army1987 comments on Spend Money on Ergonomics - Less Wrong
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While we're trading good ergonomics secrets, I'll point out that Mac BreakZ is pretty exceptional as these things go. If you're banging away on a MacBook every day like me, you should start using this before you get a repetitive stress injury (RSI).
Also if you already have wrist-strain issues, try typing in Dvorak. Seriously. Due to my past computer usage, I used to have to wear uncomfortable wrist braces every night to prevent my fingers from constantly going numb. After several years of suffering with this and assuming I would one day need carpal tunnel surgery, I switched to Dvorak. A month later, all my symptoms disappeared. I was able to stop wearing the wrist guards. 7 years later and still no problems.
As far as "the world is mad" and "people don't even try to optimize stuff", the fact that anyone still uses Qwerty keyboards when, free, strictly superior layouts have existed since before computers were invented is definitely a canary in the coal mine of rationality.
I don't have any experience with ergonomic keyboards or alternative keyboard layouts, but I can recommend one slightly less drastic option: a small wireless keyboard that sits in your lap. I have one of the small Apple keyboards and for normal computing I use it on the desk (or even use my laptop's keyboard). When I'm in paper-writing mode I put the wireless keyboard in my lap, and it helps a lot. I used to get occasional wrist pain and now I don't.