Yep. On a keyboard with 8 thumb cluster keys per side, and custom 35g switches to lower the force needed to actuate, that helped a lot, but still not enough to be pain-free. Unfortunately once the damage is done on certain joints you can only do so much short of not using those fingers at all. 30 years of hammering keys pretty hard eventually catch up to you.

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yep31 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

You should try 20g springs, they are really good for typing. I also removed the keycaps and replaced them with small pieces of band-aid on top of the switch stems which also helped. Also dictating plain text like comments and typing only for correcting errors in dictation and for short actions is better. It's easier to press a button rather than say a lengthy command, because vocal cords can also be damaged by speaking too much.

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8f2ab37a-ed6c 3 days ago | parent [-]

Where have you been able to find ultralight springs available to consumers? I was looking into this last week and the 10-20g ones were only available straight from the factory in South Korea with shipping costing $200... I was happy to get them and swap them out, but that shipping pricetag was too much of a highway robbery.

Would appreciate any advice here :)

And, intrigued about the idea of not using key switches at all. Are there any aftermarket alternatives available online for "keycaps" that are better at softening the impact on the finger, something softer and bouncier perhaps? Seems like something people would have experimented with.

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yep32 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Here is an interesting discussion about low-weight springs old.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/ojk0em/experiences\_with\_very\_low\_weight\_8\_to\_25g\_spring/. It has a link to rndkbd.com /products /sprit-springs?variant=43822770782442, where I purchased my springs. They have a full range starting from 12g, but they are currently out of stock. You can ask about the next restock on their Discord server.

One thing I discovered about lightweight springs is that lubing the switch doesn't work at all, it just stops resetting. I also think that with traditional MX-style switches going with weight less than 20g might not work out well because even with 20g springs some of my keys are not resetting properly, they remain stuck when I lift my finger, and I get "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"s instead of just "a" for example.

As for removing keycaps, my keyboard looks like this: m.youtube.com/watch?v=647FeK3\_Bek, except I left the spacebar keycap on, and I have a small piece of adhesive plaster tape on top of the plastic parts that resembles a plus sign "+" on every switch to increase friction. But I don't think removing keycaps works for switches box type switches with stems that look like [+]. I also had to open the space bar switch and add a little aluminum foil ring inside where the spring is located because it consistently wouldn’t reset.

Lightweight springs also slightly reduce the key travel distance, and the actuation point becomes very high, practically no actuation point. It produces a keystroke the moment you touch it. This is now possible with harder springs too with the advent of Hall effect keyboards, but the lightest spring available for that type of keyboard is 28g, which is a bit too heavy.

	▲	8f2ab37a-ed6c 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Thanks for sharing all that, appreciated. I had looked at that particular store last month and they were sold out of the lighter springs, but I'll check with them again to see if that's changing. And great point around switches being stuck with the lighter springs, definitely something I'll have to watch out for if I ever get that far. I've also enjoyed Topre switches in the past, I remember those feeling pretty light as well, although I can't quite recall how my injured joints worked with them, that was in the healthy days.

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yep31 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

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elorant 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The next best thing then is to try weight lifting exercises for the hands. This also helps a lot because it strengthens the muscle.