I only discovered this keyboard while writing my general keyboards post. I always thought a split keyboard without a numerical pad would be fairly ideal, so you have much less distance to reach to one side for your mouse.  And I also think adjust-ability is our best friend. The Goldtouch has both of these covered. It can be flattened right down to a flat keyboard or split and tented up to the degree that suits you. You can just open the lever type lock adjust the height and angle and re-lock it. This is great because I find that a different setup suits different activities better. If I’m using Photoshop, I’d be mousing with my right hand and hitting lots of shortcuts with my left.  A flat keyboard feels much better for this. Whereas if I’m doing lots of writing, I want it pitched right up like a tent.

The keys are also nice and light. I still can’t believe how loud and heavy the Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard is. I have that at home now (though I try not to use the computer at home too much these days).

Cons

It’s not perfect.  Somethings gotta give when making a compact keyboard. The hardest difference to adapt to that I found was that the delete key was moved to the left.  Doing Ctrl alt and delete is an awkward move, as is regular deleting just because your right hand automatically veers to the right. And shift and enter and keys like that aren’t as easy to find. with your fingers. But I’ve been getting very used to all that after a few weeks.

Bye bye keypad

I also miss my keypad (not as much as I am glad it is gone however). I used with Mousekeys a lot. Mostly for hitting the number 5 when I needed to click the mouse in multiple succession. (If you don’t know about Mousekeys, see my post on Windows Accessibility options). However I plan to buy a separate keypad to make up for this. The main point is that having an unmovable keypad takes up extra desk space making you stretch over to one side for your mouse. Whereas you can put a seperate keypad whereever you want.

Summary

I’m very happy with it. And I’ve experimented with a lot of keyboards. I think it’s probably the best one out there for us folk. I can’t stress how important adjust-ability is for beating RSI. And I’ve definitely started getting better recently. But I also have a new vertical mouse (review to come). And I’ve been very diligent with my daily routine and everything else, so it’s a combination of many things.

• I got my Goldtouch keyboard at PC World business for €172.58
• More reviews at amazon
• Manufacturer site www.keyovation.com
• Buy from Amazon

I’ve been working on a daily routine page recently. The only time I truly beat my RSI was when I fully took on board everything I ever read and every exercise my physio showed me and got up at 6am every morning and went through a half-hour routine. And in the evening I’d do another half an hour. Unfortunately I didn’t realise just how important it was to keep up the routine after I got better – so I’m trying to catch up again now. With two kids, it’s a bit harder this time around I’m just about managing 15 minutes most mornings. But the most important thing is to a little every day and try and get into a routine.

See: The Daily Routine page.

Just say no! I never thought using painkillers for RSI was a good idea. And I’ve since read of others with a similar opinion, which isn’t very surprising.  Some books mention anti-inflammatory drugs and nerve relaxants. But I’ve never used anything like that. Pain exists for a reason. It’s your body’s way of telling you to stop damaging it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to hide that pain. However, mild relief can be soothing.

Arm bath

Now and then I arrive home with very sore arms and I’ve discovered some very nice relief recently. I’ve used our baby bath to have an arm bath. Both heat and cold can provide pain relief and first I tried very cold water. It worked but it wasn’t very pleasant. A hot water arm bath is very nice though and works a treat on aching arms. Unfortunately, I don’t actually have a full size bath in my size – but even if I did this is a bit quicker than a full bath. You might not have a baby bath – but a big basin might do the trick. Note: The Arm Bath is the main tip here – this was originally just going to be a post called ‘arm baths’.

Pain relief sprays

There are a lot of pain relief sprays on the market. I tried one a few years ago and it’s fairly horrible stuff. The one I used worked on the principle of using heat for pain relief. My memory of it is spraying some horrible chemical on your arm which starts burning straight away. Then you spend the next ten minutes desperately trying to wash it off. Then a few days later you try and spray on a bit less but just end of running around the house with your arms on fire again.

Ice packs

Here’s a tip from Dr Pascareli’s book: Fill some styrofoam cups with water and freeze them. Then wrap one in a towel and hold it against the painful area. On a bad day I’ve been known to just grab something out of the freezer – frozen peas… ice cream… but I don’t use these cold packs very often.  I’m not a fan of cold things. I’d almost get more relief from eating the ice cream.

Heat packs

I’ve also used Thermacare heat pads before as well. I could take them or leave them, and they’re not exactly cheap, so I left them. I found them “OK”, they provided a bit of relief but nothing major for me. I’ll take an arm bath any day. I’ve a friend with a long history of chronic pain who used to get a lot of pain relief from a microwave-heated wrap for his neck.

Mind Control!

