Author Topic: My wrists hurt a bit after i'm using my keyboard. What should i dofv  (Read 4917 times)

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Offline Sintpinty

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Bitbat here, and i need some help.
Recently i have received a Corsair Cherry MX Keyboard for christmas, and it's on an slanted angle by default when i put it on a surface. I find that it is comfortable in my lap and is more comfortable in a flat angle since i type improperly, very fast. Whenever i put it on a flat surface, the keyboard is designed slanted up, so whenever i type on it , my wrists start to feel weird. I do have a wrist rest included with the keyboard, so should i use it? By default i keep my keyboard feet flat and do not like typing on a slanted angle.
What should i do.

Offline xtrafrood

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Re: My wrists hurt a bit after i'm using my keyboard. What should i dofv
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 26 December 2018, 07:30:35 »
1. Snap your keyboard into two halves.

2. Tent the two halves at a RIDICULOUS level.

3. Save many moolah by avoiding carpal tunnel decompression surgery.

Offline impaktor

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Re: My wrists hurt a bit after i'm using my keyboard. What should i dofv
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 26 December 2018, 10:13:31 »
This is how my hadn-pain started for me. First pain in the wrists. I replaced my crap keyboard with a Microsoft Ergonomic 4000, which can be put at quite a steep angle so that the highest point is towards you and then sloping away from you. That really helped, initally. (Then I got a kinesis advantage 2, which was amazing).

TL;DR: avoid having your wrists at an angle, and take care of your hands.

Good luck!

Offline tp4tissue

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Re: My wrists hurt a bit after i'm using my keyboard. What should i dofv
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 15 January 2019, 03:39:06 »
1. Snap your keyboard into two halves.

2. Tent the two halves at a RIDICULOUS level.

3. Save many moolah by avoiding carpal tunnel decompression surgery.

Don't forget to eat m0ar ramen.


Offline BundleOfJoysticks

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Re: My wrists hurt a bit after i'm using my keyboard. What should i dofv
« Reply #4 on: Wed, 16 January 2019, 00:44:20 »
Disclaimer: not a doctor, etc.

The usual tenting angle (Fn row taller than space bar row) is pants-on-head stupid as it puts your wrist in an unnatural up-down angle. So the first thing to do is reverse that and have "negative tilt" with a riser under the front of the keyboard instead of those stupid rear feet.

Then you want to fix the unnatural left-right wrist angle you're in when typing on a straight keyboard. That angle pushes the pinky side of your hands outward. This is also stupid. The solution is to use two halves rather than a single keyboard and angle each so that your wrists aren't bent. Note the keyboard angle brings the fn keys on the inner edges closer together and the win/ctrl/alt/space keys in each side farther apart, just like your arms in a natural position. Imagine that!

We're making progress but there's still the issue of forearm rotation. Holding your hands mostly flat palm down in front of you requires rotating your forearm and wrist. This is also very stupid. The solution is simple: take your two halves and prop up the inner edges so your keyboard looks like a tent.

There. Now you can type without injuring the crap out of your arms and wrists for no reason at all.

tl;dr toss your keyboard, get a split, tent it, angle the halves, and make sure it slopes away from you some. Everything else will make your problem worse.

Other than buying a split keyboard, these tenting and angling tweaks don't have to cost anything. I often use scrap wood or cardboard to angle and tent.

Also, wrist rests should really be called palm rests. If you're resting your wrists on them you're going to mess yourself up.

Source: I've been dealing with keyboard-related pain daily for 20 years and have it under control due to the above methods. The alternative is literally being unable to type anything at all for days.
« Last Edit: Wed, 16 January 2019, 00:49:32 by BundleOfJoysticks »

Offline Lucien Midnight

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Re: My wrists hurt a bit after i'm using my keyboard. What should i dofv
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 20 January 2019, 11:00:16 »
The first thing to do is check your general ergonomics. Does your chair have lumbar support? Is your desk height appropriate? Do you need a footstool to be comfortable?

Ideally, your knees would be bent at about 90 degrees with feet resting flat on the floor. Your elbows would also be at 90 degrees, with your wrists and forearms very slightly above the surface of your desk. I've read different things about monitor placement, but if you find yourself craning your neck in any particular direction, you should probably adjust that.

If your posture is good and ergonomics set up correctly, you should have little issue... unless you are really a serious computer user. Then you'll want to start trying frequent breaks, ergonomic mouse/KB wrist rests, etc. to find out what will work best for reducing your pain. Don't forget that we aren't doctors here (at least I am not!), so go see a real doc if you have serious lasting pain. It's something to get treated.

Hope that helps!

Offline mudwad

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Re: My wrists hurt a bit after i'm using my keyboard. What should i dofv
« Reply #6 on: Fri, 08 February 2019, 19:36:45 »
Do you use vimium?

Offline xtrafrood

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Offline Sintpinty

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Re: My wrists hurt a bit after i'm using my keyboard. What should i dofv
« Reply #8 on: Mon, 11 February 2019, 10:14:22 »
The first thing to do is check your general ergonomics. Does your chair have lumbar support? Is your desk height appropriate? Do you need a footstool to be comfortable?

Ideally, your knees would be bent at about 90 degrees with feet resting flat on the floor. Your elbows would also be at 90 degrees, with your wrists and forearms very slightly above the surface of your desk. I've read different things about monitor placement, but if you find yourself craning your neck in any particular direction, you should probably adjust that.

If your posture is good and ergonomics set up correctly, you should have little issue... unless you are really a serious computer user. Then you'll want to start trying frequent breaks, ergonomic mouse/KB wrist rests, etc. to find out what will work best for reducing your pain. Don't forget that we aren't doctors here (at least I am not!), so go see a real doc if you have serious lasting pain. It's something to get treated.

Hope that helps!
My posture is quite okay, but the problem is with my chair too.
My computer setup is real horrible though. Due to me using a shared workstation, i have a rock hard plastic chair that i sometimes squirm in due to it being too uncomfortable.  I have (probably the worst) rubber dome board out there and an even terrible mouse that my hand slips off of due to it being too tiny.
I think my mouse is 96 grams, which makes it WAY TOO HEAVY due to me having a bit of difficulty holding weight on my wrist.
Even worse, i have an awful, awful keyboard which i just want to plug out and throw it in the trash. Some keys are stiffer than others and its sound and how everyone angles it is awful.