Truly Ergonomic Keyboards

No. There is more to it than that. You also need to ensure that you have a suitable arrangement at your workstation in terms of the desk, chair and mouse. Your whole posture is important as are things like taking breaks, not working too long and not getting too stressed. It is also important that you are looking after your body in other ways, taking exercise and consulting a medical professional if you do have any aches and pains.

But an ergonomic keyboard can certainly help.

There are different designs under the slightly overused term ergonomic. Mini keyboards which have been around forever are now classed as ergonomic because they allow the mouse to sit closer to you meaning you don’t have to stretch or reach for them, which actually is very beneficial. Tenkeyless, with no number pad, or left handed with the number pad moved to the left side are all helpful with this.

• Left handed keyboard.

But the classic ergonomic to most people is the split field keyboard such that one hand uses one part only and the angle at which your arm and wrist sit is more ‘natural’.

Maltron seem to be the pioneers, they explored the dish shape such that you don’t have to crank your wrists back to type. Opposite of some designs this seems to be beneficial.

Then some made the two parts independent such that the two sides could be quite far apart if that feels comfortable to the user.

Maltron also made the keys into straight lines which some people find easier and less strenuous.

There are now many shapes and sizes which can be helpful in avoiding pain as a result of our desk jobs. I see it as something like shoes, not all sizes and shapes work for all people but some thought and some choice should help. I also believe that using a standard, good quality shape/size keyboard is not a problem if you have the correct typing technique, posture and desk set up.

No. You can get an ergonomist qualification by doing a one week course. There are even one day courses. It’s not very robust and there is a tendency for ergo companies to get into place as ergonomic ‘experts’ only to sell the products their company makes most money from. Sometimes quite cheap and nasty products. We always advise people to seek professional medical care should they have any concerns and especially if they feel any pain. Pain is always an indication that something is awry, please never ignore it.

If you don’t already. Learn to touch type, along with ensuring correct posture. Swapping the mouse to the other hand from time to time is great if you are ambidextrous enough.

And with your desk setup, if you are using a standard size keyboard, switch it for a shorter keyboard. You do lose the number pad, but we have separate numeric keypads for that.

A shorter keyboard will allow the mouse to be closer to you so you are not reaching to the side for it. This very much helps avoid the neck and shoulder pains associated with mouse use. Tenkeyless keyboards are perfect as they simply remove the number pad leaving all other keys the same.

• Tenkeyless.
• And Left hand keyboards cater for that as well

Wrist rests are designed to support the wrist. But when typing, the best posture is when you have your wrists free to move around, supported from the shoulder with a right angle at the elbows. If you lean on a rest of any sort, or the desk – as often seems to happen with low profile keyboards – you create the necessity to twist at the wrist to direct your fingers to the keytops. You also compress the blood vessels and nerves at the wrist. This is all bad.

So a wrist rest can make you more comfortable while doing the wrong thing. We treat them with caution. Although many users like them and use them to rest in between typing, it’s not generally beneficial.

Mechanical keyboards using MX type switches tend to be higher. The switch module itself is around ¾” high so the top of the key surface is around 1” high or more.

Many people using a very flat, low profile keyboard like Apple Magic and others, tend to gain the habit of leaning on the desk in front of the keyboard as they type.

This is generally a bad habit but the low profile encourages it and tends to mask the problem.

Upon changing to a ‘full height’ model and continuing to lean the problem is accentuated and pain is often the result. 

The ideal solution is to work to improve your posture such that there is no leaning and the hands are suspended from the shoulder.

There are also now some great low profile mechanical keyboards available, nearly as nice as full height ones. But the posture really should be attended to anyway.

The old style typists from the days of the type writer seem to have been far less prone to problems. This might indicate that the mouse is more the problem – but they were all trained to sit in an upright, military type position. Shoulders back, back straight, forearms horizontal, nothing leaning.

There are some useful resources on the Kinesis website