The Design of Thermal-Insulating Mouse Pad Based on the Effect of Hand Temperature

Abstract

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is the injury as the result of compression of the median nerve by the swollen muscle and soft tissues at carpal tunnel. This condition is causing pain and making the nerve’s signal transmissions are slower. The muscle and soft tissues are swollen because of repeated movements and overuse so they don’t have enough times for recovery. The muscle and tissues also press the blood flow which supplies oxygen and rich nutrient for them and make them swell. CTS will be worse if the tunnel is smaller because of terrible wrist’s posture, and if the blood flow is slower which because of cold hand. The symptoms of CTS are pain, tingling, cold, and weak hand. Therapy and surgery can not totally heal this injury so it is much better to prevent it. For reducing the risk of CTS, some actions can be done, for example making the hands always in a normal temperature or warm so the velocity of blood flow will be stable. Today, there is a product called fingerless gloves to keep hands warm but they are not really convenient so in this research another product is designed, which is thermal-insulating mouse pad. In this study, an experiment is designed to prove that thermal-insulating mouse pad is working effectively. The experiment is done at climatic chamber with 40 students as respondents. There is one single factor of interest which has three levels. The treatments are the condition with no mouse pad, the condition using custom mouse pad, and the condition using thermal-insulating mouse pad. Data of experiment is collected by filling the questionnaire and measuring temperature of forearm, wrist, and finger. The experiment result shows that thermal-insulating mouse pad can keep hands warm when working with computer.