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If you struggle with carpal tunnel, a repetitive strain injury, arthritis, or another joint disorder, you probably struggle with using the computer for long periods. Typing can be stressful for the hands, even if you don’t suffer from major illnesses affecting joints. However, using a mechanical keyboard can be helpful for people who struggle with mobility in their hands. Let’s look at the reasons why.

How Do Joint Mobility Disorders Affect Typing?

Not everyone has the liberty of being able to unplug from their computer every time their fingers start to hurt from typing. Some people’s jobs involve a large amount of typing and they can’t just not go to work. Typing involves a great deal of repetitive motion and typing for extended periods can result in repetitive strain injuries in the hand, especially if you hit the keys really hard. This is especially true because modern electrical keyboards aren’t heavy enough to require the arms to be engaged in the typing process like hammer-arm typewriters.

Hammer-arm typewriters require engagement from the elbows and shoulders to depress the keys because the hammer-arm mechanism is extremely heavy and requires real effort to activate. Standard mechanical or membrane keyboards don’t require nearly as much force. Thus, some people develop bad typing habits that can lead to added hand strain and RSIs. There are many ways you can alleviate the extra hand strain caused by typing if you need to type for work.

Do Mechanical Keyboards Help Reduce Hand Strain?

Part of the hand strain that comes from typing or otherwise using a keyboard comes from the force exerted when pressing the keys. If you have poor typing posture for your arms, hands, and fingers, the strain of pressing the keys will be exacerbated. However, you can also reduce the strain placed on your hands, particularly the fingers, by reducing the amount of force needed to actuate the keys. Since mechanical keyboard switches have a lower actuation force than membrane keyboards, switching to a mechanical keyboard can reduce some of the strain on your hands and wrists.

However, the amount of difference you’ll experience when just using a mechanical keyboard will be marginal if your typing habits are bad. If you have bad posture and position your arms and hands wrong, you’ll only slightly reduce the amount of strain on your hands from typing. You want your arms to be close to your sides with your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. If your forearms are tilted up or down, you’ll put extra strain on your hands that can exacerbate old injuries or cause new ones. You also want to make sure your fingers are bent into a claw shape. This tip might sound like a “duh” moment, but a lot of people in the modern day type with their fingers straightened, which puts all the strain on the finger joints instead of evenly distributing it through the arm.

If you’re looking to reduce hand strain by lowering the actuation force of your keyboard, we recommend using linear mechanical switches, like the Cherry MX Reds. These switches typically have an actuation force of 50 grams or less, making them ideal for people who need to reduce the amount of force needed to press their keys. A membrane keyboard has an actuation force of 180 grams ore more. So, you’ll likely need to get used to the new, lighter feel of the keys.

Other Ways to Reduce Strain from Typing

There are other small things you can do to reduce hand strain while typing. One is to ensure that the height of your desk and chair are correct. The surface your keyboard is on should sit around the height of your elbows to provide ease of access to the proper typing position of your arms. Your chair should be at a height that allows your desk to sit at this level.

Another thing you can do to reduce the stress you put on your hands when typing is to forego a wrist rest. It can be tempting and comfortable to lie your wrists on a pad while you type, but it can actually harm your overall health. Firstly, the term “wrist rest” is a misnomer as the pad should support the heel of the hand rather than the wrist. Secondly, you should only rest your hands on the pad when they’re inactive. Putting pressure on the wrist or even the palm can reduce blood flow to the hands and increase the overall amount of pain.

Finally, you want to use the opposite side Shift key when you use the keys. There’s two of them for a reason! When using the Shift key on the same side as the button you’re Shifting, you increase hand strain because you need you twist your hand into awkward positions to get both buttons with the same hand. It can take some practice to hit the shift key with both hands. Many people, especially those who never formally learned to type, struggle to hit the Shift key fluidly at all since doing so “properly” uses the weakest finger on the hand, the pinky. However, learning to hit both Shift keys can help your reduce your hand pain.