Does anyone have experience with carpal tunnel or RSI and mechanical switches? I’ve heard some people recommend ZSA keyboards for ergonomics but I’m unsure if mechanical keys are healthy compared to the softer keys of older ergonomic keyboards like the ones Microsoft made.

Membrane "switches" have a pretty high actuation force all things considered (40-100g+), which is what the older MS keyboards use. There are plenty of mechanical switches that require less force to actuate, and Hall Effect switches can even have an adaptable activation point.

i developed rsi pretty bad in like 2018 and went all in with an ergodox and it didnt help really. true ergo + better posture and actual breaks (and some time off) is the only thing that worked for me

but i will say split keyboard is very nice but ortholinear seemed to reintroduce some strains

i use a normal keyboard with good floating hand posture when typing a lot w no issues these days

Microsoft Ergonomic prevented RSI not because of keys, but because of the front raiser bar. It allowed wrists to be more line up with hands, which prevented damage to the nerves in the wrist joint which is really RSI. I wish more keyboards had this feature.

Yeah, I've always wondered if there's any basis for the idea that mechanical keyboards prevent RSI. This article doesn't help -- it says that the mechanism by which mechanical keyboards prevent RSI is "hard to explain without getting too technical" and then stumbles over some strange "gym mat" analogy that made no sense t ome.

carpal tunell is 2015 news or so bottleneck is thinking not typing in programming