There have been well-documented studies that keyboards which promote neutral postures, often referred to as ergonomic keyboards, simply fail to prevent users from painful typing induced injuries. Every ergonomic keyboard out there is designed with one principle in mind— find that golden position that is neutral and we can’t possibly type ourselves into an injury.
This premise is flawed and I will show you why.
First, let's put a name on the injury: Carpal Tunnel, RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury), tendinitis or simply, pain. The mechanism for all of these is the same — the name merely describes the location or which structures of the body were involved.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:
Inflammation of the nerve which runs through the wrist at what we call the carpal tunnel.
Tendinitis:
Irritation of tendons caused by static repetition to a particular tendon resulting in swelling.
RSI- Repetitive Stress Injury:
This is the umbrella name for all injuries caused by repetition.
Pain:
Neurological and physiological signal that goes to the brain and you in turn perceive pain.
Let’s talk about how these conditions are caused.
Basically, we have limited amount of space in our hands, wrists and arms to contain tendons, nerves and blood vessels that we expect to be of certain size. If some of these structures begin to take up too much room something is going to be squeezed, causing these elements to be irritated and swell. Nerves are the most sensitive and usually suffer the most.
The hands are made of bones, which are controlled by tendons that act a bit like puppet strings. These strings, or tendons, pass through the wrist via the carpal tunnel. These strings are pulled thousands of times in a matter of minutes while typing. Since the arms stay fixed the fingers do most of the work. Gradually the strings start to wear out and since we keep our arms fixed while we are typing they break down in the same spots over and over again. This causes swelling of the strings, or tendons. Soon there is not enough room for the nerve to pass through and it begins to short out like a wire. Without that nerve working properly, you lose coordination, strength, and sensation.
Blood vessels also pass through the canal. While the heart pumps much blood, so do the joints in our body. Since the fingers are moving and the wrists remain stationary there is no pumping of blood out of the hands. This causes the temperature to drop, and a build-up of blood occurs at the carpal tunnel. Since the wrist is so far from the heart it is difficult to get that blood moving effectively without pumping from the joints. Once again the canal is getting crowded and soon the nerve will be squeezed and will short out.
It was these two leading factors in upper extremity injuries that has inspired our research, which has lead to the development of Smartfish’s healthy technology revolution and patented product line today.
This premise is flawed and I will show you why.
First, let's put a name on the injury: Carpal Tunnel, RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury), tendinitis or simply, pain. The mechanism for all of these is the same — the name merely describes the location or which structures of the body were involved.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:
Inflammation of the nerve which runs through the wrist at what we call the carpal tunnel.
Tendinitis:
Irritation of tendons caused by static repetition to a particular tendon resulting in swelling.
RSI- Repetitive Stress Injury:
This is the umbrella name for all injuries caused by repetition.
Pain:
Neurological and physiological signal that goes to the brain and you in turn perceive pain.
Let’s talk about how these conditions are caused.
Basically, we have limited amount of space in our hands, wrists and arms to contain tendons, nerves and blood vessels that we expect to be of certain size. If some of these structures begin to take up too much room something is going to be squeezed, causing these elements to be irritated and swell. Nerves are the most sensitive and usually suffer the most.
The hands are made of bones, which are controlled by tendons that act a bit like puppet strings. These strings, or tendons, pass through the wrist via the carpal tunnel. These strings are pulled thousands of times in a matter of minutes while typing. Since the arms stay fixed the fingers do most of the work. Gradually the strings start to wear out and since we keep our arms fixed while we are typing they break down in the same spots over and over again. This causes swelling of the strings, or tendons. Soon there is not enough room for the nerve to pass through and it begins to short out like a wire. Without that nerve working properly, you lose coordination, strength, and sensation.
Blood vessels also pass through the canal. While the heart pumps much blood, so do the joints in our body. Since the fingers are moving and the wrists remain stationary there is no pumping of blood out of the hands. This causes the temperature to drop, and a build-up of blood occurs at the carpal tunnel. Since the wrist is so far from the heart it is difficult to get that blood moving effectively without pumping from the joints. Once again the canal is getting crowded and soon the nerve will be squeezed and will short out.
It was these two leading factors in upper extremity injuries that has inspired our research, which has lead to the development of Smartfish’s healthy technology revolution and patented product line today.