Even with a no-click ergonomic keyboard I find typing/keyboarding uncomfortable and tiring (and with my current trigger thumb and fingers a real test of patience and endurance). As my employment requires careful note keeping on the computer, keyboarding has become a trial.
Recently I ordered a pair of slip-on typing aids and over the past several days have 'tried them out': getting the velcro adjustments adjusted required four hands. Once that was done I needed to rethink how I use the keyboard. The aids require a two-finger pecking style of typing, but after finishing up a lengthy report last evening my hands and wrists were not 1/10th as tired and sore as usual. Thank the gods/goddesses of computing for spell-checker, however. Suddenly using the keyboard and typing all at once became beyond my meager abilities.
Does anyone else use such aids? Is there a better, or more functional type than ?
Why dont you use an speech recognition program... dragon naturally speaking is good, it takes about 20 to 40 minutes to train it to recognise your voice and then you dont have to type at all.
What do you use for a mouse? Using a mouse (especially one with a roller in the middle of it) is terrible for RSI type strain and just thinking about the trigger finger/thumb thing must make it unbearable for you. My RA is in my hands and fingers. I use a GoldTouch keyboard, it separates into two bits and each bit can be bent to any angle you find comfortable and I also use a 'bamboo tablet and pen' instead of a mouse. Holding a chunky pen and moving it around the tablet was strange at first but its made my life so much easier and comfortable and more importantly even when my hands are very bad I can still do my work.
Hi Sarah, very often the note taking is done in evaluation meetings and a speech recognition program is just too intrusive. Most of the reports I do have a confidentiality aspect that is imperative and as their are frequently visitors in and around my cubicle caution is the keyword.
Both my PC and my laptop have a rollerball instead of a mouse, for me a rollerball is not nearly as stressful as a mouse. Small discrete moves of a finger instead of the whole hand.
Thanks for the suggestions! I have used DragonSpeak in the past and need to upgrade it for this OS at home.
Cheers, Shug
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