I’ll report back on this when I’ve read it properly. I have a copy of The Mind / Body prescription book. Many reviewers said it cured their RSI. Of course I’m skeptical of anything like this. Great if it works for other people but alternative treatments tend not to work for me, and that includes acupuncture. I’ve also been quite annoyed by what I’ve read so far. 90% of the book deals with different conditions that produce chronic pain. So (A) you’ve got that one of those conditions and know a hell of a lot more than the two pages in that book and (B) you haven’t got all the other conditions listed and could care less. There seem to be very few pages dedicated to the actual technique.

Summary

Most of these pain relief methods are more about coming home at the end of the day and trying to put your pain to bed and enjoy the rest of the day. (At least until you have to do your exercise!) Whereas while you’re working, you should concentrate on Ergonomics, posture , proper equipment and breaks to avoid pain.

I was browsing through Maplins at the weekend and saw a very cheap  mini keyboard that I decided to experiment with. (€16 / 10UKP)

I’ve already mentioned on my keyboards post that I want a keyboard with no keypad so this was a cheap and easy option. It’s actually being marketed as a Mini Desk-Saver Keyboard and the only reason I bought it was to save desk space, or to be more precise have a keyboard and mouse that I don’t need to reach to the side for. It seemed good at first (though I knew it couldn’t be long term) as I didn’t have to reach to either side for anything and I could actually fit a graphics tablet, keyboard and mouse comfortably in front of me.

But the size of the keyboard forced my hands really close together which put my wrists into a very unnatural angle. I didn’t realise just how much this would happen. This is called Ulnar Deviation and it’s precisely what split keyboards are designed to avoid. That’s why laptop keyboards and mini keyboards like this are terribly unergonomic. I thought I might end up with sore wrists but it was much more far-reaching than that. I was in bits for the whole evening yesterday, specially in the upper-back and shoulders and I had an ice pack on my muscles, well a bag of frozen spinach. So experiment over – avoid mini keyboards!

Other negatives

To save space, they also grouped several keys with other keys that could be accessed with the Fn key. But this was done with two keys that I use a lot; Home and End. And other keys were moved slightly; it just seems wrong to have Page Up and Page Down side-by-side rather than over-and-under.

Also, like a lot of keyboards, you can tilt the keyboard up towards you by putting little feet up at the back. This is wrong. Badly researched design that’s copied from one product to the other. So many manufacturers do this. The keyboard should tilt back away from you. Otherwise its forcing your wrist up at an angle.

I dread to think what mini laptops are going to do to a generation. I just had a quick look at the website for the Eee PC and even the image they are using is screaming No No No. If that kid keeps up that hunched posture and bent wrists he’ll be a cripple before he has acne.

For a real break from your workstation there’s nothing like a good walk. Mini stretch breaks and microbreaks are great but you really need to get away from your desk completely a few times a day.

You have to get out of that static position your body has been in all day. Repetitive strain is a whole-body injury, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s just your fingers that need a rest.

Make sure to get away from your desk for your whole lunch. If you bring in lunch then leave at least one item (crisps, banana, drink, whatever) and walk to the shops that are furthest away to buy it. Unless you’ve got somewhere really nice to walk, you have to give yourself a reason to walk. Without looking like an insane off-duty marching soldier, try to swing your arms as much as possible. If you always go for lunch with friends, they’ll probably be happy to join in, or just walk a little further every day.

Whatever you do, don’t lunch at your desk clicking through web sites. And don’t even think about playing computer games through lunch ever again.

Extra tip: Use the rest breaks on Workrave so that every time they come on, go and get a glass of water, obviously as far from your desk as possible.

When my aches and pains get a bit depressing, I have a habit of reaching for my credit card and buying some RSI related gadget to try and cheer me up and add to my arsenal of RSI weaponry. A powerball, or gyroscopic exercise tool, is a ball with another rotating ball-like rotor inside. You start it spinning, like an old lawn mower, by pulling a string and then you build up the speed slowly by moving your wrist along with the rotor.

The powerball is fun in a gadgety kind of way but it can be good for building up arm muscles. I tend to play with it for a few minutes every day at low speed, but don’t really consider it a serious part of my daily routine. Update: I’ve since decided to use it for at least 10 minutes a day, one minute on each arm. Some people have testified to it being The Cure, though I tend to think that’s a flawed way of thinking in general. It can be dangerous to get too excited about any one thing being the end all cure. I’ve often got excited about my latest workstation setup or new input device and started slacking on exercise/posture/breaks etc and found myself back to square one very quickly.

Related links

• www.powerballs.com
• An RSI thread on the powerballs forum
• Buy from Amazon: Powerball Neon White Pro Signature
• Buy from Amazon: Powerball Neon Pro
• Buy from Amazon: NSD Powerball 250 Hz Blue – Regular

If I only get to do two exercises on a day, I do arm lifts and Wall Angels.

