That mouse can lead to repetitive use injuries

Published 11:32 am Tuesday, August 5, 2025

By Dr. Ronald S. Dubin

Guest Columnist

Those little rascals that quietly roam around your house wreaking havoc with you, eating your furniture and your mouldings while leaving little droplets of brown looking rice for you to clean up. Yep, it’s the darn old mouse that you can never seem to get rid of. Well, guess what, there is another mouse that lurks around you that can cause even more problems for you. It’s the mouse that’s attached to your computer.

The real mouse  we all use – you can’t kill and we all have to have – a computer mouse. An average office worker uses a mouse three to six hours per day and for each minute of use there are numerous types of injuries that can occur including pressure problems, overuse of your upper extremity in your shoulder or neck or even having problems due to the ergonomics of improper sitting. These accumulative trauma disorders occur over prolonged periods of times – months or even years and in many you won’t be able to relate your problems to the mouse. Even sitting in one position can cause back and neck issues.

So what are these disorders? Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can occur from excessive pressure exerted on the palm of your hand. Or even by repetitive motion from your fingers tapping the mouse or constantly moving the mouse. These activities cause increased pressure on the median nerve in your wrist and can cause numbness  in several fingers and thumb, wake you constantly during the night where you have to shake your wrist constantly or hang it below the bed.

Cubital Tunnel Syndrome can occur where there is excess pressure in your elbow  where your funny bone is. That funny bone is actually the ulna nerve and can cause pain and tingling in your 4th and 5th finger. And that’s not funny!

Lateral Epicondylitis can also be caused by placing too much pressure on the outside part of your elbow. Or you can get DeQuervain’s Tenosynovitis or more simply tendinitis over the outside part of your wrist by placing too much pressure on this area.  Trigger finger or stenosing tenosynovitis can occur in your 3rd and 4th digit when you repeatedly move these digits or again excess and repetitive pressure is placed near these fingers.

Prolonged poor posture and awkward positioning of your shoulder can occur mostly when the mouse is placed too far away or too high. The most important thing to realize is this little mouse can cause as much of a problem to you as those little mice that squeak across your room.

Pay attention to your posture, maintain a comfortable wrist position, take breaks, keep the mouse at a comfortable height. You can even buy a well-padded mouse pad  on Amazon for $10 which is well worth its money.