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The 1896 Underwood typewriter is a complex instrument. In
order for a single letter to be printed, the key had to be
struck with enough force to swing a long lever up and strike
a ribbon with sufficient force to transfer the image of the
letter to paper.
The point is this: Many older typewriters required huge
keystroke forces compared to modern keyboards, yet nobody
seemed to get chronic pain problems! (Old typewriters
did not, however, require the constant tension called static
muscle loading. Nor did they relax the large muscles developed
for greater work, while using the small muscles and tendons
continuously.)
Yet some ‘ergonomic keyboards’ are sold by implying
that they have reduced the risk of injury by reducing the
keystroke force! This is ‘solving a problem that
didn’t exist’!
Has any sound scientific study been done that indicates that
keystroke force alone is a factor in the development of any
kind of Repetitive Strain Injury? We can’t find one.
Don’t buy a solution to a problem that doesn’t
exist. The only solution demonstrated to help prevent factors
proven to contribute to injury is one that is ‘orthopedically
neutral’.
The only ‘ergonomic’ keyboards that will help
prevent injury are those that cannot be adjusted improperly,
and which eliminate significant amounts of extension, deviation,
and pronation of the wrist. Anything else is a waste of your
money.
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