Posted on 3rd Sep 2011 @ 4:36 PM

In many cases, combining two or more ergonomic products will further reduce the risk of injury, harm, or discomfort. For instance, a seat belt and an airbag together greatly reduce the likelihood of serious injuries in car accidents -- more so than either one of those safety features would on its own. Same thing with an ergonomic chair and keyboard.

However, the "more is better" axiom doesn't always hold true. For example, wearing both a safety "cage" guard and a plastic visor on a hockey mask would not protect your eyes and face any more than one or the other would individually -- and the combination would needlessly hinder your vision.

Now, let's talk about computer mice and mouse pads. Is it wise to buy both an ergonomic mouse and an ergonomic mouse pad in order to decrease the chances of developing carpal tunnel syndrome or other repetitive stress injuries? Or do these products work better on their own? We should also ask a third question: does combining an ergonomic mouse pad with an ergonomic mouse pad actually put additional stress on your wrist and hand?

Let's take a look at five types of ergonomic mice.

And now, we'll examine five kinds of ergonomic mouse pads.

The products above could amount to 25 different combinations of mice and mouse pads. Now, we can’t outline all of the 25 combinations and give you a yea or nay on each, but hopefully we can give you some guidelines on how to make sure you choose a combination that helps -- not hinders -- you.

As you can see, each of the five mouse pads provides a raised area for the wrist to rest upon while using a mouse. With a standard (non-ergonomic) mouse, it is easy to see how any one of these mouse pads can relieve the tension placed on the wrist when the hand moves the mouse around.

But if we take a closer look at the ergonomic mice, we get the impression that using them along with an ergonomic mouse pad might do more harm than good in some cases. For instance, both the joystick-style mouse and the handshoe mouse already have indentations where the person can place his or her wrist while operating the mouse; so the presence of a raised area offered by an ergonomic mouse pad may actually cause more discomfort than if it was not being used. Similarly, the rollermouse bar, which is designed to sit directly in front of a keyboard, already comes with wrist rests -- making those functions provided by ergonomic mouse pads obsolete.

However, ergonomic mouse pads might benefit users who work with either an Orthomouse or a Goldtouch mouse. These two devices force the user to rotate his or her hand position slightly to decrease stress on certain sensitive joints or muscles. If an ergonomic mouse pad did not restrict that rotation, it may give the user additional comfort during computer operation.

Hopefully, this guide will assist you in your ergonomic accessory decision-making process. If you're still not sure about a particular combination, go to a store and ask a salesperson to let you try these products in tandem with one another. Experiencing the feel of an ergonomic product pairing first-hand (no pun intended!) is the best way to determine if you need both the mouse pad and the mouse -- or just one of them by themselves.