Hand pain is one of the most dangerous types of pain that a human being can feel. Incidentally, many careers have been negatively affected due to neglected hand pain. For example, those who work daily with a computer know that traditional keyboards were not designed with ergonomics in mind. Keys came from typewriters, and the only reason they haven’t changed is because people were used to that arrangement. So that you can use your desktop or laptop computer in the most comfortable way possible, we’ll tell you how to get rid of pain in your hands caused by the keyboard.
How to get rid of hand pain from keyboard
A regular keyboard forces your wrists to take an ulnar deviation, which is when you turn your hands to the side to keep your fingers in line with the keyboard. His hands weren’t made to be in that position for long periods of time.
Being in this position increases the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome, nerve damage and other types of stress-related injuries. If you feel pain while writing, you shouldn’t ignore it.
Adjust your seat height
Your seat height is one of the most important things when it comes to adjusting your wrists for a better typing position. The seat height should be high enough so that your fingers can rest on top of the keyboard without having to bend your wrists up or down. Your goal should be a neutral position.
Your forearms should be touching the table, but the chair shouldn’t be so low that you end up hunching your shoulders. If you stay in that position for a long time, the shrug will make your shoulders hurt. If your chair cannot be adjusted to the desired height, consider using a cushion for support.
Try the wrist rests
The reason we say “try” and not “use” is because wrist rests are user dependent. Some people prefer to have a wrist rest; others do not.
For some people putting their wrists on a wrist rest just bends their wrists out more forcefully when they have to press the enter or backspace keys.
However, if you find it more comfortable to write with your wrists resting on a surface, a wrist rest can help. A wrist rest helps you know where the keys are in relation to floating wrists. It is also very useful for tall keyboards, with raised keys.
Change the position of your wrist
Changing the position of your wrist is not easy. Doing this consciously requires some concentration and can slow down your typing speed, but you’ll thank yourself if you commit to it. If none of the advice above has worked, it could be because your wrists are not in the correct position.
Try to keep your wrists as straight as possible and make it a habit. You can try doing some typing exercises to help train these habits.
Experience an ergonomic keyboard
An ergonomic keyboard is probably one of the best things you can do for your wrists if you’re a person who types for long periods of time.
Ergonomic keyboards come in two main types: those that have an ergonomic layout and those that are split into two separate keyboards. An ergonomic layout is good if you take your keyboard with you, as you won’t be bringing two loose parts with you, but a split keyboard gives you more ways to use your keyboard.
There are even some ergonomic keyboards that tilt upwards so your palms aren’t facing downwards. Twisting the wrist so that the palms are facing downwards can also cause discomfort or pain over time, but this is difficult to do anything about on most keyboards as they are usually flat.
Use macros and learn shortcuts
Macros and shortcuts can save you time and pain when using your keyboard. Practically all work programs have shortcuts, shortcut keys and macros that you can use to avoid picking up the mouse every time you want to run something.
Picking up the mouse frequently can cause shoulder pain, especially if you end up hunching your shoulders while using the mouse. Learning macros in Word is quite powerful; not only will it lessen the pain in your hands, it will also make you much more efficient.
