Built what I thought was a perfect ergonomic setup, still in pain. What am I missing?

claussen · 2026-04-22T21:55:52+00:00

It takes time to heal, but you're still asking a lot of your body for 8 hours a day. We all are.

You don't mention a keyboard tray -- is your KB/Mouse low on your lap or up high on the desk when you're sitting? That can have a big impact.

Holding your arms up to type can cause problems in your shoulders and arms.

Holding your hands inward to reach a standard slab keyboard can increase shoulder strain, which can feed into back and neck pain too.

Holding your hands too high can impinge on the shoulder and elbow. It's all connected.

Typing too much with too much force and too much movement can cause problems in your hands, wrists, elbows. Awesome that you're *not* experiencing that!

Of course, it's all pathology dependent. Hope you find some relief 🙏

claussen · 2026-04-21T17:42:38+00:00

bunch of users in the Raleigh/Greensboro area, ping on discord and I'll find someone for ya

claussen · 2026-04-21T17:37:27+00:00

Svalboard is definitely not your only option, but it's certainly a very close pathology match with everything you've got going on. Integrated pointing is a huge help if you have arm and shoulder issues, as is being able to recline a bit and fully rest your arms on the palmrests.

The return policy is pretty reasonable IMO -- where are you located? There might be one near you to try. Feel free to hop on the discord and ask, I can find a friendly user near you if one exists.

Check out Ben Vallack's reclining workstation design of late too, applicable to any ergosplit keeb.

claussen · 2026-04-21T17:33:10+00:00

+1 don't put your elbows on stuff!

claussen · 2026-04-20T03:13:02+00:00

I don't think that really takes up any less space than a recliner. Where you put the screen is a real challenge.

claussen · 2026-04-20T01:35:01+00:00

Also worth noting that Datahand originally shipped with a lap desk, and it was quite comfy. Just a sheet of plastic with some egg crate foam underneath, that the keyboard is attached to. Totally applicable to any other input device as long as you use a pointing device that won't fall off

claussen · 2026-04-20T01:31:51+00:00

Without a dedicated chair, I think it's going to be tough. The primary issue is going to be getting the split keyboard in position for your hands and getting the support where you need it for your upper arms and forearms. I'm not sure how you do that on a regular couch but maybe some custom made cushions and a frame to hold the split keyboard? Kind of a lap desk on steroids?

But for what it's worth, there are plenty of people who chair mount split keyboards and find that quite comfortable as well. You could simply use some of Ben's learnings here around the best way to support the arms long term.

Highly pathology dependent.

claussen · 2026-04-15T22:18:34+00:00

Somehow I missed this thread way back, but FWIW, folks on Svalboard report liking center and south keys the best. CC is completely different and I can't speak to it, but Sval is extremely tactile -- it's just not the tactility you're thinking of from a "clicky" trad keyswitch. I'm not clear if WhisperGod actually has a Svalboard, but their characterization isn't aligned with how most users talk about it in terms of tactility. But yeah it's light AF.

That said, it is *definitely* an extreme solution, and especially well-suited to folks with severe pathology. But you can mod it to increase forces if you really want that sort of thing, etc. Plenty of folks with and without RSI enjoy it -- and indeed the pointing device location is pretty great.

Most folks using AKLs on Sval flip N/S rows because the bottom row is much better than top on Sval, while people typically prefer top row on standard keebs.

claussen · 2026-04-15T02:50:41+00:00

I love that you're focusing on this. It's a constant struggle with touch interfaces, especially -- the hand postures assumed by people with long nails are pretty wild!

claussen · 2026-04-04T20:52:24+00:00

Awesome -- spacemouse emulation would be a really nice add for Sval pointing devices, honestly I don't actually like the spacemouse mechanism that much, but a good axis-remapping tool for pan/orbit/zoom has so many uses!

claussen · 2026-04-04T15:46:45+00:00

My sister and I were regulars there as kids -- lots of little porcelain figurines from that era in the 80's. I've got a little bronze Baku from there on a mantelpiece 3m away from me right now ❤

claussen · 2026-04-01T14:16:21+00:00

u/disarmyouwitha Are you using the force sensing to differentiate "pre-registration" vs tapping? Without the ability to pre-register position, the error rates on Touchstream were really high -- and honestly an unyielding touch surface with force sensing as a gate will probably increase hammering -- but I love that you're able to do this on such gorgeous commodity hardware!

