Observed Finger Behaviour During Computer Mouse Use

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dennerlein, Jack T. ; Lee DL ; McLoone H
• Description:
  Two-button computer mouse users may exhibit sustained, static finger lifting behaviours to prevent inadvertent activations by avoiding finger pressure on the buttons, which leads to prolonged, static finger extensor muscle loading. One hundred graduate students were observed during normal computer work in a university computer facility to qualify and quantify the prevalence of lifted finger behaviours and extended finger postures, as well as wrist/forearm and grip behaviour, during specific mouse activities. The highest prevalences observed were 48% of the students lifted their middle finger during mouse drag activities, and 23% extended their middle finger while moving the mouse. In addition, 98% of the students rested their wrist and forearm (77%) or wrist only (21%) on the workstation surface, and 97% had an extended wrist posture (15 degrees -30 degrees ) when using the mouse. Potential applications of these findings include future computer input device designs to reduce finger lifting behaviour and exposures to risk factors of hand/forearm musculoskeletal pain. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Electromagnetic Phenomena Engineering Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Biomechanics Computer-equipment Equipment-design Ergonomics Humans Injury-prevention Muscle-function Muscle-physiology Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Physical-stress Physiological-factors

  More +
• ISSN:
  0003-6870
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  107-113
• Volume:
  39
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20033028
• Citation:
  Appl Ergon 2008 Jan; 39(1):107-113
• Contact Point Address:
  Jack T. Dennerlein, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard School of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Ergonomics
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e86e7ebe8e8e01e24a6904f9b29e0c52653f0432e0f5a0eb485b36a8c2c972047812170c1b38eff78b2b48d1117a62177522c08cc3b430c5f063e8ae49f38efe
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188760/cdc_188760_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.99 MB ]