[snozolli]

It's all very personal. Partly because you will like certain key switches and layouts, and partly because any problems you may be having may not be solved by the same things that fixed my problems.

Personally, having tried a wide variety of keyboards and layouts (both key pattern and physical keyboard design), I think the biggest improvement is switching to any mechanical keyboard. Anything with Cherry MX switches will be a huge improvement over some cheap, sliding plastic keyboard from an OEM. After that, the particular type of switch might matter to you. Cherry Red, for example, only requires really light pressure. Topre switches are buttery smooth.

For physical configuration, I personally like either an 87 key, or I go all out with a Kinesis Advantage. The Kinesis saved my early career when I developed bilateral De Quervain's syndrome, which is tendinitis in the wrist that starts with the thumb. After years of this, I finally returned to traditional QWERTY 87 key configurations and haven't had a flare-up. I still think the Kinesis configuration (arrow keys accessible without moving the hands, thumbs are used for delete, enter, home/end and PgUp/PgDn) is ergonomically superior, but it's nice being able to jump on any normal QWERTY keyboard without fighting muscle memory.

My personal favorite mouse is the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer. I've heard good things about vertical mice for carpal tunnel.