kb & mouse for post carpal tunnel surgery

[Mr N8]

I have a coworker who is having carpal tunnel surgery next monday, and we need to replace the 6 year old mouse / keyboard to suite her needs. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

nate

[doctorgonzo]

One person here who has had problems with capral tunnel has your basic MS ergonomic keyboard and a trackball. Most people with the split ergonomic keyboards like them.

[Orcmonkey]

I love my natural KB... But I don't have CTS... Yet!

[corosus]

form personal experiance i'de advise a trackball, even if you don't have CTS (yet!)

[HAL9000]

Keep in mind, some people cannot stand using a trackball. What I have found that works nice are some mice made by 3M. They look more like a joystick and come in different sizes to fit your hand. The people that I know that were recommended to use trackballs love them and won't go back to a mouse or trackball. The added bonus is that all of your shooter games that use a mouse, now have a joystick.

[Mr N8]

Thanks for the advise. I will probably get a "natural" keyboard for her. I will check out the product by 3m, Hal, thanks for that. Do you know if it is supported by NT?

[HAL9000]

Not sure off hand. The people I know that got them were running Win9x and they were simply detected as a standard PS/2 mouse. It's sending the same signals to the PS/2 port, just using different mechanics to do it, so I don't see why it wouldn't work under NT.

[Mr N8]

Thanks. I know that WinNT sometimes won't detect the scroll funtion on mice, but the software for it should take care of that. I may try one out for a little while, myself, and see if I like it. Here is a link if anyone else is interested in seeing it.

http://products.3m.com/usenglish/office/compworkstation.jhtml?powurl=GSNG558FYWbeGSVFQG1Y9FgeGST1T4S9TCgvSGJ62MP1RBgl

[Mr N8]

Oh, I just noticed that it uses USB to connect to the PC, and NT isn't going to like that at all. Do you know if using a USB -> PS/2 adapter would work for these?

[K A Hall]

I read through the manual and it says an adapter is provided and should work. I have never seen these and I do have some symptoms of the dreaded CT setting in. No pain yet, just the numbness. This might slow it down a little or at least put may hand/wrist in a different posistion. If anyone calls up to find out the price post it here. I may do so myself next week. Thanks for the info Hal.

[AlwaysUp]

Not trying to be too funny, because my ex-wife had the surgery and it ain't no joke; but I have never worried about carpal tunnel as I use my two index fingers and mostly my elbows as the repetitive motion points.