Typing Pains

Like many of my colleagues, I suffer pains from poor positioning and long hours of typing. Most people mistakenly consider all types of pains from typing as carpal tunnel, though that's not the only condition and not all conditions should be treated the same way.

Many people use a wrist brace to help. I've heard several people vouch for this Futuro one. Other people however, such as myself, get the pain in the elbow, not the wrist. A former co-worker who also had elbow pain suggested the Mueller Shokk Elbow Pad, which helps him. But even though my elbows were in pain, somehow it was caused by the positioning of my wrists, though not in a way that the wrist brace would help. I tried the natural keyboards, changing to Dvorak, the keyboard wrist pads, etc. None of those worked. Finally I went to see a specialist, but the best he could do was prescribe me some NSAIDs.

Eventually, I discovered the Kinesis Advantage contoured keyboard.

So far I feel like I sound like an infomercial here, but let me clarify that I don't think this is the solution for everyone, just as the other solutions aren't for everyone either. It was an expensive keyboard, and I was skeptical of whether it would work or not, but I ordered one. It actually worked for me though. The keyboard forces me to relax my wrists and keep them up, instead of digging them into the table or laptop or wrist pad as I usually do. Apparently I end up stressing my whole arm with the way I normally keep my wrists down as if they had ten pound weights hanging off of them. I later was told that I could expense the keyboard to the company, but at that point I decided not to. I didn't want the keyboard to become company property such that I couldn't take it with me when I left.

The most surprising part about this keyboard was that it wasn't hard for me to learn or get used to at all. When I had tried switching to Dvorak, there were a few weeks of slow and frustrating typing. With this keyboard, you can type in QWERTY just fine pretty normally. The main part is getting used to where backspace and enter are, which aren't too hard to get used to. The keyboard also makes a lot of sense especially to people who use emacs or other programs that use the CTRL key a lot. On most keyboards, the CTRL key is positioned such that you are expected to hit it with your pinkie, a very weak finger. This keyboard repositions the CTRL key to the thumb, which is both convenient and a lot easier on the hands.

I have since switched jobs and I carried my lovely keyboard with me. I plan on keeping making sure this keyboard stays with me wherever I work, as it has certainly saved me a lot of money on Ibuprofen and Mobic.