Complex Problems, Simple Solutions

A wrist rest (also called a wrist support or palm rest) prevents the hands from dropping off the edge of the keyboard while you type, or lean off the mousepad when you mouse. Simple, but critical. Extension of the wrist - bending it back toward the body - causes the greatest increase in pressure in the carpal tunnel. A rest also provides a soft surface for hands, instead of the hard surface or sharp corner of the desk.

When you use a rest, some of the weight of your arms is taken off of your shoulders and back. Spinal pressure is measurably reduced, sparing muscular effort in the neck and shoulders, where most people experience chronic soreness.

When used correctly, a wrist rest can ease "ErgoAche" and help prevent many common office injuries. We want customers to gain these benefits, but caution that a rest can be misused.

The most common mistake is to plant the hands on it at all times when typing. But the device is called a "rest" because it’s intended for use between actual keying. If you keep your hands planted on the rest, you tend to stretch the fingers and bend the wrists to reach top and side key, pulling on tendons in the hand and into the forearm all the way to the elbow.