Typing should be an easy painless experience that almost becomes an extension of your body as natural as talking or writing. It gives us a method to communicate in a quick and easy way. After a while we can begin to take this for granted and pain can arise in our fingers or wrists from prolonged keyboard use.
For that reason, it's best to preemptively pick the best keyboard for wrist pain before it begins to hurt. That is where we come in and we are here to help!
The best ergonomic keyboards are all available at Ergonomic Essentials and they will make typing as easy as it should be whilst putting our hands in the positions they belong based on your own individual needs.
There are many different types of keyboards available. Adjustable, Compact, Corded, Split, Wireless, Combo's and more so it can be hard to know where to start. Read on for some helpful tips on what to look out for and find out what will suit you when looking for a good ergonomic keyboard.
When people think of an ergonomic keyboard they'll probably think about a wave-shaped keyboard such as the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard
or the keyboard in the Microsoft Sculpt Combo (which we think is the best ergonomic keyboard and mouse combo).
These keyboards will help with your posture by helping put your shoulders back as your arms are further apart.
They are some of our more traditional products, but they're still very popular items.
The Kinesis Range of keyboards will also help with placing your shoulders back in a rested position, as these can be split in half.
You can choose a 20cm separation or a 50cm separation. The Kinesis Freestyle keyboards can be splayed or completely separated and they can even be raised on an angle with the V-Lifter accessory kits.
Another similar split keyboard is the Goldtouch Adjustable Keyboard, however this keyboard is joined at the top, which means you can get more height and angle, but the keyboard cannot be completely separated.
The new Zergotech Freedom Keyboard takes this split keyboard concept to the next level
. 
It features the innovative sliding palm rests, symmetrical layout, mechanical and programmable keys.
The Sliding Palm Rests glide in the slider bay, and they allow your wrists to rest as you move around the keyboard. It means that any key can be struck without over stretching on higher rows or compressing fingers on lower rows. They simply make typing easier and more enjoyable!
Often we have people come into our showroom with shoulder pain and the pain has become so bad that they are struggling to be productive in the workplace. More often than not this shoulder pain has come from regular day to day mouse use. In most workspaces a full length keyboard will sit in front of the user and the mouse will be off to the right hand side of the numeric keypad on the keyboard. The constant movements on the mouse with the arm can be really hard on the shoulder due to the thousands of repetitive movements every day, however it does not need to be this way.
By simply utilising a ‘compact’ or ‘mini’ keyboard you are able to bring the mouse in closer to a more central neutral position meaning that the shoulder movements when using the mouse are much more simple fluid and refined and less jerky, aggravating and painful. A compact or mini keyboard is predominantly the same as a regular keyboard, it simply just doesn't have a numeric keypad on the side.
The feedback that we have received from many customers over the years is that they don’t actually make the most of the numeric keypad anyway. Of course people doing data entry or number intensive work benefit from a numeric keypad, but for most people having the numbers above the letters is enough. Another point to mention is that a few of our compact keyboards such as the S-Board and Q-Board actually have embedded numeric keypads. If you turn this on with Num Lock, the right hand side of the keyboard will function as a numeric keypad. E.G U,I,O will become 4,5,6 when turned on. This means if you are going to go some dedicated number work for a period of time you can make great use of this functionality.
If you can’t do without a numeric keypad but still want to help relieve or prevent shoulder pain there are a couple more options. You can look at the Evoluent Mouse Friendly Reduced Reach Keyboard which actually puts the numeric keypad on the left hand side. This means you can still bring your mouse in closer to the right hand side, whilst still having a fully functioning numeric keypad.
The recent trend in ergonomic keyboards is steering toward ultra thin boards that have keys that you don’t need to push hard on to register a click. This means less effort is used to push the keys down. As a result, there is less resistance there is less damage done to our fingers which will help with preventing issues such as carpal tunnel. Some of these types of keyboards include the Evoluent Compact Keyboard which is available in wired or wireless
For users of the Contour Rollermouse central pointing devices, Contour also make a keyboard which is the perfect companion to a Rollermouse. The wireless Contour Balance Keyboard has the same look and feel as the Rollermouse Red (RE:D), and it features a reduced bottom edge to minimise reach from rollerbar to keyboard.
If you add the Contour Forearm Support you can work in perfect alignment in the perfect position which will help to alleviate muscle strain in your neck, back, shoulder, arms and wrist. As you can see there are many different keyboards which all have their different strengths.
We try to always keep stock of all the different keyboards, so if you want to try one out you are welcome to come in to our showroom. Alternatively give us a call and we should be able to guide you in the right direction, or you could look for some specialised advice from a healthcare professional.
Looking for a new ergonomic chair but overwhelmed by the large range available?
Let us know what is important to you in this simple form and we can advise which chairs are the best fit for your requirements.