Safetype Keyboard - How It Works
It doesn’t just move the problem
to another area of the body:
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Most 'ergonomic' keyboards work very much like hitting your thumb with a hammer to make you forget about a headache. Sure, you forget about the headache, but didn’t you just trade your old problem for some new ones ?
Whenever you try out a new ‘ergonomic’ keyboard, pay particular attention to where your elbows are. Do you have weightless, floating arms? Most of us don’t. That means if the design causes your elbows to be spread out in order to straighten the wrist, you are going to have to support those upper arms with straining muscles, because they can no longer relax and hang effortlessly from the shoulder. See an example by moving your cursor over the indicated area on the graphic
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Extension:
Researchers have demonstrated that complete blockage of nerve signals can occur when pressure equal to 40mm of Mercury (measured just like atmospheric pressure) is applied for an 8-hour period. How much wrist extension does it take to create this much pressure? Only 20 degrees!
See an example of harmful extension by moving your cursor over the indicated area on the graphic
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Pronation:
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The third major posture to avoid is called 'pronation'. Pronating the hand simply means turning it so the palm faces downward. The bones in the forearm are actually straight and essentially parallel when the hands are slightly 'supine', with palms facing upward.
Observe how 'pronating' the hands (turning the palm downward) causes the bones in the forearm to cross and 'scissor' the soft tissues in the arm. It forces blood vessels and nerves between two hard objects (your bones) and then puts a crushing pressure on them! Do you see how this could be harmful over long periods of time?
See an example of harmful pronation by moving your cursor over the indicated area on the graphic
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Deviation:
Most of us learned to type on a standard, flat keyboard. The keys are all in nice, neat rows. Unfortunately, that means we have to twist and turn our hands to line them up with the keys in order to use the keyboard. Learning to use this kind of keyboard is very much like learning to smoke. It was uncomfortable the first time you tried it, but you gradually became used to it over time (and it is still bad for you even once you get used to it).
If you hold your wrists straight, then move your hand so that the little finger moves out and (pretend) back toward the elbows. This is called ‘ulnar deviation’ (you don't have to remember the terms to understand what's happening).
Holding your wrist in any position other than straight causes what physiologists call ‘static muscle loading’, or what you and I might call ‘constant tension’. Side effects of this include increased muscular energy expenditure, reduced muscular waste removal, and eventual discomfort or injury. To see for yourself how wrists must be deviated to use a conventional keyboard, just move your cursor over the area indicated (don't click):
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The only ‘ergonomic’ keyboards that will help prevent injury are those that cannot be adjusted improperly, and which eliminate significant amounts of extension, deviation, and pronation of the wrist. Anything else is a waste of your money. |
PRICE: $295.00 (formerly $347.00)
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