To evaluate those features on the keyboards we tested, we photographed a volunteer as he typed away on each model. In the best case scenario, the keyboard comes with front legs that can be raised or lowered to help you adjust the pitch. It’s much better to have the keys dip away from you, so you simply reach down with your fingers to activate them. Tilting: Traditional keyboards often slope upward toward the keys in the back, but that actually increases wrist extension. In others, you get to adjust it to fit your needs. In some models, the angle is predetermined.
Tenting: When you raise the center of the keyboard, it limits wrist strain by placing the area where your thumbs and index fingers rest higher than the area for your pinkies. Arranging the keys in a splayed, inverted V formation cuts down on joint deviation, too.
That’s an easy way to reduce wrist strain without springing for a new keyboard.Ī split and/or splayed design: Slicing the keyboard into two parts allows you to comfortably place each half in line with a wrist and a shoulder, reducing tension even in the upper back. In fact, you can even consider purchasing one as an accessory. Palm rests: When positioned properly at the top of the keyboard-or slightly higher-these reduce extension and keep your wrists in a neutral position. “The elbows should be bent at an angle between 90 and 100 degrees, with the wrists neutral and in line with the shoulders.”Įrgonomic keyboards have a few features that help them to accomplish that feat. “The ideal working posture is one in which as many of the body’s joints as possible are in a neutral position,” says Keester. Poor design puts lots of strain on your shoulders, too. And that increases pressure on the median nerve and carpal tunnel, which can lead to tendonitis and discomfort. Ordinary keyboards often place your wrists in an awkward position, says Carisa Harris, Ph.D., director of the Ergonomics Research & Graduate Training Program at the University of California Berkeley. That gives you some idea of just how odd the thing looks.īut, rest assured, there’s method to the madness. “Is that a keyboard?” my father asked when he saw me typing away on the Microsoft Sculpt. Here are a few key things we learned about ergonomic keyboards in our testing. “Buying an ergonomic keyboard is a small investment to make, so why not?” “At the end of the day, ergonomics is about reducing the risk of developing some kind of musculoskeletal disorder,” says Dana Keester, the human factors specialist on Consumer Reports' consumer experience and usability research team. So we put eight popular options to the test, evaluating them not only on how sound they are ergonomically but also how difficult they are to type on and how much they can be adjusted to suit your particular needs. But the designs are so funky, it can be hard to pick the right one. Readily available at retailers such as Best Buy and Home Depot, ergonomic models are flush with curves like a sci-fi spaceship. You yourself may have eyed a keyboard like the Sculpt in recent years-even if just out of curiosity. If something happened to it, I'd buy another Sculpt in a heartbeat.” “I still get pain if I spend too much contiguous time typing, but sitting at the keyboard is much less stressful on my arm. “Going back to a different keyboard is a non-starter for me,” says the 29-year-old Troy, N.Y., resident.
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