I have tenosynovitis right across both hands, a result of Rheumatoid Disease. My ulnar has shifted to sit on top of my carpal bones as well. This is obviously fairly catastrophic over time but with splinting and therapy I should be able to get more use before limiting surgery. I need to take care of my fingers too as the smaller bones in my hands and fingers are eroding and recycled to be used in the disease process.

I use a regular keyboard and type sideways. I have tried other keyboards but the learning curve is very steep. In this way I balance speed of typing, lightness of pressure and can prevent my very fragile little and ring fingers from hitting keys they shouldn’t!

Here my ideal key press approach is on the left, on the right shows a key press that I need to avoid. But this is quite often what is needed in my ring finger of my left hand if I use WASD to move. I rotate the keyboard further when I am able to totally separate keyboard use from my mousing hand.

An ideal setup would be to have an angled desk and keyboard set in. So I am looking into keyboards with some slope and rest areas. But typing sideways means I am using my shoulders to move my hands over the keys as much as the distal parts of my hands.

I use a very light weight traditional mouse (usb) as I can rest my entire fingers over the clicking area and avoid direct pressure on the tips of my fingers.

This is how I try to use the mouse, so I depress the full finger. It can be a bit slow. But the mouse is more responsive than my keyboard.

Here you can see how my palm is fairly well supported.

My hope with my Xbox controller is to be able to get my hands off the desktop entirely and be able to avoid the rotation of my hands and wrists that happen with a mouse and keyboard.

But I am also going to invest in a vertical mouse have now tried one. I’m concerned about the weight and surface requirements for it to work.

These help, a lot. But they aren’t total solutions as there are no total solutions to my disease. It changes the bones and tendons in my hand but also those muscles and tendons that control the hand to originate in the forearm.

So I have to be selective in non vital activities. I also rely a heck of a lot on spellcheck to do posts like these due to difficulty depressing some keys.