Slashdot Mirror
Vertical Keyboard vs Carpal Tunnel
An anonymous reader sent us links to a quite strange vertical keyboard which also links to a study that claims that this is more ergonomic than your usual board. Of course
at $347 it also better make me coffee.
The old Keytronic FlexPro keyboard splits in the middle and can be cranked up to near vertical. I've been using this keyboard on two machines for about four years now (you do need to be a touch typist!) and it has helped with "keyboard elbow" (tendonitis) and some with shoulder/back pains. I don't have much problem with it except for my line-noise style passwords. I bought these from Egghead during their sell-off of bricks-and-mortar locations for $40 each.
...since it was done before, supposedly by someone at Cornell University.
There's also the pyramid keyboard as well. I wonder how they compare...
libertarianswag.com
You and the other people about to suffer for carpal tunnel will do that. Putting pressure on the bottom of your hands or wrists closes the (carpal) tunnel which has your finger tendens moving so furiously inside. This tendon friction coupled with the smaller diameter created by resting your hands is a huge cuase of carpal tunnel. If you want to be typing in 10 years, donn't do this!
the Alternative Keyboard FAQ is here and has information about other kinds of keyboards.
also some news articles...
CU study: Vertical split keyboard lowers the injury risk for typists
Vertical Keyboard: the "Touch Easy."
...if you look at the site it says its the university of california at san diego (ucsd).
I can't seem to load it, but the "major university" seems like it may be Cornell... the link I can't load is labelled cornell.html anyway.
It must be this study
I don't know why they are playing this out to be some type of miracle keyboard when in fact each of their pages clearly states:
Note: The Safetype(TM) keyboard is not offered as a cure for any medical condition.
I know I won't be using their keyboard any time soon.
If you watch their little video, they talk about some positions that normal keyboards force your hands to be in. It's those positions that cause all of the problems that are associated with typing. Their keyboard purports to remove the problems by putting your hands in a more natural and neutral position.
A little over a year ago, slashdot posted an article about the Evolution Keyboard, now by Kinesis. I have had one of those for several years, and would recommend that anyone interested in the SafeType keyboard also check out the Evolution keyboard. (You can the review I posted to slashdot here.)
The SafeType keyboard is fixed in position, and they consider that to be one of its major features. While I can see that preventing users from futzing with the keyboard keeps them from moving it to a position where it can hurt them, I happen to really like the ability of the Evolution keyboard to move to whatever position I like. In fact, I can make it go completely vertical if I want, gaining all the advantages of the SafeType keyboard. I can even drop it to the sides of my chair, removing even one more "unnatural" position of my arms.
To me, having lots of choices in how I configure my work space is a good thing. And having a keyboard that fits this mindset is one of the most important parts.
i'll never know because once i heard that god awful sound i hit back.
No shit man. My wife was sleeping on the couch and it woke her up from a sound sleep. Believe me, you do NOT want to piss her off. What a horrible racket. I thought my hard drive was dying. I guess I just have to surf with the volume muted.