How to fight RSI - Part 3, Ergonomic Accessories-keyboard

Ergonomic Accessories-keyboard

Now you have sorted out your postures, it's time to invest some ergonomic gears to help your body stay in a more natural position. Unfortunately, the companies who made these also knows how important your health is, so they tend to charge a lot more for these compared to the more traditional accessories, but eBay is always a good place to source some mint condition second hand staff.

Let's start with the cheap.

Chopsticks 

OK, I admit that I am addicted to Chinese food. You can replace these with two pens, or any other long, pointy staff. Striking the keyboard with chopsticks does not use the same finger muscle compared to typing. While this is slow and looks ridiculous, it does relax your finger muscle and help healing to occur.

Keyboard(s)

Let's face it, no one wants to type with two bamboo sticks for the rest of their life. It's painfully slow and, more importantly; it doesn't work well with the girl sit next to you. So eventually you will have to ditch those and get a decent keyboard that will not only stops the pain but works well when you want to do this

There are countless ergonomic keyboards available they all work more or less the same way. You can see from the picture below that it's very difficult to keep our hands in a natural position while typing on the normal keyboard. 

Ergonomic keyboards uses curved or split designs, like the one below, which make it easier for us to type in a more natural position.

There are many reviews on the web that can help you to identify the most suitable keyboard so I am not going to bore you with more technical staff. There are a couple of things that I would like to suggest, though. First, go for the big brands, they have invested tens of millions in R&D and their products are more likely to do what's said on the tin than the ones made in Bob's shed. Second, have a look at the reviews on Amazon, especially the negative ones from verified buyers. They sometimes can be more helpful than the ones from the technical sites, where occasionally the reviewers are paid by the manufactures to write the review. Another little trick regarding Amazon’s customer review, have a look at both Amazon UK and US, they tend to sell the same staff so you can get more information.

However, the keys of most of these keyboards have standard travel distance, which inevitably put strain on your already weakened muscle. Therefore, a chiclet keyboard, or island-style keyboard can be better choice. In addition, you will want a keyboard that has keys with very low resistance which will help to reduce the pressure while typing.

Take all above into consideration, I have found that Bluetooth® Mobile Keyboard 6000 to be my favourite. This keyboard features Microsoft’s Comfort Curve design that will help your hands to sit more naturally. They keys has a firm and positive feel but need little effort to press, resulting an excellent overall typing experience.

You can also get some special Velcro wrist braces to help your hands to stay in a more natural position. However, there is a dilemma, if you wear these for a prolonged period, it will hinder blood flow which is really the last thing you want to do when you have RSI. 

How to fight RSI - Part 1, what is RSI
How to fight RSI - Part 2, Postures
How to fight RSI - Part 4, Ergonomic Accessories-Mouse and other pointing device
How to fight RSI - Part 5, Software help tackling RSI