Developed bad wrist pain: would you recommend Dygma Raise?

[Learis]

I developed bad wrist pain from flexing my wrist outward too many times. As a programmer testing a web app, I was hitting ctrl + C to cancel builds and rebuild them, blah blah. Anyways now I've got some bad wrist pain in my left wrist due to it. I'd seen split keyboards before and how they allow you to just turn both of the sides inward for a more natural feel. I've never used one in my life.

Here's the Dygma Raise; it looks pretty awesome: https://dygma.com/
Do any of you know about it, if it's a good reliable keyboard or not? Also, should I take the plunge and get it, or do you think I should spend like 40 bucks and just get a cheap ergonomic keyboard on Amazon to test the waters first? Do you have other reccommendations for ergonomic keyboards? I honestly don't know much about them.

[jamster]

That's a Kickstarter board, fairly recent. Unlikely that there are many people here with one and way to new for anyone to be able to comment on about reliability. No tenting, which strikes me as a significant shortcoming on a split board design, but ergonomics seems to be a highly individual thing- maybe it would help you, maybe it wouldn't. I have just gone with a split board, and tenting makes a noticeable difference.

A more established alternative would be a Kinesis Freestyle for $100 (membrane) or Freestyle Pro for  180 (mech, but no hotswap). Differences are that the Kinesis have more keys (nav plus macro) and tenting.

A more out there option would be what I've just moved to- a Dumang DK6 which is insanely customisable.

[Learis]

Thanks for the info, never even knew about tenting. That Dumang looks incredible; it's the first magnetic switch system I've seen, very convenient and customizable! I might have to wait for their V2 version to come out.

[jamster]

I forgot to mention the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard. Looks quite similar to the one you originally posted, only with a more traditional aesthetic to it (personally I prefer it, and dislike gamer aesthetics). It has tenting, from photos it's quite mild though. There are thumb modules that can be installed for keys or trackballs, but I am not sure if any of these have been released to market yet.

[jamster]

I developed bad wrist pain from flexing my wrist outward too many times. As a programmer testing a web app, I was hitting ctrl + C to cancel builds and rebuild them, blah blah. Anyways now I've got some bad wrist pain in my left wrist due to it. I'd seen split keyboards before and how they allow you to just turn both of the sides inward for a more natural feel. I've never used one in my life.

Have you just tried the standard remap for left control and capslock? Some keyboards even have DIP switches that do this flip.

[Learis]

I developed bad wrist pain from flexing my wrist outward too many times. As a programmer testing a web app, I was hitting ctrl + C to cancel builds and rebuild them, blah blah. Anyways now I've got some bad wrist pain in my left wrist due to it. I'd seen split keyboards before and how they allow you to just turn both of the sides inward for a more natural feel. I've never used one in my life.

Have you just tried the standard remap for left control and capslock? Some keyboards even have DIP switches that do this flip.

No I have not, and I have a fully programmable keyboard to easily try. It amazes me how stupid I am sometimes. I suppose I'll try this first before forking out $300 on a fancy split keyboard. Thanks for the suggestion.

[jamster]

Hahaha, I almost didn't even mention that as I was almost sure you've already tried it. It's worth doing, but if you're getting pain in both risks, you'll also have to keep looking.

Good luck!

Edit: Ah, it's left wrist only. Yeah, definitely do the key swap. It helped me a lot. A very quick look at my keyboard suggests that it should help as much as going with a split board.

[dusan]

I recommend my keyboard: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=64580.0 (look at my last post there.) I designed the layout with ergonomic and economic consideration. I got it for $130 shipped. Should be cheaper for you if you're in the US. It is my current daily driver.

Just in case you don't like it, get the keyboardio Atreus: https://shop.keyboard.io/products/keyboardio-atreus. I'm going to have one and I plan to use it as daily driver during the pandemic. (Mobile work, I'll use a travel keyboard.) From my own experience with other keyboards I know it is very good. FYI I'm also a programmer.

[nevin]

if you go with a split, hand separation is the biggest improvement you can make. put enough space in between the halves so your arms are almost straight. yes, angling can help a little if you can't separate. yes, tenting can help, but to actually get your firearm bones not to cross (which is what tenting is about) you'd have to go more vertical than any tenting kit provides.

another big issue is how bad a normal staggered qwerty layout really is. once you start playing with alternate layouts it becomes very obvious.
- why put the most used modifier in the outermost corner, intended to be used with your weakest finger (pinky)?
- try the control/cap lock swap for starters
- if you go split, do it right with a split ortholinear board with thumb keys. this gives you the opportunity to put all the modifiers in the center/middle of the board, easily holding with your thumb that's already there.
    - as far as size of the split board, pick something that works for you. if you're new to a split board and are coming from the standard staggered qwerty, pick something larger (at least 5x6 grids) this will minimize layering until you get used to it. you can go very small as well, you just need to figure out what you can & can't live without. look up some of the split boards and recreate it in keyboard layout editor and populate it with a keymap you think will work. are there enough keys? are there too many keys? and all of your custom/kit keyboards are fully programmable so you can program any key to be where ever you want on the board.

[noisyturtle]

2nd on Kinesis, I used one of their split vertical keyboards at a previous job and it was great. Lot's of positions to experiment with and adjust when you fatigue from using one for too long.