Keyboard and Mouse Stabbing Pain

Mojo Chat is the virtual physical therapy platform brought to you by Mojo Health

If you use a computer keyboard and mouse for hours on end, you may be familiar with the sharp, stabbing pain that can develop in your wrist. Have no fear, Mojo Chat is here for you.

Those of us who sit at a desk using a computer for hours on end are at risk for a serious injury. This kind of work doesn’t seem very risky at first glance, but after years of chugging away at a modern computer workstation over 35% of office workers experience arm, wrist, or hand pain. This kind of pain can be very sharp and it’s often described as though someone is jamming a knife into the wrist!

Sometimes this injury is called “mouse arm”. That’s not a technical diagnosis, but it certainly gets the point across. Mouse arm almost always results in reduced productivity and can go on for months. It can be so persistent that some who suffer with it begin to wonder if they will ever use a computer without pain again. The good news is that in our physical therapy clinics we successfully treat patients with exactly this problem every day, and Mojo Chat is ready to give the same help to you, right now. Let’s take a look at the details of “mouse arm” and some of the physical therapy diagnoses that are associated with it.

What’s Causing This Stabbing Pain?

“Mouse arm” is a general term that includes several conditions that can result from using a computer keyboard and mouse. We all use a keyboard and mouse a little differently than one another, which means the pain can be in varying spots, and have varying root causes. For this reason it’s critical for a physical therapist to carefully test and diagnose the condition in order to provide relief and healing. After relief has been gained, patients need to learn how to use a keyboard and mouse with better technique to avoid causing a new flare up. Proper diagnosis requires a trained and experienced physical therapist, but the good news is that we have this training and expertise available to you in Mojo Chat!

Mouse arm almost always occurs in the dominant hand (that is, if you’re right handed then it would happen in your right hand and wrist). This falls into the category of injury that we generally call an overuse injury. Overuse injuries happen when you perform a repetitive motion for hours on end, probably with little to no breaks. This can work fine for a while, but the muscles and tendons involved with carefully moving a mouse on the desk and clicking its buttons repeatedly are just not designed for these demands. On top of that, a work environment that is stressful with deadlines and competing projects can add fuel to the fire, causing you to continue the overuse behavior without listening to the warning signs.

How Mouse Arm Starts

The first warning sign of overuse that leads to “mouse arm” is a tingling sensation in the wrist while using the mouse. It may not begin as pain, per se, but a subtle tingling feeling is definitely a warning that you should pay attention to. The best response at this point is to take breaks and relax the hand and wrist, making sure to change the arm posture during breaks.

You see, a computer mouse rests on the desk in front of you and this location causes you to flex your wrist by lifting your knuckles upward. All by itself this motion can be a problem, but on top of that you may be tempted to rest your wrist or the base of your palm on the desk while maintaining this wrist position. This combination of wrist and hand posture is truly treacherous! It may give you good control of the mouse, allowing for both fast and precise movements, but your wrist and hand are just not well suited to doing this for hours on end.

How Mouse Arm Progresses

As you continue to use a mouse in this awkward yet productive posture, the tingling sensation sets in. When you ignore the tingling and just keep working like this, next there is a warm feeling that arises in the tendons, along the underside of your wrist, often extending toward your elbow. Nest, the fingers will begin to feel stiff, with a slight pain in each knuckle.

The final stage of development is when the sharp, stabbing pain arrives, which will feel as though someone is quite literally stabbing a flathead screwdriver into the underside of your wrist. (Trust us on this.) This pain shoots into the wrist when you first touch the mouse again, and will continue intermittently as you use it. When this condition progresses even more, the pain may continue around the clock and affect other activities as well, not just when you are actually using a computer.

Other Related Injuries

“Mouse arm” is a blanket term that includes several physical therapy diagnoses. The actual diagnoses differ in terms of slight variation in root cause, and each diagnosis requires treatment that is different from the others. Here are some of the most common:

Wrist Tendonitis: Inflammation of the tendons surrounding the wrist joint, made worse by underlying conditions such as arthritis or diabetes.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A condition that causes pain, numbness, and tingling in the hand and fingers due to compression of the median nerve as it passes through the carpal tunnel in the wrist.
Tennis Elbow: Pain on the outer side of the elbow, usually due to overuse and strain of the forearm muscles that attach to the bone at the elbow. While often associated with tennis, it can be caused by any repetitive twisting or gripping motion.
Golfer’s Elbow: Pain on the inside of the elbow and forearm, often caused by overuse or repetitive strain of the forearm muscles and tendons, similar to tennis elbow, but the pain is located on the inner side of the elbow instead of the outer side.
De Quervain's tenosynovitis: Affects the tendons on the thumb side of the wrist, occurring when the tendons around the base of the thumb become inflamed and swollen, causing pain with movement and gripping.
Dupuytren's Contracture: A condition where the tissue under the skin of the palm thickens and contracts, causing one or more fingers to curl towards the palm, making it difficult to straighten them.

How to Avoid Recurrence

After you use Mojo Chat or visit a physical therapist to heal your mouse arm, you will need to make some changes to how you use the mouse, in order to avoid a recurrence of the injury. Here is a list of proven techniques to that can make mouse arm only a distant memory for you:

Lower your chair an inch or two, which will cause the angle of your wrist to become more neutral.
Keep your shoulders back and your chest forward.
Do not let your wrist or the palm of your hand touch the desk. Instead of that, use your shoulder and arm muscles to float your arms in the air. This will not be as productive at first but you will get the hang of it.
Do not use arm or wrist supports such as foam pads as these only encourage more of the incorrect posture.
When using the computer and pausing to think for a moment, remove your hand from the mouse entirely. During this time rotate your forearm so that your palm faces upward, gently flex your wrist so that your palm begins to face back toward your body, and then open and close your fingers a few times. With practice you will naturally return to this position whenever not using the mouse for a moment.
You can even experiment with moving your mouse to the other side of the desk and using your non-dominant hand for a few days. Your productivity may dip at first until you get the hang of it, but your dominant hand and wrist will thank you.

You’re In Great Hands

At Mojo Health, we treat mouse arm pain, wrist pain, forearm pain, palm pain and thumb pain every day, and our patients swear by our results. With our online physical therapy platform Mojo Chat, you can start recovery from home at any time, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Mojo Chat begins with easy to answer questions about your wrist, hand, arm, fingers and more—the exact same questions our physical therapists ask when they see you in person. Then, you can record a short video to show our physical therapists exactly where it hurts, explain how it started, and share any questions or concerns you may have.

A licensed physical therapist reviews everything and delivers a clear diagnosis, plus a tailored 14-day treatment plan you can start immediately. Mojo Chat guides you daily, lets you ask questions via text or video, and adjusts your plan as you heal. Our therapists and care team track your progress to ensure you’re on the right path. And get this–86% of users who follow the full 14-day treatment plan report significant to full healing. For users who need more help, Mojo Chat guides them to the best in-person physical therapy clinics nearby.

Don’t Put Up With Mouse Arm

If sharp, stabbing pain in your wrist is ruining your productivity at the computer, don’t wait. Start a Mojo Chat case today and take the first step toward relief. If your employer offers Mojo Chat, check with Human Resources for a coupon code. Or, simply use a credit card to get started.

No appointments. No hassle. Just expert help when you need it—anytime, anywhere.