I love my Quill mice. I have both right-handed and left-handed versions, and thay are the only mice I have found that I can use for hours without inducing hand, arm and shoulder pain.
According to Tom Large, President & CEO of the Quill’s maker, Designer Appliances, Inc., the new buzzword is “Functional Neutral,” -- “ergonomics” having been so abused and misapplied as to be almost valueless these days. Tom commented:
“We are popping up on national TV a lot these days (in the US) and Prof Hedge from Cornell is on with us saying that if you mouse for 20 hours a week in a non neutral posture you will get an RSI injury in 2-5years, Iso functional neutral is functional while in a neutral position and we are the only mouse to facilitate it.”
As Tom explains more fully:
“The computer supply market is awash with ‘ergonomic’ products that have no measurable benefit, even to the point that one Professor of Computer Ergonomics publicly stated that the term Ergonomics has been so over used that it no longer represents any standard by which a user can gauge any benefit from a product so described. It would be understandable that readers could be skeptical about another “wonder’ product sold at a high price on the basis of fear.
“The greatest fear is that of the unknown, the issues of RSI are now better known, which is how by looking at them clinically we are we able to start to solve them. This knowledge causes us to focus on the detail of how the body works and what can go wrong and precipitate the problem. What we realized was that our bodies are not letting us down by what they do, but we are demanding too much of them in what we ask. They are working correctly while we work them in an incorrect manner and do so for a long time under the wrong circumstances.
The challenge we face in correcting this mismatch is in the scale of the task that we ask our bodies to perform. The biggest causal RSI factor is in performing a task that requires 2,000,000 repetitions a year. If you move 2 inches only, each time that you click, that is over 60 miles of movement across your mouse mat each year. Doing anything 2,000,000 times a year means that tiny issues, insignificant events, create huge problems.
The ignorance behind the appreciation of the RSI problem is the lack of appreciation of the scale and the amplification effects that this level of repetition produce. We commonly say there is a one in a million chance of something happening, meaning it is unlikely. If an event that could lead to RSI was that unlikely then that event could happen, for most of us, twice a year from mouse clicking alone. Add to this gripping the equivalent of 750 tons a year and possibility must turn to probability, which is what the Atlanta Industrial Medicine study proved.
“Designer Appliances intends to apply quasi-medical solutions to issues that affect computer users. The costs of doing so are higher, not because of glossy brochures and fancy packaging, but because we will spend far more on experts in people and medicine than experts in bending plastic. Our name, intentionally, is not blazoned across our product; I am confidant that you will remember the Quill and us from using it and not reading it. I would also recommend that you keep your, old mouse and take it out once in awhile and use it, least you forget why you made this investment in the first place. I did recently, after 20 minutes I rubbed my wrist and I put it back in the drawer.”
Tom Large says that there are two relevant Functional Neutral postures: Dynamic and Static, as defined by Prof. Hedge:
• Dynamic Posture (in which muscles are tensed and rapidly relaxed though it may be repetitive) will likely tire but (in isolation) is unlikely to injure. Keyboarding is Dynamic Posture (how many Ergo Keyboards have been sold???)
• Static Posture (tensing muscles and holding tense) is the villain of the piece and is the 20 hours a week, 2-5 year to injury reference. Tom claims that the Quill therefore the only Functional Neutral Mouse, and Designer Appliances soon to be released MacNib “Virtually Hands Free (VHF) Mousing System” software (already available for Windows) will obviously save the extra Dynamic Posture activity of clicking.
Tom Large has also recently rejoined the Mac-using fraternity. He notes:
“After cutting my teeth on a Mac back in the mid 80’s and being forced onto PC, I am now the proud owner of a Mac. iMac, a basic. I bought it needing it to check and proof the McNib software and then found I could buy Mac Vx and have compatibility with all my Word and Excel files, discovered Entourage and think it is the best suite ever, and so moved everything over to only find that my DSL email system won’t send files over about 200Kb, (AT&T) but works fine when accessing via my PC.
“I had totally forgotten what a dream Mac’s are and this IMac (wish I had gone for a better spec iMac or something now) is awesome.”
The Quill Mouse is now the only mouse listed on the GSA Section 508 website. What does that mean?
In 1998, Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible technology interferes with an individual’s ability to obtain and use information quickly and easily.
Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508 (29 U.S.C.794d), agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.
The following are excerpts from the Government Standards and why The Quill and VHF Mousing System are the only Mouse Products to currently comply.
Guide to the Section 508 Standards for Electronic and Information Technology
Desktop and Portable Computers (1194.26) Updated: August 1, 2001
Subsection: (2) Controls and keys shall be operable with one hand and shall not require tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist. The force required to activate controls and keys shall be 5 lbs. (22.2 N) maximum.
How will individuals with disabilities benefit from the requirement enabling operability without tight grasping, pinching, twisting, or pressure?
Individuals with tremor, cerebral palsy, or other disabilities may have difficulty operating systems which require fine motor control, a steady hand, or two hands to be used simultaneously for operation. Some laptop computers, for example, require two hands to simultaneously depress buttons on both sides of the laptop to open it, while other laptops can open when a user moves a single switch on the front.
Individuals with high spinal cord injuries, arthritis, and other conditions may have difficulty operating controls which require significant strength. This provision limits the force required to five pounds and is based on section 4.27.4 of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines, codified as the ADA Standards for Accessible Design as part of the Department of Justice’s regulation implementing title III of the ADA at 28 C.F.R. pt. 36, Appendix A. This provision is also consistent with the Telecommunications Act Accessibility Guidelines.
If you suffer from typing pain or are experiencing warning signs of RSI, check out the Quill mouse. I can attest from personal experience using the Quill for a years now that you'll be glad you did.
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