[apitman]

I started experiencing similar forearm pain a few years ago. The split keyboard seemed to help a ton. I also programmed[0] an Arduino with two foot pedals. Left pedal for CTRL, right for SHIFT, both for ALT. Worked wonders. I mostly have the pain manageable now, but it still flares up sometimes, and it was really scary there for a while wondering if I might have to stop programming. To you young guns out there, an ounce of prevention truly is worth a pound of cure. Invest in an ergonomic setup and stretches/exercises now, and don't push yourself into pain while typing. Take more breaks. Once you push your body over the edge it may never quite be the same.

[0]: https://github.com/anderspitman/ergo-pedals

[xmcqdpt2]

I remapped the modifiers on my keyboard such that the bottom row is

Win - Alt - Ctrl - Space - Ctrl - Alt - Win

This is so that I can use my thumbs for Ctrl and index fingers for Alt. I taught myself to use the opposite side modifiers every time (using the right control for Ctrl-S).

This got rid of the vast majority of unergonomic keystrokes for me.

[thewakalix]

What if you need to press all three "keys" simultaneously?

[Brian_K_White]

The same keys still exist on the keyboard. There is also such a thing as a compose key sequence where you press a few things serially rather than all at once. There are countless answers to this question really.

[devinprater]

He probably doesn't use Emacs. :)

[yetanotherasian]

I know what you mean. I was forced to use emacs for a year. I found it an interesting coincidence the person who forced emacs on us had the worst carpal tunnel syndrome and couldn't type on a standard keyboard without extreme pain.

I know you can remap your keys but there's inertia to just go with what you're given.

I've also noticed myself switching between Mac, Windows, and Linux, that Cmd-C on my Mac is way less stressful on my hand than Ctrl-C on the other 2 machines. I should probably figure out how to remap those.

PS: If you're curious how emacs was forced, it was because the lead built the project's IDE/build/debugging system into emacs

[pault]

Try a keyboard running QMK firmware. You can map a single key to multiple codes depending on the length of the key press. I use caps lock as escape if released immediately, and control if held down. Putting the modifiers in the bottom corner of the keyboard was a sadistic design choice.

[Brian_K_White]

"escape if released immediately, and control if held down"

Elegant.

And I mean for those two particular modifiers with that relationship, not just the idea in general.

[imp0cat]

Or evil mode.

[dingnuts]

wow you woke up today and chose violence, didn't ya?