Medical Diagnosis: Self-diagnosed Tendonitis
Marcia translates published scientific and technical articles from Japanese to English. Although she has not actually consulted a physician, she diagnosed her initis based on her symptoms, conversations with other translators and the information she garnered at a seminar on hand injuries. She believes her condition developed gradually while using a traditional keyboard. 'When I would type for four or five hours, my wrists would swell. It got worse and, after a year, I was down to about one hour of typing a day."

She evaluated a number of alternative input devices. "I looked into purchasing a voice dictation system. At first I thought I could dictate onto a tape, but it just didn't seem feasible because I'd still have to do a lot of typing.

"Then I tried using a mouse more, but my right hand got even worse. Finally, I saw the Kinesis^® Ergonomic Keyboard on the television news last autumn: It seems there are a lot of people with sore hands. I received information from Kinesis, and their keyboard sounded like a really good solution.

"I got my keyboard the first week of January. For the first few days my typing was a bit slow. I had the most difficulty getting used to new thumb positions for Control, Page Up, Page Down and Enter. I really like using my thumbs. And I'm up to my normal speed. I translate in my head very quickly. Now that my typing can keep up with my translating, I'm really happy.

"When I first used the Kinesis keyboard, I experienced some muscle aches in my forearms, but they went away quickly - in about two days. I just typed for a few hours those first few days. Every day I could do a little more. Now I can type all day. I use the keyboard 40 hours a week, and my wrists feel fine.

"I like the rounded out feel to the keys on the Kinesis - the way they're sculpted. I used to be a programmer and have used a lot of different keyboards. This Kinesis design is more comfortable than any keyboard I've used."

"Once I used a foot pedal for the Shift key, it didn't take long to make it a habit. Now when I type on a traditional keyboard, I find myself looking around for the foot pedal."

As a translator, Marcia types in spurts - "explosions of typing, punctuated by pauses for thinking." Between spurts, she can rest on the Kinesis keyboard's padded palm rests to reduce the strain on her hands and arms. Studies show that maintaining a typing posture requires significant physical effort. "With the Kinesis, I can rest my hands while I do the mental work of translating, and it's a lot more comfortable.

"I'm stuck on my Kinesis keyboard. I need it in my work, and I'm really satisfied."