How Effective are Ergonomic Keyboards?

Jodrell writes: "This article on the BBC's website has a brief review of the current state of keyboard technology, but also questions the validity of claims that ergonomic keyboards can help prevent RSI, CTS and other "upper limb disorders." The article suggests that maybe it's working habits that cause these problems, and not the design of computer interfaces. What are Slashdot readers' experiences?"

Comments

All about positioning

[Courageous]

For me, preventing pain in my hands and wrists is all about having the keyboard at exactly the right height. If it's at the wrong height, I'll eventually get pain. If it's a the right height, I won't. The only other issue is working the mouse in very cold rooms. For some reason that causes my hands to hurt.

C//

Exactly

[empesey]

I don't use ergonomic keyboards, and not only have I used regular keyboards forever, I've been a piano player since I was 5 years old. How come we don't hear about CTS amoungst piano players, organist and the like. What about guitarists? Eddie Van Halen may have cancer, but he's never complained about CTS. While I'm sure that such a condition exists, I'm sure the medical community over-diagnoses, because of the money involved.

In that respect, I don't think it's any different than all the Prozac prescriptions that are given every year. What percentage is completely unnecessary?

Re:Exactly

[psaltes]

Most piano teachers make a point of teaching correct posture, arm position, etc. I started playing piano when I was about 7. Early during highschool when I was playing quite a bit, I started having serious wrist problems. I sat down with my piano teacher and she corrected some posture problems that I'd developed along the way. So one reason that it's not heard about, is that instructors (even if they don't know this is what they're doing) go out of their way to prevent it. People have been playing pianos (and have a lot more interactive learning experience of it) a lot longer than they've been typing on computer keyboards.

And I knew a guitar player in highschool who had serious CTS problems. He was probably the best jazz guitarist I ever met. So you probably just haven't met the right people. Also, you've probably been lucky enough never to have the combination of massive volume of playing and wrong posture that leads to such things. But as someone who experienced some and then averted significant wrist problems, I think you are completely wrong to say that it doesn't exist.

Blame typing teachers

[Black Art]

The reason that people get repetitive stress injuries is because the way they are taught to type. In typing class, you are taught to hold your hands in aa certain way, to never cross your hands and to keep them bent at an unnatural angle. Holding your hands in the same position as what typing teachers drill into their students increases the chance that you will do damage.

I would like to see a study of people who type using the "touch typing method" v.s. people who use the "hunt and peck" method. I think you will find that people who vary how they type have a much lower chance of having repetative stress problems than people who follow the rote dictates of how "you are supposed to type".

Keyboards, exercises

[ciurana]

I suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome and now I'm mostly over it. I believe that my recovery is due in equal parts to rotating among three keyboards so that my wrists aren't always in the same position, good typing habits, and practicing the exercises recommended by the America Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons to prevent injury.

The AAOS page with infos on this is located at:

http://www.aaos.org/wordhtml/press/exerci.htm [aaos.org]

Cheers!

E