I should have made note that the reason why I picked vim over emacs for general coding is that I found the various modifier key combinations required to seriously aggravate my RSI (I was unable to complete the tutorial); on the other hand, vim's modal editing has been a huge help. I'm aware of evil mode, so perhaps I'll have to go that route...

The ctrl+spacebar and search way that Light Table works, while not the fastest, was still preferable to holding down multiple modifier keys.

All that being said, the source of my hand pain might actually have to do with my neck and back, as working on those areas has substantially relieved my pain. So perhaps that will no longer be a barrier to emacs usage in a few months. :)