PSA - If you have problems with hand or arm pain in gaming…

And if you have already been told it isn't carpal tunnel, consider whether you have hypermobility. I am posting this in case it helps even one person not go through years of doctor visits, therapy, surgery, etc. A young me would have loved to have seen this. Anyway, here is a link to extensive details about it: http://www.movebalancesport.com/hypermobility-syndrome

I recently broke from my self-imposed exile of playing only turn-based games with voice control to play and finish Enderal, and now I have to go back into turn-based gaming exile (thankfully there are tons of great ones still to play…)

If anyone wants to know more about how to use DragonNaturallySpeaking with gaming, let me know. It is the only reason I can still even do my favorite hobby long-term.

I was getting really bad elbow, arm and neck pain, even up to my ear, from mouse and keyboard work at one job I had. I even bought a vertical mouse and an elbow pad, which did help.

That's a big reason why I like using a game controller these days. Mouse and keyboard gets painful.

Yes, for a while for me, both the things you mentioned help. I liked the vertical mouse , but then I was hurting in different places. I was able to use a controller for games (as opposed to mouse and keyboard) until my forearms were hurt, not just my hands. I also tried a footmouse just for clicking, but that just hurt too. Still, I think one key is to change things up some like with vertical or controller as you suggest. When I played Enderal recently, I was using Dragon voice commands to search every container, etc. That still saved me a lot of clicking. Every little bit helps. Based on the lack of response generally, I guess I'm in the minority in having the hypermobility problem. I guess I assumed it was more common, but I'm glad others aren't having the problem.

Well, people who have the problem are likely finding other hobbies.

I wonder if having a whole bunch of different methods could help? Use keyboard + normal mouse for half an hour, then controller, then keyboard + v-mouse/trackball, then maybe some funky controller like one of those keyboards-on-a-mouse…

The industry keeps messing with those control-via-brainwave things but I've got no idea what the state of the technology is.

I have a friend who can not type very well - he is really quite brilliant person but his wrist are very weak (he does not play games but he has to type a lot for work). His solution was to modify dragon-speach via an emacs wrapper so he could do all his typing via voice…. actually worked quite well.

The pain I get is strictly limited to K&M. I always end up sort of propping myself up to the desk/keyboard with my left arm and wrenching my right mouse wrist some (when work gets intense or stressful, or when gaming gets tense) and I think that's what causes the longer term pain issues for me.

With a controller I can sit in any position. I can even play with the thing between and below my knees, stretching my back a bit. Or leaning way back. Turn to the side and turn my neck to stretch a little. Push the thing way out in front to stretch between my shoulder blades. Just about any position where I can see the monitor. It's so much more flexible than M&K. So many games are set up with controllers in mind today anyway.

Any prolonged sitting and repetitive controller motions is going to cause issues eventually. I have a friend who is a casual PS4 player who plays those NFL/Madden games only. He set up a treadmill by a HD monitor and plays it while walking.

I have just one thing to say get a powerball! 15 minutes a day of practice and most problems are gone.

I was doing graphic design at the time, and tons of copy/type corrections. Very precise detailed Photoshop work, too. Not sure a powerball would work for that very well?

But I'm not doing that anymore.

I had trouble like that when I was younger. A wrist rest on the mouse pad and keyboard fixed it. A trackball can also help, although those tend to get gunked up and need to be cleaned regularly.