I am of the camp that ergonomic issues stem from the whole picture - your desk, your chair, keyboard, monitor, mouse, everything.
It's about 5 years later at this point, and I spend more time than ever on a keyboard (WASD Code with green mechanical switches) and I've never had another issue. But I kept at it, and within a month I was proficient, and within a couple of months, I was fast, using a keyboard with blank keycaps! (no key markings whatsoever - forcing you to remember every key). For about 2 weeks I typed as if I was a kid again. I went back to the basics with the help of a variety of "learn to type" web sites and started from ground zero. What I realized was that despite being an accomplished typist, and having started at a very young age (5), my fundamental keyboarding technique had a number of flaws that were causing me to hold fingers, wrists, and forearms in constant tension. Years ago when I began to develop significant finger and wrist pain from years of working at a desk all day, I began to track down the source. Changing one of these and hoping for miracles is usually a short term fix. For example the footrest helps you to sit up straight, which both minimizes back pain and allows better arm position for your keyboard. Recommend you do consider everything about how you sit, position yourself, etc.
I then felt reoccurrance of bad habits and return of some discomfort, so now on my 2nd Kinesis. My first Kinesis stopped working after 20 months or so, I switched back to a normal keyboard. And I never go more than 30 minutes without getting up and taking a walk around the block.Įven now I make more typing mistakes on this keyboard than a non-split one, but otherwise I like it. I also started weight training and general lifestyle improvements. I also paid close attention to posture ( just because its a Herman Miller chair doesn't mean you can't slouch in it), and arm positioning. You need to find a combo that puts a low enough strain that you can recover.Īt the time I started using this keyboard, I also did all the other ergonomic improvements: a footrest, chair (tried a few, ended up with Herman Miller ), keyboard tray, proper monitor height, and a sit/stand desk.
At a high level you don't need the solution that puts the least amount of strain possible. I could never really get the hang of trackballs, trackpads, or the nubs, but a vertical mouse worked great for me. The one thing that suprised me was that a lot of my discomfort in the wrist wasn't from the keyboard. And it should be pointed out that a keyboard doesn't really help with posture issues. I found that the Microsoft split keyboards were my sweet spot between comfort and weirdness. While this is out of production, there is a Model 100 forthcoming. I believe ErgoDox meets these requirements and is wireless, but ultimately I ended up with the wired Keyboardio Model 01. A separate trackball was also an improvement.Īs it turns out, there is a whole spectrum of ergonomic keyboards that trade off various parts of the standard layout for improved ergonomics (but increased learning curve.) While I never could get my head around alternate key layouts like Dvorak, I did end up liking 1) increased use of thumbs for commonly used items (space, backspace, shift, ctrl, alt) 2) the ability to reprogram keys to my specific needs, 3) virtual keyboard layers where one key can have multiple meanings ("c" on layer 1, "CTRL+C" on layer two), and 4) Ortholinear. I was generally happy with these as they addressed 90% of my discomfort by keeping my wrists in-line with my arms while I typed.
I've fallen deep into the ergonomic keyboard rabbit hole.įirst attempts were standard split keyboards from Microsoft (wireless available) and an off-brand provided by the office.