Shoulder tension / Pain

OK. I just bought the IR tracker and X52 pro but I am getting a lot of tension on my deltoid mucles. They tense up. The head tracker thing just made it worst.

Does anyone know how to deal with this? I think i need to get some arm rest or something.

I had a similar pain, but it was not caused by the headtracker, the cause was that I had my stick too high, and that put my arm under stress:

So, I changed my pit, adding a lower surface to put the stick onto, like this:

This little change helped a lot and now I can play without pain ... Maybe your pain has a similar root cause?

Best regards

Yep, what Rudel said. I fly with another guy that had his stick up too high and he had shoulder pain, I don't know how you even manage to control the aircraft well with your stick that high up! Lower your stick.

Yup, me too.

Monitor placement is important, too. I worked from home as a software support engineer for eight years prior to my current job, and during that time I periodically experienced severe neck and shoulder pain and fatigue. In addition to the pain and fatigue, I later developed numbness and tingling in my arms, hands and fingers. This prompted me to see a neurologist who took x-rays and found that my cervical vertebrae had become misaligned and were pressing on my spinal cord.

Believe it or not, the simple solution to all of this was raising my monitors up to a level that allowed me to keep my head erect instead of looking slightly downward. Afterwards, all my symptoms disappeared like magic.

Monitor placement is important, too...

... the simple solution to all of this was raising my monitors up to a level that allowed me to keep my head erect instead of looking slightly downward.

I fully agree, that's why I had to put a small wood base for my main monitor, to raise it a little in order to put it near eye level :)

That Viggen background looks oddly familiar :D

I've never experienced tension in my deltoids, though I have my chair armrests at almost the same level as my desk.

I do, however, get a lot of hand pain from wrangling the Huey. It's the only module that causes me physical pain.

get a lot of hand pain from wrangling the Huey. It's the only module that causes me physical pain.

this was the main reason i took the return spring out of my warthog.

no more hand pain flying the huey.

Already mentioned, but the two causes of your problem are likely to monitor level, ideally you want to be looking straight ahead not down at your monitor, needs to be jacked right up...and holding your arm up (for your joystick), nearer you can have your arm rest in your lap the better. Poor head and arm positions can cause real problems down the line not just in the present (well documented through issues developed in the workplace), so really worth taking care of. I'm not sure head tracker has no negative effect, it wasn't until I moved to a rift that I realised how much effort/muscle tension I put into regulating head movement with my TrackIR. I'm sure there are ergonomic downsides to the rift but I think one advantage might be the amount of 'free' and wide ranging movement you engage in when using it, twisting round a full 180 degrees etc

Good info guys, thanks. I have been experiencing some tingling in my arms on and off and just assumed it was from playing guitar too much and too hard (I play a lot of country/rock/blues lead type stuff). I also know my poor posture while running the boats coupled with the type of conditions I operated said boats in has given me really poor alignment issues and since retiring I've tried 2 different mattresses, over a dozen pillows of all types, and even thought my little beer belly might have been pulling my stuff out of whack and took care of that too! I'm happy I stumbled across this thread, I will try some control and monitor changes.

Thanks everyone!!

Reading on the internet about a painful feeling in my upper right arm was alarming as it was pointed toward a possibility of an upcoming heart attack. Until I read this tread pffff........

Now my joystick sits lower and it all cleared up. :thumbup:

... for those that get forearm and elbow pain, you may wish to try a vertical mouse...

I changed to an Evoluent vertical mouse, and a few weeks later, the pain vanished.

Didnt knew about them, took a look at the video on their website (https://evoluent.com/) and I admit that it looks good, but the price seems too steep for an impulse buy

... but I will keep it in mind to purchase one during the year, as probably a wrist injury would mean a much larger money expense :)

Best regards

Vertical mice have been around for a very long time. I have one, and attempted to use it for a while, but having three rigs at home, and one at work (at the time), it seemed to be an expensive experiment.

I suspect that if you give yourself the time to get used to it, and I mean lots of time, the benefits do exist.

I also think that arm position, desk/chair height play an important part.

Everyone will have different experiences so experiment and see what benefits you the most.

EDIT: In the same vein, the MS Natural keyboard (the original) is still the most comfortable keyboard that I have ever used. I don't currently use one, though I have two on the parts shelves, but it beats a straight keyboard for long term comfort. Not for gaming but pure typing comfort.

great thread, looking to make some ergo adjustments.

Also make sure that your throttle is at a comfortable level to your left elbow and shoulders. An off set too low on the left controller will tilt your body to the left leaving the right too high, this will also cause tense muscles on the right arm.

I mounted mine to a 4.5" wide plank and place it under a pad in my chair. It rests between my legs very comfortably and feels more like I'm flying an aircraft.

I have long not paid attention to may alarming symptoms 10-15 years back, kept on doing it the way I did it and now pay the price. My both hands are kinda numb, my keys fall out of my hands every 2nd time I grab them, if I rest my forearm on any desk or plate with the right spot of the elbow down it instantly falls asleep, left and right hand. I use both hands for the mouse, equally skilled. That allows me to shift from left to right, or use 2 mice on 2 puters.

Either way, when you start to get the symptoms, CHANGE how you sit and work with the PC, how you hold your arm and if you rest it on a (cold) desk or not, etc.. it all matters if you do it every day, year in year out.

I can't properly sleep because of that, whenever I wake up one or both hands are numb, the 2 smallest fingers, 4 + 5, are affected mostly, Ulinaris nerv.

Over time and with the years going by it moved from the typical elbow spot that makes it numb over the shoulder onto my back right under the lower shoulder plate, that's where this damn nerv originates, that later down splitts from a multiplex nerv into Ulinaris and others as I got told. Sometimes my whole arm is kinda "strange" until I move it around and make it awake.

This is one of the few thigs that didnt go away by itself but got worse, watch out and safe yourself.