ALTERNATIVE ERGONOMIC KEYBOARD DESIGNS AND HOW THEY IMPACT OFFICE WORK. A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF CONTROLLED TRIALS

A. Radwan¹, D. Varsames¹, W. Furman¹, E. Yeboah¹, J. Farquhar^1,1

¹Utica University, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Utica-NY, United States

Background: Office workers currently suffer from increased musculoskeletal pathologies that are detrimental to their performance and wellbeing. This may be linked to existing keyboard designs that enforce certain typing postures. Ergonomic keyboard designs have been implemented, for little over two decades, yet their true value for office workers have not been clearly determined.

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to determine the best available ergonomic keyboard design, for office workers, that would preserve upper extremity function and enhance worker’s performance while minimizing discomfort.

Methods: A comprehensive systematic search was conducted using primarily ergonomics, medicine and allied health databases, in addition to grey literature (CINAHL, Google Scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect) and respective ergonomics journals based on specified inclusion criteria. The independent search resulted in 310 articles to be screened for possible inclusion.

Results: A total of 12 articles (396 participants, 214 females, 182 males, mean age of 28 years) were included in this systematic review. The methodological quality of the articles was deemed to be moderate to high according to the evaluation scales utilized.

Conclusions: The results of this systematic review indicate that there is moderate to high evidence to support the use of an adjustable split/slanted keyboard compared to the standard and virtual keyboards. Similarly, this systematic review found moderate evidence to support a traditional key orientation, a traditional key gap (5 mm), a smaller key pitch (17 mm) and a smaller key travel distance (1.6 to 2 mm).

Implications: The authors of this systematic review recommend the above-mentioned parameters to ensure neutral wrist and upper extremity postures and accordingly to minimize physical and mental stress while improving productivity and satisfaction among office workers.

Funding acknowledgements: N/A

Keywords:
Computer keyboard design
Ergonomics
Discomfort, Pain

Topics:
Occupational health & ergonomics
Musculoskeletal
Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: This is a systematic review