Mouseboard - DIY arthritis and carpal tunnel help for the tired typist (lemmy.nz)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by schmorpel@slrpnk.net to c/diy@slrpnk.net

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DIY foot mechanism with USB - when my body couldn't do mouse clicks and certain key combinations anymore I built this contraption to be able to work with fewer keyboard and mouse interactions.

Has moved with me several times, been heavily used and I still use it occasionally. I've always wanted to take it beyond prototype because it has been good and useful for me, but the DIY version out of plywood, duct tape, MDF, a slaughtered low budget mouse, some wire and a few 3d printed pieces has its charm.

The buttons were adjusted for super-light toe taps - I didn't want to just offset the damage from my hands to my feet! I had bought a commercial footboard before with stupidly heavy pedals and wanted something better.

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[-] csolisr@hub.azkware.net 9 points 1 month ago

Hey, if it works! It's not always that I see somebody doing a DIY accessibility hack on a budget, but when I do, I appreciate the inventiveness - necessity is the mother of invention after all

[-] livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 month ago

I quite like it, simple and gets the job done. What combinations do you have there? righ, middle, left and a side button click from the mouse? If you were to do it again, would you change anything?

[-] schmorpel@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 month ago

Left, middle and right. There's a scroll wheel but that stopped working and it ended up being non-essential. The wheel itself turned out to be too flimsy. Next time a working scroll wheel would be cool!

[-] Zoop@beehaw.org 3 points 4 weeks ago

This is genius! I'll have to try to remember this if I'm ever able to afford a computer again, 'cause this would be so helpful to me! Thank you for sharing this with us! :)

[-] altphoto@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago

By the way, has anyone started reading about how allergy med Loraine is being tested for arthritis prevention:

https://wellzrx.com/does-loratadine-reduce-inflammation-unpacking-the-antihistamines-surprising-effects

https://www.oarsijournal.com/article/S1063-4584(24)01396-7/fulltext

https://pdf.benchchem.com/1674/Early_Stage_Research_on_Loratadine_s_Potential_as_an_Anti_Inflammatory_Agent_A_Technical_Whitepaper.pdf

https://snhhealthcare.com/can-rheumatoid-arthritis-benefit-from-claritin.html

Sorry for the posts links. My mom has osteoarthritis and I can definitely feel the pre symptoms like inflammation. I'm using this medication for allergic symptoms but it does seem to lower my inflammation. Definitely helps with inflammation that causes my hemorrhoids and heartburn too.

[-] Zoop@beehaw.org 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Thank you so much for sharing this information and all the links! I appreciate it a lot! I'm so glad to hear that it seems to help you. It can be so difficult to find things that help (and aren't unfeasible, unaffordable, illegal, and/or unsafe, lol.) I hope that it continues to help you, and I hope that if you do end up with osteoarthritis, that it's far in the future when more/better treatments could happen. It runs in my family, too, along with other types. Which is a big part of why I'm so grateful for you sharing this! :) Thanks again! 🫂

[-] altphoto@lemmy.today 2 points 4 weeks ago

My mom went thru so much, getting ignored as her joints got bigger and more damaged. She seems fine today but takes a number of blood pressure medication and glucosamine along with several other meds. I think I'm fairing better. But I'm definitely reminded of what could be coming my way so I keep an eye out for the news on this sort of thing.

Last year I was not aware of this link to inflammation. I'm also allergic or developed an allergic reaction to tomato and onion. I can still the have those things but I have to take an allergy pill. If I don't, by nigh time I get severe heartburn and in a couple of days a hemorrhoid. And to top it off, in the morning I would have my hands sort of locked... Like glued together weakly. Or my finger joints would just feel very stiff.

So one day I got zantac 360 for my stomach. It worked but then I got to reading about the cancers zantac75 caused. So I went looking for alternatives and found that generic compound fomatodine which supposedly is better and safer. So then I got to thinking about my allergic, I ordered zirtec and that helped but it's expensive. So my cheap brain tells me to search for an alternative. And when I tried it, it did help my allergy. A few weeks later I was wondering why I didn't have a hemorrhoid yet.

All of these things are connected some how. I bet the doctors just need to be more open minded about their treatments.

I tried so many things. The doctor just gave me preparation H. Sure it helps you tolerate pooping. But how about living again! Loratadine seems to work in that respect. I'm watching closely for results of their trials. But it's available on Amazon.

[-] schmorpel@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

Interesting, thanks for sharing! I was taking Loratadine against allergies for years. Not anymore, the allergies have sorted themselves out. Now my bones are coming apart. I can hear them rattling every month when my period comes around. Not funny, but quite funny.

[-] schmorpel@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Today the frankenmouseboard got a new cable. Of course this kind of maintenance only happens once in a blue moon, after procrastinating a huge project up until the last day to then find out it involves clicking Ctrl+C 2500 times and the old cable is finally too old to work anymore. Couldn't be arsed to go downstairs to fetch proper tools so I just chopped one of my charging cables to length with a kitchen knife (will have to replace when visiting town), looked up a diagram for the cable colours, and fucked it all together with sticky tape.

Now the cable is slightly longer and I'm very pleased with myself. I like this low effort low budget stuff a lot more than the fancy stuff I used to do that required ordering 1234567 parts from China.

this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2026

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