Wrist pain from wacom tablet anyone?

[morphos]

I switched from using a mouse to a wacom pen exclusively in both 2d and 3d using a 6x8 and 9x12 tablet due to finger tendonitis, have them set to mouse mode since I do everything with them. Have the acceleration set to low and the speed to one step above slowest. The thing is im experiencing wrist and forearm pain in that hand and Im not sure if Im using the pen correctly- should I be limiting my motion to the wrist which would mean setting the pen speed/accel to very high (bad for precision) or should I use the wrist as little as possible and make whole arm movements? I use my wrist a whole lot, not sure if thats good or bad. Would using a smaller/larger tablet help? Anyone experience a similar problem?

[joojaa]

One thing to chek is that you grip the pen right! As gripping wrong will strain muscles a lot! second thing is to allways rest your forarm and wrist on a surface, comfortably. just like in mouse usage.

[user_deleted]

I use only wacom and dont touch a mouse for anything at all. Mind you, I only do 2d. I cant see any reason why a wacom would not be just as suitable as a mouse for 3d though.

Here are my tips.

1) Dont use mouse mode at all. Once you get used to tablet mode (or whatever it is called) you will never need to use mouse mode again. I do not agree that mouse mode is more suitable for general computer use. It is increasing the repetative movements which are causing you to get tendonitis.

2) Only use an A4 or A3 size wacom. not smaller. The larger movemements you make, the less damage you are doing to yourself. I consider A4 to be a good comprimise because an A3 is so big that you will probably have to buy a bigger desk.

3) Buy a wrist splint and get used to wearing it while you work. It feels a bit funny at first but it stops you using your wrist and transfers the movement to your elbow.

4) I went to a chinese medicine shop and got this very smelly liquid made by kung fu fighting monks or something. Every hour or so, I stopped working and massaged it into my hand and wrist. I dont know if it was the breaks, the massage or the smelly monk stuff but my wrist got better very quickly.