersRemorse.aspx

I'd look into Evoluent's Vertical Mouse. Might be worth a test-drive but since you likely don't spend a lot of time with your hand on a mouse, it might be more cumbersome to get your hand into that position every time you're forced to use it.

In Writer, try playing with F6 and Tab; you can get to the options on the right once you figure it out. :)

Have you tried one of these keyboards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinesis_(keyboard) ?

I've been using one for about 6 years now. Very good.

I'm using a simple tablet for almost 3 years now. I'm using the Wacom Graphire 3, only as a mouse. http://www.wacom-europe.com/int/products/graphire4/index.asp?lang=en&pdx=10

Ever tried going out with some friends on Friday and Saturday night? That usually works great for wrist pain! :)

(I also have MSFT natural keyboard BTW and would never go back).

(I really like you blog too!)

I switched to the Kensington Expert Mouse (a trackball) a few years ago after getting wrist pains. It's eliminated those now, and I did a full review here:

http://www.tobinharris.com/2007/2/5/adopting-the-kensington-expert-mouse

I also did a follow up review after using it for 1 year.

http://www.tobinharris.com/2007/4/21/the-kensington-expert-mouse-1-year-later

That natural keybaord looks great, but the data hands look amazing (if not a bit insane!). I wander if I'll get away with this in my office :)

http://www.timthelion.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/datahands.html

This site has a good collection of mice and keyboards: http://www.ergocanada.com/

I switched to the Evoluent vertical mouse (http://www.ergocanada.com/products/mice/evoluent.html) and Kinesis Maxim keyboard (http://www.ergocanada.com/products/keyboards/kinesis_maxim.html) a couple of years ago, and I didn't have any wrist pain since.

I've been using that exact keyboard with no pain for two years. Life hacker has been feeding the world a steady stream of mouse free tips and utilities:

http://lifehacker.com/software/mouser/hack-attack-more-on-mouseless-navigation-217420.php

Hanselman likes the vertical mouse:

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/DiggingTheNewVerticalMouseHelpingMyCarpalTunnel.aspx

I'm a big fan of the 3M ergonomic mouse. I also use the same keyboard as you, and it's definitely the best I've used.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergonomics/home/products/ergonomicmouse/

If your wrist feels sore when you rotate it from it's natural position to sit on a regular mouse, this one may be for you.

I've gone completely mouse-less a couple of times. It's possible if you use the number pad as a mouse - Ctrl Shift NumLock.

http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsvista/mousekeys.aspx

http://www.ucandoit.org.uk/knowledgebase/stickmousekeys.html

It's not that much fun, but a good skill to master anyway, in case you're stuck in front of a computer with a dead mouse :)

Kirk

I've got a Wacom Graphire 6x8 tablet, which works great. I'm a big fan of having a variety of pointing devices, since variety is the antidote for repetitive stress injury.

I wrote a bit about my experience with the tablet here: http://weblogs.asp.net/jgalloway/archive/2006/06/14/Mouseless-Computing.aspx

The things that have always disappointed me in non-vanilla keyboards are the rearrangement of the center cluster (pgup/dwn, del, ins, etc), the rearrangement of the Fn keys (not in groups of 4) and the "F" switch. This keyboard at least sticks with the traditional center cluster layout. I might give it a try.

I think the better question to ask is how to use your mouse rather than which ones to use. With the level of use we put into a mouse every single one is going to cause problems.

As a consequence I've training my left hand to use a leftie mouse so I can switch back and forth. I prefer to keep the mouse in my left hand at work and when I get home I use my right. Even wear and tear, I've not had a single problem knock knock.

For my left hand I use a Logitech MX610 and for my right hand I use a MX Revolution also from Logitech.

I use the ms natural keyboard 4000 as well, and love it. The mouse I use is the G5 laser mouse from logitech (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/359&cl=us,en). It's worked very well for me. I'm with Søren on the "ambimousdrous". I taught myself to use a mouse with either hand 10 years ago, and haven't had any issues in that time. I switch back and forth frequently, and find some tasks are best optimised for left handed mouse use and some for right handed mouse use. That's one reason I chose the G5 -- you can use it as either a left handed or right handed mouse.

What I've done vs wrist pains:

Use a trackball with a large ball at work and keep on using a mouse at home.

This makes you use different kinds of movements for controlling your pointer.

I would personally recommend against drawing tablets because they tend to cost to much time to switch to and from.