Anyone know if it works? My carpal and arthritis probs have significently increased and I'm desperately trying to achieve ambidextrousness and feeling the same tingling in my left hand.:( After three days of little rest from this, any good news would be welcome. I'm not insurable so trying to get an operation is an exercise in Kafka country. Took me weeks to get a brace and then it did more damage than good. Emily

Have you considered other adaptive possibilities? A headband-mounted optical mouse might do the job, or a foot-powered trackball. This company has a good picture and description of a head-mouse: www.infogrip.com There's plenty of competition in that field now.

Good to know about-- there was a point and click finger ring that involves no lateral movement-- which tends to be the killer. Thank you so much!! Emily

I doubt this will be of any use for you, but my company just bought a wireless mouse for a conference room that employs a gyroscope (in addition to the normal IR ball-less thing). You move the mouse in the air instead of on the table. Whether that would be any less painful or damaging, I can't say. I do know that they make foot pedals to replace mouse buttons. I don't know what the replacement for the mouse would be for that one, though. A coworker suffered from severe Carpa Tunnel (sp?) and replaced his keyboard with a very expensive one which minimized hand movement (it rearranged every key and broke them into 2 circular zones...right and left. Said it took a week to overcome the new arrangement). After a few weeks, he experienced little pain. Unfortunately, those keyboards are very expensive (hundreds of dollars). He used keyboard far more than mouse, so that might not help you, considering the need for heavy mouse movement in poserish programs. Track balls are supposed to have helped some and they aren't too expensive... eric

I suffer from carpel tunnel syndrome in both wrists and find that using a thumb trackball from Logitech helps tremendously - no wrist movement at all. I got it first at work and was in love with it after 15 minutes and eventually purchased one for use at home. I also have a Microsoft Natural keyboard. Both the mouse and keyboard were about $50 each and totally worth it. Also for wrist braces, make sure the ones you get are long enough, at least halfway to your elbow, in order to get proper support. I use the Deluxe Wristguard by Futuro (found at Walmart, some larger grocery stores) for about $20 each.

I have had a trackball and wristguards that swivel and support the forearm for 15 years. I highly recommend them--they've gotten me this far but no farther. I'm just wearing out, I guess! I have a bit more arthritis in my thumb, so it was not too good to use the thumb one, though I could see the value in its very slight motion. Got a custom arm brace--only ten times what you paid, but aggravates the arthritis. According to my map a rock and a hard place are a couple feet ahead. Still this cursor thingey might keep me going a bit, needs one click--Ive got to see if it can drag. And I would appreciate any other disability tips or sites. The ability to create is a strong motivator to keep going. Emily

Attached Link: voice mouse

Argggh, Emily :( I found this...called Voice Mouse. I don't know how it would work in graphics apps, but it sure might help with everything else..this was just an announcement. Haven't delved any further into it but might be worth checking out, you think?

Well, Spit, even if it doesn't do everything its encouraging that there are more and more programs being developed for this. It's also giving me the idea that the most important thing in digital art would seem to be the imagination, since even fingers are not absolutely needed. :)) Em

Attached Link: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/

Don't know if there's anything here that helps but it's Microsoft's Assistive Technology site.

Attached Link: http://www.evoluent.biz/

There's also a new thing called a Vertical Mouse. It was previewed about 2 months ago as coming soon. It looks like you'd taken a standard mouse, turned it on it's side then moved the optical sensor area to what is now the bottom (that was previously the side). Buttons remain on the side, plus an extra one on the other side (what was the bottom). The whole purpose of this was to allow the wrist to be in a natural position with the forearm bones above one another and the thiumb up - expressly to remove the constraints on the carpal nerves. But as it uses your arm muscles to make the movements there are reportedly (I not seen one in the flesh) some problems with very small precise movements - and tired forearm muscles for the first few days! But perhaps try 2 mice (one PS/2 one USB e.g.), and reserve your current one for just the critical movements? Here's a link I found (attached).

There are two major programs out there: 1) IBM Via Voice and 2) Dragon Naturally Speaking. I have used both but not with Poser. Poser is still for fun and I don't want to spoil it quite yet. What they can do: The can recognize what you say very well but not perfectly. They can use this to put text in an editor. Additionally, they can operate menus, buttons, and web browsers. This ability varies somewhat based on the application and the platform. They work better at this on Windows 95/98/Me. NT based platforms NT-4/2000 do not work as well but do work. My work is mostly on 2000 so I don't get the full function. I haven't used on XP so I'm guessing it works better. Dragon also has a special feature called mouse grid. This lets you call a grid on the screen and place the mouse in a zone. By saying "mouse grid 1,3,9" you can locate the mouse to a location quickly and acurately. You can adjust it using additional mouse commands like mouse up 1-10 (pixels). You can then either click or mark. Mark allows a second mouse location and then performs a drag. Basically all this is slower than using a mouse and takes patients to learn and use. Bottom line is it is better than not being able to do anything. Look at it as the cost of being disabled:-( I have spent 21 years as a computer guy and my wrists are also wearing out and I too am looking into what things I can do to preserve my body. I have to keep functional for another 23 years somehow. I think I'll take a look at the head and foot mouse! Thanks greatly for the info.

I'm trying out QPointer HandsFree-- it sounds more intuitive than Dragon so I'm hoping. www.commodio.com It would be really nice not to have to stress-- that is move-- my right hand at all for a period of time. I'vehad pain before from Carpal but add in the arthritis and it's like setting your hand on fire. I'll report back on the commodio speech thingey once I get it. Keep your fingers crossed. If that doesn't hurt, of course.:)) Emily

I certainly hope you find something that works for you. I can imagine that trying to learn to use your left hand is very difficult but it would be a great accomplishment. There are new drug available all the time but between the drug companies and their creatures in Congress, a lot of people have to supplement their diet with Purina to aford them.

lm, I thought I had thanked you for that great site tip, but it must not have posted-- I got soooo much and very varied as well insights into ways of moving without moving so to speak. People have been just fantastic in offering to help, I thank you all. Emily

:-)