Any repetitive stress injury solutions to all that clicking

With all the clicking and typing we do in EQ it can lead to repetitive stress pain/injuries and I am wondering what people have found to be most effective to limit RSI (repetitive stress injuries / pain) when being on the computer a lot (in this case playing EQ).

Looked around for a tap to click mouse that isn't mechanical (ie does't push down and get that click feel through your finger but is just a tap the surface) but it seems such an item does not exist.

Anyone suggestions from those who suffer from RSI and have found solutions that makes this better for them?

Found this regarding mouse use but hoping folks have more ideas out there https://mousergb.com/how-to-reduce-pain-in-mouse-use-with-5-simple-tips/

I would look first at your workstation ergonomics. Are you using a sit/stand desk? What is the chair height? Desk height? Monitor height? Monitor distance? Get yourself in the best position possible to avoid worsening your current RSI and avoid further RSIs.

For the mouse question, I would look at vertical mice. People at my work swear by them.

Thanks for the vertical mouse idea I didn't know those existed.

Use more keybinds instead of mouse clicks.

I use a trackball. EDIT: Thumb trackball.

I also use the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard. That has an "Application" button that I can customize with the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center software. I've changed that button to be a left mouse click. I've been unable to use a button on it for right click, unfortunately.

In the past, I've had keyboards that had dedicated mouse buttons so I could have left click and right click. However, as you get older you start to find that many good products you like get discontinued by the manufacturer. The bad products continue to proliferate, though .

Mice and Keyboards with programable G buttons are nice. I can set G1 to be SHIFT+ALT+1 which is something that is otherwise unusable. I use " ` " (~ key) to cycle NPC. I use my num pad for casting. You can multibind and use more keys for Xtar selections and etc. You can use team speak so you don't have to type. There are a lot of ways to remove the mouse from EQ. Except overseer, terrible... get a touch screen?

Don't forget to stretch. Not just your wrist. Everything is connected. That mouse shoulder gets real tight, and so does everything else. Your Hammy's pull on your back and your mouse hand pulls on your shoulder and gets you from 2 directions.

My PC desk is not as deep as I'd like, so I don't have room to lay my whole forearm on it when I use the computer/mouse. I added a small folding table (TV tray for us old guys) just in front of the desktop surface on the right side, with a firm pillow on top, and lay my arm down on that. Worked like a charm, been using it for a bit over a year now.

I can no longer use a regular mouse for more than a couple hours or I'll feel it for the next 2-3 days.

I've moved to using thumb trackballs years ago and the difference is HUGE.

Take a look at the Logitech Ergo M575 Wireless Trackball.

I use a lazy boy recliner with the keyboard in my lap and the trackball on the arm of the chair. The width and height of the arm rest are critical. Mine gives just the right amount of support so there is little to no strain. The mouse is in a fixed location with my wrist straight. The only motion is your thumb and fingers.

Even with the best possible setup I try to avoid doing super repetitive tasks. Especially inventory micro management like TS quests and old school trade skill combines.

I also wear wrist guards with metal that prevents bending wrists. I took old socks and cut them into sleeves I wear under the wrist guards and wash every day, as having the dirty wrist guard fabric against the skin can lead to problems.

Are you familiar with roller blade wrist guards? I am talking about the kind that use the hard plastic that protrudes below the wrist to prevent impact fractures in a fall. Wonder if those could raise your hand a bit and help? Maybe also use an elbow pad but on your forearm. All that would space your arm off the desk about a inch.

It looks like the kind I am talking about aren't very common...

My advice.

1) You should not be mouse clicking a lot when playing EQ to begin with. Get a gaming mouse with side buttons or a game pad.

All the main stuff should be tied to side buttons with macros on your MMO/gaming mouse or to a gamepad that engages macros. All of the stuff you do should be automated with a macros so you click once to launch all your offensive or aggro abilities.

If you are physically clicking your main mouse button each time you heal, backstab, kick or pull aggro, you need a new set-up.



2) Don't palm grip your mouse. Palm gripping is fine for your average person browsing the web, but you don't want to use this grip for gaming.

Palm grippers suffer more from RSI because the tendon is constantly under tension because the hand is stretched out and it and has to deal with a lot of stress on each click. Palm grippers also tend to use heavier mice which makes this pressure on tendons even worse.

Instead, finger grip a mouse, it limits the travel and pressure needed to click. Your hand is more in a ball shape and this is the natural position of the hand. And also try to limit the weight of the mouse. Almost all e-sports players finger grip a mouse in combination with light mice. It allows you to easily move a mouse around, and keeps stress on tendons very minimal.

Quick mouse guide. Large palm gripping spaceship-mice are fine for someone browsing the internet. But you seriously don't want to use these things for gaming.

These spaceship-mice are ironically some of the best selling "gaming" mice, even though no serious e-sports player uses them. It's no wonder people are getting RSI if they are dragging 100+ gram monstrosities around.

No idea if it would help, but they make similar items for bowling, but they are somewhat adjustable. Never used one, but many in my league swear by them.

Use ergonomic peripherals and adapt your playstyle to avoid repetitive actions. Besides that, our everyday habits also have an enormous influence.

Take frequent rests during your gaming sessions. Eat as healthy as you can, be especially careful with sugar. Keep yourself active; exercise your neck, shoulders, arms and wrists often. Don't give in to anxiety; keep a positive mindset.

I really don't understand why EQ doesn't have native controller support yet, it is a 1 hour job for a programmer with DirectX Xinput to add it to a game. Even $1 indie games on PC have native controller support nowadays.

Even MMO with much more complex combat than EQ, like Black Desert, support controllers on PC. No reason why EQ can't have controller support.

i got 7 accounts , and atm with the new expansion i don't want to log in and clicking many times for the overseer agent conversions , since i got more things to do like progressions and all.

with the new overseer and several toons that i want to get reg xp , i do use overseer everyday , and agents piling up........

i had a problem when we had a level increase expanson , and i was leveling / doing progressions , so the agents were piling up, to the point that i was lagging doing overseer ( i had 15 or so common duplicated agents in most slots .and there was 114 different common agent at that time ( we added some more since then .............) so it was something close to 114 X 15 ( 1710 common agents )

one common conversion need 11 clicks..........>>>>>do the count { thousands of clicks } and it was only to convert the common agents.....
1) click quest
2) click common conversion
3) click select agent
4) click avail agent # 1
5) click select agent
6) click avail agent # 2
7) click select agent
8) click select agent # 3
9) click start quest
10 ) are you sure ? click yes
11 ) click collect reward

atm i am not doing conversions i want to play and do progressions and all ( i do use overseer for the xp and new agent / quests , but i know at some point before it start lagging my overseer , i will have to take many hours to do them.

i just hope they are doing something about the agent conversions, or just stop the agent piling up , when you have 7 to 10 duplicated .

My strat is to maximize keybinds, especially ones that are low stress to hit. I primarily use q, e, 1. You also don't need to hit many keys simultaneously like in a lot of games, so EQ is pretty low stress.

Just one guess, no idea if it's a factor or not....

I've been playing EQ 22 years now, and I wasn't exactly young when I started. If the original devs were my age, they may have never gotten into using controllers. I never have. All my gaming has been on PCs, with keyboard and mouse.

As other have mentioned, key binds make thing easier. I use the autofire_4.0 program that just spams my key bind with the touch of a button to turn on and off. I lose some DPS and efficiency, but it's worth it.

My experience is that playing my guitar at least 30 minutes a day, relieves the stress to the muscles and tendons I use to play EQ. I use totally different tendons for the two functions, I guess, and they seem to offset each other. YMMV.