• Lie on your side with a cushion to support your head.
• Very slowly, raise your arm up straight and then back down to touch the floor.
• As with all exercises start off at your own pace and then work up. I do three sets of ten on each arm
• When you’ve got a bit more used to that add weights. I started off with those weights that are supposed to strap onto your leg and then got slightly heaver ones.
• It’s important to go slow

Real estate

Your keyboard is one of the most important tools in your working day. There are many factors to consider. I think the most overlooked attribute is keyboard selfishness. I’ve had a few keyboards in my time and one thing I have trouble with is that the more ergonomic their design, the more selfish they tend to be with regards to desk space. Ergonomic keyboards tend to be pretty big which is fine if all you use is a keyboard but you also have to fit a mouse (or equivalent) on your desk, and this makes a lot of ergonomic keyboards very unergonomic. It hurts to constantly reach to the side that little bit more to use my mouse. If I was designing a keyboard I’d make the numerical keypad detachable, so you could put it where-ever you wanted. Or no keypad at all (you can buy them seperately). At the moment my keyboard is slightly off to the left and at a slight angle and my wrists keep ending up at slighlty bent angles. This completely defeats the purpose. So consider the ergonomic qualitys of a compact “unergonomic” keyboard.

Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard 4000

I currently have a Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard 4000. I needed a split keyboard* and just wanted something quick and relatively cheap (I sometimes think if I was rich I wouldn’t have RSI). There was a lot of thought put into the design and it will do me for now but the keys are surprisingly loud and once again it’s just too big, full reviews on everythingusb.com and cnet.

Kinesis Evolution

The best keyboard I’ve owned was a Kinesis Evolution. It was completely split so you could put each side at whatever angle and width apart suited you. It might look weird but was very natural to type on. I didn’t get the version with the touchpad but I stuck a Cirque touchpad on with blu tac. This was a great setup because all my input devices were directly in front of me without needing to stretch to either side. Unfortunately over time I developed an adversity to the abrasion of my fingertips using the touchpad (not to mention having fingers in an exact position for long periods). This developed into another painful complaint over time. To this day I can’t bear to use touchpads, not for any great lenght of time anyway. I’d strongly advise to avoid overuse of touchpads (and laptops are the work of satan).

Macros

Another great feature of the Kinesis Evolution keyboard was that it could record macros, so for example, I could log on every morning with one keystroke. And other repetitive keyboard actions could be recorded and recalled with a key combination. This extra funtionality is invaluable but this model don’t seem to be on the Kinesis site at present and the site also looks suspiciously dated – but there are other split keyboards there.

Amongst this setup, I also had a foot pedal which I used to click my mouse – but the wicked project manager wouldn’t let me take any of these with me when I left that job to go to college, even though I know for a fact they’re still in a box under her desk.

Height

Height is such an important factor to setup, not only of your keyboard but for your workstation in general. I will be doing a separate post but I’ll touch on it briefly here; a lot of ergonomic keyboards can also be fairly high unfortunately. As most of us don’t have the luxury of adjustable desks, this can cause a lot of problems. Always make sure your wrists are slightly below your elbows and are never bent up or down when typing. Adjustable keyboard trays are a good option, more to come on that. The other option is to get your seat up as high as possible, then compliment by using a footrest and adjusting monitor height.

Ideal setup?

Until hardware designers take a more holistic approach and come up with an all-in solution, I think one a good option is to think modular. Get one compact split keyboard and numerical keypad with extra functionality.

Summary

• Ergonomic split keyboard: Good but width and height important
• Separate numeric keypad: Good, gives flexibity
• Extra functionality: Hot keys are invaluable but watch out for real estate
• Flexible setup: Always good

*I’ll be making assumptions from time to time, at this stage everyone know why split keyboards are better right? Let me know if not.

UPDATE: I’ve since bought a Goldtouch Evolution Keyboard, that I’m very happy with.

There are a few key exercises that you should add to your daily exercise routine. The main one is called angel wings. Both my own physio and Dr Casparelli highly recommend it, it’s both a strenghtening exercise and a postural realignment exercise. Like a lot of the exercises you will find here, it’s much harder to do than it looks, depending on the state of your arms.

• Your feet should be a little bit apart and a few inches away from the wall
• Your shoulders should keep in contact with the wall
• Do three sets of 10 or a straight run of 30 if you can manage it
• Do a few times a day if you can. They’re easy to do in a bathroom cubicle
• I’m usually groaning with pain by 30 but see if more or less is more suitable to you
• It’s important to keep your shoulders horizontal, a mirror helps, or you can use the straight line from tiles on a wall.
• And no laughing at my video! (even if it does have a creepy anonymous mask.)

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.beatingrsi.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/angelwings.swf" height="303" width="450" /]

(Video should have stop and play buttons, not showing up – I’m working on it)

A Lumbar roll is good for supporting your lower back, while keeping your spine in a natural position. Although it directly improves your posture it also acts as a gentle reminder to sit properly. I use the classic McKenzie Original Roll. The four inch one. It’s not very expensive and very worthwhile. You can get one at www.physiosupplies.ie or http://www.backshop.co.uk. Or have a look at some other lumbar rolls at the backcare warehouse.