Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury

Question: Ergonomic mice, keyboards, and other products are made from the same basic materials as their standard, non-ergonomic counterparts. So why are they so expensive?

Answer: They aren’t mass produced in the same way as regular keyboards, mice, and so on, so the costs to make them are higher. When items are in high demand, they can be produced en masse in factories across the world at a lower cost, leading to something called “economies of scale”—at a higher scale of production, your cost per product goes down. You can buy materials in bulk for a discount, produce them in bulk in a dedicated factory, and as a result you can sell products more cheaply.

So the solution to the high cost of ergonomic products is to encourage demand, to vote with your cash and buy products that you think are valuable.

In the last few years, certain kinds of ergonomic products have become more popular, more common, and as a result more affordable. Great examples are some of the trackball mice or the split keyboards.

Less popular products can still be very valuable to a small niche of customers. The Datahand, for example, works well for typists looking for a radical keyboard solution, but it’s unlikely to become a standard because it’s so unusual. (I once got a lot of flack on this blog from a datahand enthusiast by calling it a “weird” keyboard.)

Only products that are really valuable to many people, and gain popularity, will be the ones to become cheaper and more universally adopted. Most likely, they will be products that are different enough to provide a real ergonomic benefit, but not so different that they’re really hard to use.

Debating whether to buy ergonomic products?

If you’re considering spending the cash on an ergonomic product, though, it’s not the dollar figure or popularity you should be looking at. What matters is how much it’s worth to you, holistically. If you’re in pain, losing work time, and spending money on therapy treatments, an ergonomic product that solves the problem could actually save you money.

But if you’re not sure, try to rent, borrow or try out the product before you buy, to see if it helps. Just be aware that first impressions won’t always be accurate. Sometimes it can take two weeks to a month to adapt to a new tool and see how it affects your working life. For example, I hated my Logitech trackball mouse at first, since it hurt my wrist—but after a few weeks it became one of the best solutions for my workstation and I’m still using it exclusively two years later.

What Ergonomic Keyboards and Mice Are Available?

A diverse range of keyboards, mice and other products exists already today. Take a look at these articles to learn more or browse our store.

• A Comprehensive List of Alternative Keyboards
• A Comprehensive List of Alternative Mice
• Comprehensive List of Mouse-like Solutions (Alternative Pointing Devices)

Possibly Related Articles:

• Ergonomic Mice and Keyboards — Find The Right One for You
• Alternative Ergonomic Mice–the Comprehensive Guide
• Mini-notebooks Substitute for SmartPhones, Not Laptops
• Top 15 Most Popular Posts at Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress
• Improve Your Mousing Style: How to Click and Point More Comfortably