Kinesis saves your wrists single-handedly with a goofy looking keyboard
Call it what you like – RSI (repetitive strain injury), carpal tunnel syndrome, or good ol’ “keyboarder’s bane”. Everyone who types much for very long should at least be thinking about it. While I’m sure we’ve all heard the horror stories of crippling pain or numbness, surgery or lots of time off to recover, an amazingly small number of people do anything to prevent it. (Note: this, like all reviews I post, follow my review policy).
Prevention isn’t the best thing, it’s the only thing
Many people don’t know that the original QWERTY layout for keyboards was set up to slow down typists so keys wouldn’t stick together in the old standard typewriters. It’s a good example of a defacto standard that has long outlived its usefulness. Regardless, standard keyboards have no ergonomic thought put into them at all, and the deluge of RSI cases as numbers keyboard workers increase is an obvious proof.
I’ve never heard a good story of someone who let their wrist pain get so bad that they had to see a doctor. Basically, my advice is to never let it get to that stage, no matter what. When I started typing regularly, it was about 6 years ago. I, like everyone, used the standard crap-keyboard that’s flat and designed to be easy to build. After a couple years, my wrists would start to get a little numb in the afternoons (especially after I learned to touch-type). Even then people were talking about carpal tunnel, and I decided to do something about it. I did some research and paid what I thought was an ungodly sum for a keyboard, $300 for a
Kinesis Essiential. Not only did it teach me to type better and much faster, but within a month or so my wrist pain was totally gone. What’s even more amazing to me, is that after using it for 90% of my typing over the last 6 years, my wrists are still in awesome shape, and I type a ton. Hours per day. at 80+ wpm. Very impressive.