Mechanical ergonomical (angled) keyboards are currently very expensive / rare. I read that many coders are enjoying the Microsoft Sculpt as an alternative.
Expensive relative to what? Certainly not expensive relative to the rest of your computer and your office chair. It's a great shame that so many of us are willing to put up with the ten dollar keyboards that come complimentary with desktop machines. The keyboard is the primary input device used for many hours every working day. We deserve better.
It would cost me half my monthly salary, if I didn't get taxed. For something that I might not even get used to and have no one to sell it to in the local market.
Yes and no. The escape key is hot garbage. That can be fixed by key remapping. I've also had it drop the first keystroke after a period of inactivity. Finally, more than once it has exhibited stuck keys without any underlying physical reason. It really sucked when the stuck key was 'delete' and Outlook had window focus.
This is what helped me the most - shortening the distance between the home row and the mouse. The next best help is to use Vim everywhere which reduces the need to reach for the mouse.
I use a leopold 660m which is a 60% keyboard that has arrow keys tucked close.
And yet they have to sit in open offices to save $50/month by killing 50%+ of their productivity.
So he gets a cool keyboard, means 99 other employees are going to demand their cool little expense like the espresso maker or the dog walking area outside, and because its penny wise and pound foolish, the company would rather infuriate hundreds while destroying productivity, than spend 1% of their salary budget making the employees happy and productive.
Workers with RSI will get a doctor to prescribe a proper ergonomic workstation / peripherals. In fact, it's almost impossible to see a doctor for RSI without getting that. Afterwards, the employer will be forced to comply with that prescription. Even if they don't legally have to comply (in many places they do), the threat of a lawsuit should take care of that. This also solves the jealousy problem of other coworkers wanting gadgets because their disabled colleague is getting the equipment he desperately needs to work as they would need to be prescribed by a doctor or other health professional.
0. If you are in pain, stop immediately.
1. Posture: get an ergonomic assessment at work, follow it. A proper posture should not injure you. While typing your wrist should not be at an angle.
2. Stretching: physical therapy will train you to do it correctly. poor stretching will harm you even more.
3. Wrist braces help preventing injury. Ice and ibuprofen can help managing pain. But pain is useful to understand what is harming you.
4. Get ergonomic hardware. A mechanical keyboard can be softer than a regular one.