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Comment by refactor_master | Hacker News Reader

I get wrist pain as soon as I use anything taller than Apple’s flat Magic Keyboard and touchpad. I’ve used this combo for like a decade now and never experience fatigue. Once, I bought a fancy mechanical keyboard and I returned it within a few weeks as it immediately caused me wrist pain.

You can scoff at low travel and membranes all you want, but less movement = less fatigue, so I think they’re amazing.

Never thought about the climbing angle, but I’ll chime in and say that after I started climbing I’ve definitely not experienced more fatigue.

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Get a wrist rest to raise the hight of your wrist to match the keyboard, it does wonders.

Everyone’s anatomy is different: wrist rests give me significant wrist pain and stiffness in minutes. I either need my wrists a touch lower than the keyboard (I’m okay resting on the desk if the keyboard is thin) or I must hold them elevated without resting them at all (if the keyboard thicker) which always makes me feel like an old-fashioned typist :)

That's interesting! I'm curious to know: is there a bend in your wrist while typing (either with or without the wrist rest)? Also, are your arms parallel to the floor? Also also, do you rest your elbows on anything?

The typical position seems to be that my elbows are just off the edge of the table/desk, my forearms just distal to my elbows rest on the edge of the table, and my wrists and hands are suspended slightly to be able to move freely to type. My forearms and wrists like to be straight, and I use keyboards without extending their rear legs so that they're as flat as possible. There's a slight angle between the table/floor and my forearms, sloping up from the edge of the table to a point just above the keyboard.

Thanks for replying! The ergonomics recommend not resting your forearms on the edge of the table, but as you say, everybody's anatomy is different; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

In case anyone else comes into this comment section looking for ideas: the thing that helped me the most was adding soft pads to my chair armrests - I found that resting my elbows on the hard surface of the default armrests resulted in forearm pain.

I think shoulder height and arm length relative to desk height must play an important role in this.

I went the opposite direction- mechanical keyboard, large trackball- and my pain cleared up. The lack of feedback of the flat keyboard was too maddening to get accustomed to for me.

My carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms or RSI basically went away once I started using a macbook as my primary computer. It definitely doesn't hurt when the trackpad is right below my thumbs.

Yeah, I also love this particular aspect of this keyboard.

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