Ergonomics

From SeattleTechWiki

Stores specializing in Ergonomic

• Kinesis is a keyboard manufacturer located in Bothell that has a small showroom setup (appointment required). http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/

• James Moore: They've got something like a three-desk factory showroom there, with a little gear from other companies as well (rollermice, vertical mice, etc). I walked out with the Evoluent vertical mouse and the Kinesis Freestyle (Mac) split keyboard. I'm happy with both of them and use them as my main coding setup. The split keyboard took a little getting used to, but it's really nice. The vertical-tilt adjustment is far more useful than I thought it would be.

Advice/Stories

Roy Leban

About 15 years ago, I suffered from very severe pain while typing. I thought it might be carpal tunnel and be a career-ending injury. I bought an "ergonomic" keyboard. I changed my workstation to be "ergonomic". The first doctor I went to said it was probably carpal tunnel syndrome, there was nothing I could do and if it didn't get better, he'd operate. The second doctor said it might be tendonitis (not an RSI injury) and sent me to an ergonomic specialist. At the time, I didn't even know people like that existed. She told me the keyboard I'd bought was worthless for me (actually made things worse) and that I needed to change my entire setup. Thanks to her, I am completely pain free, but I am very rigid about my setup and typing habits.

My own ideal setup is:

• Good chair with a seat and back that tilt together and no arms. Not a mesh chair.
• Split, flat keyboard. Not tented. Not tilted up or down.
• Keyboard positioned all the way to the front of the desk (no place to rest palms)
• Chair positioned so that my forearms are horizontal at typing position.
• Raised monitor, with eye level about 1" down from top.
• Large, lightweight mouse (Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 is the best I've found).

This is MY setup, not yours, but I provide it to illustrate the sort of things you need to think about. I compromise when I use my laptop, but I rarely sit for 8 or 10 hours straight. I take more frequent breaks when I'm using it.

I do notice one thing about the RollerMouse Pro 2 that concerns me, and that's those "wrist rests" on either side. Most ergonomists agree that these are a bad idea. It's ok (not ideal) to rest your wrist on them when you're not typing, but very bad to do so while you are typing. When you do, you move your hand back and forth, twisting it at the wrist repeatedly, which is the very thing which can cause carpal tunnel syndrome. When you are not typing, you are better off moving your hands away from the keyboard.

There are people who say your keyboard should be slanted down. Most keyboards slant up and have legs to increase the slant. Both are bad for some people. What you want is a straight line from elbow to fingers, so that you are moving your entire forearm and fingers, not your wrist. If you bend your wrists up or down to type (up is worse), you stretch the ulnar nerve which runs through the carpal tunnel. You want it to be relaxed. This same nerve also runs through your elbow, which is why I only use chairs without arms. It turned out that my tendonitis was largely caused by my pinching my ulnar nerve on my armrests, because of a bad habit of resting my elbows on my armrests while typing.

You need to look at your entire setup, not just your mouse or keyboard to figure out what you need. Otherwise, you may be "fixing" something that isn't a problem.