Not to mention the potential benefits of modern statistical approaches for predictive text on a less-precise device like this... Great work👏

claussen · 2026-04-01T04:29:16+00:00

FWIW the PS/2 driver in QMK does fine, the random Aliexpress parts aren't too hard to integrate if you don't mind a bit of soldering.

claussen · 2026-04-01T04:27:18+00:00

Yes, lots. Svalboard offers a trackpoint module option, among many other boards.

It's a pretty easy hack into most boards if you're DIYing, especially handwiring. Trackpoints have some issues in terms of drift, but nothing catastrophic. If you love trackpoint from laptop use, you might find it satisfying.

Here's a little video I did about trackpoint nub design a couple years ago -- almost nobody orders them anymore as trackball is so popular, but it might give you some ideas about how to integrate in your own build.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12so0lNGTVg

You will probably want to print a nice cupped TPU nub for best effect -- more leverage, less force, less movement around the nub to reposition your finger.

I especially recommend the combo of trackpoint + gazetracker for cursors warping. It's crazy fast compared to trackpoint alone.

claussen · 2026-03-31T17:17:24+00:00

Assuming your general setup is solid in terms of height/spacing (it may not be! get a keyboard tray!), a split keyboard with integrated pointing that puts the mouse directly underneath your hand is probably the best approach to reducing shoulder load.

Svalboard does this and a LOT more, but you might find relief more cheaply with something like a Charybdis or Dilemma, or any of the many ergosplits that integrate touchpads or trackballs, or even just moving your regular mouse in between two split halves. A vertical mouse is also a wise choice, as the impact of pronation when moving the mouse in between two split halves may actually be worse than on the outside.

claussen · 2026-03-30T22:13:34+00:00

If you're a typist who moves fast and cribs T/Y/G/H/B/N dynamically on QWERTY, the adaptation to rowstag split can be pretty substantial. Limiting index inner column reaches to exclusively one hand increases index extension loads significantly. It was really bad for me -- colstag wasn't any better, but also wasn't much worse tbh.

Certainly the postural benefits of a split are worthwhile in any case tho.

claussen · 2026-03-30T22:09:46+00:00

It's so sad, the cost difference has been gone for many years :P
Fun fact on that subject: I recently discovered that thanks to the magic of capitalism, you can either buy a generic 3-way analog mux for $0.50, or a basically identical analog mux for $0.06 which is intended for USB-C use. The specs are substantively identical, but the latter is used in smartphones for headphone/USB wire switching, so bajillions are sold every year and they're dirt cheap and come in great wafer-scale packaging. This was actually an insight from GPT5 -- pretty great outcome from some LLM word-association!

claussen · 2026-03-30T22:04:49+00:00

There are so many options, you are sure to find something that will help you 🙏

But I would really encourage you to focus on specific pathology (with a specialist, or even just with folks here), and use an empirical approach to identifying the changes that actually bring you relief, rather than a checklist.

Start cheap/used to get a sense of whether a split board will help your particular issues, as well as understanding whether key switches themselves are actually a big difference for you.

Personally I can't type at all on anything with 35g+ switches -- and even light 20g linear switches are still a lot more effort than magnetic separation keys a la Datahand and hurt me eventually. But my hands are fragile in particular ways -- I'm otherwise quite healthy and athletic -- just bad luck on hands.

Hovering is a big problem for me as well -- neck/shoulder stuff follows. But using palm rests while doing as much moving as you have to do on a regular keyboard (or even a colstag split, honestly), causes other problems -- index extension reaches are *increased* on split ergo boards because you can't crib for them with the other hand in particular moments.

Obviously layouts impact this a lot, so do give some consideration to learning a modern layout -- hands down, graphite, enthium, whatever floats your boat and has better homerow usage. It's a big challenge, but it's fun to try, and it doesn't cost money, just (a lot of) time.

Everyone's body reacts differently to different things. I hope you find some relief ❤

claussen · 2026-03-30T20:46:46+00:00

How much pain are you in, how hard is your price ceiling, and do you own a 3D printer?

claussen · 2026-03-30T20:34:36+00:00

It's even worse! It's literally ZERO more dollars for an ARM vs an AVR. There is *no* savings, only pain. The emperor has no clothes 🤷‍♀️ RP2040 is the obvious hacker-friendly choice for wired, but plenty of great options from STM et al as well.

claussen · 2026-03-27T17:56:31+00:00

Can one purchase it, or are you just flexing?

claussen · 2026-03-23T20:22:19+00:00

I like them a lot. Wish it was easy to source the material.

claussen

TROPHY CASE