iGsture vs LP ergonomics?

[hberg32]

Hello - I wondered if anyone could speak to the ergonomic benefits of the TouchStream LP vs the iGesture, if any?

I've never been one to have any joint pain until fairly recently. I'm 28 and have noticed over the last six months that I've been having more and more forearm pain - though none at all in my actual wrist. I picked up an iGesture pad about a year ago - before I recall having any muscle pain - which may or may not be a contributing factor in the equation. I've noticed that I do have the bad habit of hovering over the pad, sometimes with my wrist resting on a rest, sometimes not. I have a feeling that I'm keeping my forearm muscles tense and exacerbating the situation, but I'm not positive. I stopped using the pad for a few months, but the pain never really went away.

Has anyone tried both the iGesture and the LP who can speak to the ergonomic differences? Did you find that you tend to hover more or less with one or the other, or was it about the same?

Thanks,
Henry

[MrLightTouch]

There are only three potential ergonomic differences between the pad and (the right half of) an LP (on tented frame):

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The LP has a gel wrist pad builtin that helps support your arm much of the time. Have you considered purchasing one of our standalone gel wrist pads ($8) or the equivalent? We recommend 1/2" gel pads that rise not more than a couple mm higher than the pointing surface, just to keep your wrist level.
The LP tented frame keeps the surface at a slight angle to reduce forearm pronation. keyalt.com actually sells a rubber wedge that you could set the pad on for similar effect.
The LP moves text pointing some other gestures to the left hand, spreading a bit of the workload away from the right hand.
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The intensity of work you're doing can be a big factor too. If you're in a field like CAD where you literally point&click all day, you may need to pay more attention to general arm 'maintenance' like timer software that forces you to take rest breaks, and basic arm/hand stretching/strengthening exercises as taught by a physical therapist. (Several ergonomic websites show examples).

[hberg32]

Well, after meeting with a physician and studying my workspace, it looks like the armrests on our chairs hit me right at the nerve in my elbow, and I've probably been doing "elbow plant" as well. Which means that the iGesture pad doesn't appear to have been a factor, I'm happy to say. However, on the theory that keeping anyhing to the right of the keyboard is a bad idea, I've upgraded to an LP which I am liking very much.

Henry