Just a few days ago I found out that a friend and colleague of mine was going under the knife to get her carpal tunnel problems resolved.

My wife and I had a discussion about falling prey to CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome), and decided that we should do something to keep us from having to have surgery in the future.  You see I work from home on my computer, I am on that thing 12-14 hours or more a day it seems. My wife also works mostly from home doing contract work editing scripts for Web Based Training. So she is typing quite a bit as well.

Enter the keyboard solution! 

I started using a split keyboard in or around 1998….  I absolutley love it and have had no problems with my wrists. In fact I believe that I type more accurately and faster by using my split keybaord. I use my keyboard so much that the letters are starting to get rubbed off.

So, I stopped by a local office depot (Local meaning less than 50 miles from home, since I now live in the middle of nowhere!) and invested in two keyboards, one a replacement for my worn one, and my wife’s first split keyboard.

I installed her keyboard last night and right off the bat she was telling me that it was weird, and she was totally ‘fat fingering’ when she was writing an email, she became a little frustrated.  I remember having my first keyboard and feeling the same way… That akwardness goes away rather quickly though.  The nice thing about this keyboard is it has a built in wrist rest with a built in tilt, so it keeps your hands straight and held on the keyboard naturally. And after a while, you will not want to type on any other kind of keyboard, although you will.

And it certainly is more stylish than the old keyboard!

The old keyboard style… Not stylish at all! 

So if you are concerned that you might be messing with your Carpal Tunnel enough to get the Syndrome, invest $50 in a rock solid solution, go out and get the keyboard or order one on line.

You too will become a convert!