[keehun]

One of the things that helped me the most was moving to the Dvorak keyboard. Dvorak lets me type at a higher speed, with less mistakes, and most important of all: with no hand cramping.

As for public/other computers that I don't get to configure: I found that I never really lost any speed on Qwerty. Whether that's the norm or I got lucky, I am not sure. Also, I find Dvorak to be available on most systems where the user can configure their input settings. Windows, Mac, and most Linux has Dvorak support built-in that are as easy to add as if you were adding another locale's keyboard layout.

[gwd]

I switched to Colemak and definitely noticed far less movement in my fingers when typing. When learning, switching back to Qwerty after spending time on Colemak I felt like my fingers were big flags waving around in the wind.

However, now several years after switching, I'm still not faster than I was before I switched from Qwerty. (On typeracer.com going between 100 and 120wpm.) I'm also distinctly crippled now when trying to type on someone else's Qwerty keyboard.

Still probably a good move from an RSI standpoint; just be aware before you go into it.