Sorry to hear that you are injured, Peter. I hope you recover very quickly.
I never owned or used that one, but I did use the Manfrotto 222RC for many years which was a vertical grip. I really liked it for doing portraits.
Currently I am using a Sunwayfoto GH-Pro II geared head and I can't imagine anything being easier to use in terms of hand/wrist/grip strength than a geared head. It isn't fast, which is the advantage of the 322RC/222RC, but it is very precise and great for Landscape/nature or macro work.
I have both of these heads 327RC2 and 324RC2 on two different tripods they are easy to move and whilst not as tight as a ballhead Ihave no issue with slipping I used the smaller one in Iceland and was able to get shots easier of the Aurora.