> In the mid 90s I had bad hand pain, so bad that most of the day I could only type with one finger. The FSF hired typists for me part of the day, and part of the day I tolerated the pain. After a few years I found out that this was due to the hard keys of my keyboard. I switched to a keyboard with lighter key pressure and the problem mostly went away.
> My problem was not carpal tunnel syndrome: I avoid that by keeping my wrists pretty straight as I type. There are several kinds of hand injuries that can be caused by repetitive stress; don't assume you have the one you heard of.
Mine was more ulnar tunnel (emacs pinky) than carpel. I too had the problem of the hard keys. From what I can tell my problem was that my muscles grew so tight that there was no space for my nerves, causing owner tunnel numbness. Neurologist tested my nerves and found no damage, and the massage therapist I later visited told me that this could happen. It also explains why rock climber's stretches helped me make the problem go away. But to this day it comes right back the minute I turn on emacs.
I really want a basically traditional keyboard, except with a thinner space key that permits two more modifier keys under each thumb. The anatomy of the hand is meant for the thumb to work in opposition with the other four fingers.
Sadly the ErgoDox doesn't fit my hands so it's uncomfortable to use the thumb clusters. The Kinesis does if I place it very low, but I'd like to retain the rest of my muscle memory for key location.
Is this really true? Some notes at https://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html indicate it was a different type of strain injury, unrelated to ctrl/meta key:
> In the mid 90s I had bad hand pain, so bad that most of the day I could only type with one finger. The FSF hired typists for me part of the day, and part of the day I tolerated the pain. After a few years I found out that this was due to the hard keys of my keyboard. I switched to a keyboard with lighter key pressure and the problem mostly went away.
> My problem was not carpal tunnel syndrome: I avoid that by keeping my wrists pretty straight as I type. There are several kinds of hand injuries that can be caused by repetitive stress; don't assume you have the one you heard of.