I use a split keyboard and trackball at work, and I thoroughly enjoy the bafflement of my coworkers when they try to use my computer.

trackball

touchpad gang (i cant be bothered spending money)

Or use as a buttplug with the same results.

I have a MX Vertical at work and Logi Ergos (both the 570 and a MX Ergo) at home, they are great. Love the battery life of the MX Ergo, I sometimes forget I even have to charge the damn thing. However I did have to change the main buttons in the MX Ergo, the switch were failing and it ended up double clicking

If you suffer from wrist or elbow pain from using a regular mouse you’re best off doing strength exercises and proper stretching for those muscle groups. I find that to be more effective than using one of these vertical mice as your issue is likely from muscle overuse. Vertical mice can help but if you’re on your computer all day you’re bound to still have the same issue from overuse of your muscles.

Just my experience tho everyone is different.

I tried one of these and I hated it.

Yay! There are dozens of us! A cheap trackball is one of the best things I have ever bought. No pain, and it is really accurate.

I did have a regular mouse in my pc too so that other people could use my pc without complaining, but donated it to one of the new people at work. But happy, nice mouse makes the day better.

I had a thumb trackball for years, miss it tbh.

Edit I've got one in my Amazon basket now.

Edit 2 it's been binned from the basket after reading reviews and now I have a Logitech Ergo coming today

Thumb ball master race chuckles with amusement as they look down upon this post from Olympus.

I tried a number of those and couldn't get used to it. I'd get soreness and cramps after the same amount of time but in different locations mostly around the thumb where the skin stretches when you do pistol hands.

In the most recent past I'd been using the elecom huge trackball but it's not without it's issues either. I don't actually recommend elecom they have quality control issues and the deft has the most infuriating mouse wheel. Thumb trackball gave me similar soreness to vertical mouse, and index finger trackball the back of my hand where the fingers attach.

Now I'm using just the steam deck and a Thinkpad laptop lately and those also introduce their own flavour of hand strain after a while.

Apart from the high cost of the hobby, we have reached an era of peak keyboard greatness, but we don't seem have many immediately apparent custom mouse options. Not that I would have any idea what wouldn't hurt me physically. Maybe one of the diy keyboards with a built in trackball.