I realized upon further consideration that I don’t actually have any evidence regarding keyboards and RSI, so here are the most relevant results of my brief research:
Effects of keyboard keyswitch design: A review of the current literature The abstract states that “Due to the ballistic nature of typing, new keyswitch designs should be aimed at reducing impact forces.” This is a task which mechanical keyboards can potentially achieve more effectively than membrane ones because you can stop pushing on the key before it bottoms out. Later on in the paper they discuss results which seem to show that the loud noise of mechanical keyboards may actually be their best feature, as a silent keyboard with 0.28N of force causes about the same amount of finger effort as a clicky keyboard requiring 0.72N.
Computer key switch force-displacement characteristics and short-term effects on localized fatigue I’m unclear how much this paper is worth, as their methodology seems unlikely to produce situations like those encountered in real life. Assuming their conclusions are correct, they appear to indicate that keyswitches requiring lower actuation forces will lead to lower strike force when they hit the keyboard backing, which I believe would tend to mean that membrane keyboards are better for you if you can’t train yourself not to shove the key into the keyboard backplane. However, they do indicate that longer overtravel (the length the key can be pressed after it activates) will reduce the striking force, so I’m not sure whether membrane keyboards come out ahead overall as they have quite a bit less overtravel.
Toward a more humane keyboard Light on details, but states that from their research one of the design goals of an improved ergonomic keyboard should be to optimize tactile feedback (among other things). This paper was co-written by the president of Kinesis (in 1992), and it’s worth noting that at least the modern Kinesis ergonomic keyboards use mechanical keyswitches with 45g of operating force (lower than the 50-65g typical of Cherry keyswitches), and have around 4mm of overtravel.
There’s about 4 or 5 additional promising results from Google Scholar, but I think I’ve learned as much about keyboards as I care to at the moment. If you want to read further I found that the most promising search terms were “buckling spring carpal tunnel”, and “effects of keyboard keyswitch design”.
Overall the evidence seems to vaguely back up the folk wisdom that mechanical keyboards can help to lessen one’s chances of getting a hand injury like carpal tunnel, but there doesn’t appear to be anything conclusive enough to warrant using a mechanical keyboard for that alone (and there’s probably a lot more benefit to be had from an ergonomic layout than from the keyswitches). I still judge it worth the $60 extra in my own case, but that’s probably just the sunk costs and techno-hipsterism talking.
I realized upon further consideration that I don’t actually have any evidence regarding keyboards and RSI, so here are the most relevant results of my brief research:
Effects of keyboard keyswitch design: A review of the current literature
The abstract states that “Due to the ballistic nature of typing, new keyswitch designs should be aimed at reducing impact forces.” This is a task which mechanical keyboards can potentially achieve more effectively than membrane ones because you can stop pushing on the key before it bottoms out. Later on in the paper they discuss results which seem to show that the loud noise of mechanical keyboards may actually be their best feature, as a silent keyboard with 0.28N of force causes about the same amount of finger effort as a clicky keyboard requiring 0.72N.
Computer key switch force-displacement characteristics and short-term effects on localized fatigue
I’m unclear how much this paper is worth, as their methodology seems unlikely to produce situations like those encountered in real life. Assuming their conclusions are correct, they appear to indicate that keyswitches requiring lower actuation forces will lead to lower strike force when they hit the keyboard backing, which I believe would tend to mean that membrane keyboards are better for you if you can’t train yourself not to shove the key into the keyboard backplane. However, they do indicate that longer overtravel (the length the key can be pressed after it activates) will reduce the striking force, so I’m not sure whether membrane keyboards come out ahead overall as they have quite a bit less overtravel.
Toward a more humane keyboard
Light on details, but states that from their research one of the design goals of an improved ergonomic keyboard should be to optimize tactile feedback (among other things). This paper was co-written by the president of Kinesis (in 1992), and it’s worth noting that at least the modern Kinesis ergonomic keyboards use mechanical keyswitches with 45g of operating force (lower than the 50-65g typical of Cherry keyswitches), and have around 4mm of overtravel.
There’s about 4 or 5 additional promising results from Google Scholar, but I think I’ve learned as much about keyboards as I care to at the moment. If you want to read further I found that the most promising search terms were “buckling spring carpal tunnel”, and “effects of keyboard keyswitch design”.
Overall the evidence seems to vaguely back up the folk wisdom that mechanical keyboards can help to lessen one’s chances of getting a hand injury like carpal tunnel, but there doesn’t appear to be anything conclusive enough to warrant using a mechanical keyboard for that alone (and there’s probably a lot more benefit to be had from an ergonomic layout than from the keyswitches). I still judge it worth the $60 extra in my own case, but that’s probably just the sunk costs and techno-hipsterism talking.