I Hired an Ergonomic Expert for $309... (So You Don't Have to) 

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so funny thing about "you gotta hit the homies with a posture check". When I worked in Player Support, we would always have one manager that would ping everyone and say "Shrimp Check!" and that was your chance to get up, or readjust if you need to. I loved it because it helped so much just as a general reminder.

Well, thanks for the in-depth style of video. Not just recommending new gadgets or reading from some 'papers'. You actually brought in someone who has no motive to sell you something. Appreciate that as a viewer.

Spends 50$ on a chair, spends 500$ on a keyboard just like any good keyboard hobbyist should 😂

As an ergonomic consultant, I have some thoughts: 1. Overall she did a fantastic job of breaking down the reasons why ergonomics is important and how the body is supposed to be positioned. 2. I would say the only area I strongly disagree is on the topic of arm rests and wrist rests. Contact pressure can be a concern for people with nerve impingement (btw it should say impingement, not hingement as it's written in 8:07) but that is much less common than muscle tightness in the neck and shoulders from having to support the weight of the arms. If your arm rests are in good condition and they allow you to keep your elbows close to your body then it's a good idea to use them. Same with wrist rests - especially if you're using thicker keyboards (like most mechanical keyboards) they can keep your wrists in a more neutral position than if you have your wrists on the desk. If you float your wrists with no support, this can work, but again this can cause muscle fatigue so resting the wrists while typing is helpful for most people. 3. I would love to see a follow up on what your set up looks like post assessment. Great video.

I almost quit my last job after a complete lack of ergonomics gave me some incredible forearm tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. The entire issue was fixed by raising the chair (at the expense of my short legs dangling a bit). I also found THE BEST STRETCH for carpal tunnel: -Make a T-pose with palms facing up -Extend fingers back (towards ground, to a comfortable extent) -Moving just your elbows, make the shrug emoji ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Move between those positions several times -- you should feel a very nice stretch down to your fingertips. Nothing stopped the pins & needles in my fingertips like this stretch did.

Ohh so happy that you featured the Dygma Defy on your video at 17:45! We'd love to hear your thoughts on it if you give ergo keyboards a second try 😊

Im 27 and have a bad back and arthritis in my left knee. For about a year now ive been gaming on the couch streaming my pc to my phone with a gamesir g8. Its been great. I could not game at my desk for over an hour. So streaming has been saving my ass.

Thank you @HipyoTech for featuring Remy in this video and for dedicating the time to thoroughly review what a proper ergonomic assessment involves. It was a pleasure working with you!

I use a Herman Miller Embody chair but yet i sit with my legs crossed. I think im cooked

Oh yeah, i had severe hand/finger pain some years ago. People would say things like 'carpal tunnel' and 'inflammation'. In truth, it was mostly pinched nerves up at my shoulder and i just needed to stretch.

I am so glad you made this video! There really is a lot to ergonomics. She was so informative and lovely!

I made it all the way to the end, Mr. Editor :)

So for me, the biggest change to reduce elbow pain was to get a keyboard with tenting. I now have a motorized desk, and a proper chair too so im sitting in a proper height, which helps too. I cant use a regular keyboard for more than 30 minutes without pain bc of pronation. My elbows start complaining immediately. I use the dygma raise keyboard, and am eagerly awaiting the V2 in october. That said, i will be trying out some of the tips outlined in the video, like having the keyboard closer to my body, and raising the desk a bit. also to avoid resting my elbows on the arm rests! good stuff!

"these keys feel really hard to press" The dusty Gateron Clear linears in the bottom of my cupboard screaming victoriously

He’s based DaVinci Resolve user! A one time $300 purchase with lifetime ownership vs the cringe $30 monthly Adobe rent payment.

I'm a larger person, so I'm one of those people who have to rotate my hands inward to accommodate my frame using a standard keyboard. I also have a shoulder injury which permanently damaged my labrum, so my right arm (I'm right-handed) lights up like a Christmas tree when I'm not keeping it in a neutral position. The split keyboard is the only thing that helps with this. It was a definite learning curve, especially learning the navigation of layers, but the Keebio Iris has been pivotal in almost eliminating the pain I feel when typing. I highly recommend it for people in a similar position where standard keyboards require an inward rotation.

9:59 wth is that one chair 😭😭😭

Thanks for the video! And hello editor 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

this was super interesting, thanks for putting this together. Always fun to listen to a professional talk about stuff like this. Definitely got me thinking about my own setup

8:05 My darling, she says "impingement", not "hingement". Also worst/worse is killing me right now xD Thank you fellow Briton, I did make it to the end! Judging by everything you covered here, that $309 was a friggin' BARGAIN. About as much as a good bike fit, and thinking about it, it's kinda the same job, just a different application. Big thanks to Raimi (what, like Sam?) and of course, your bad self for this one.

Cool Video Hipyo!

excellent video. just one little note: that is not the dygma Raise 2, that is the Dygma Defy, It is a good keyboard but is too expensive, the main benefit for me is the integrated tenting that it has, different angles so you can choose what is most comfortable

I also noticed standing desks don't go low enough for some super strange reason. Which is when I stopped looking at them and started my focus on adjustable coffee tables instead. Some of them even look like an executive desk!

I own one (1) mechanical keyboard and I'm not really looking for one more, but I do love this channel. There's an S-tier combination of your clear expertise and passion for keyboards in some videos and really helpful and approachable videos about living life like this one.

What a massive eye opener, great info in this vid. Thanks Hipyo and Ramie :)

You're so real for this one. I'm glad you're pointing the spotlight of such important issues that are often overlooked

Made it all of the way to the end! Also, I like the longer format video...the pacing was great and the edits were just as great!

Very helpful video , I'm gonna take advantage of this kind of Eval at work , since they offer it. Keep up the great work!

nice vid, Hipyo!🎉

This video actually helped a ton! Especially the tip about bringing the keyboard in closer, I don't even need the wrist rest anymore. And I finally got my chair in the right position.

Love the video, thanks for doing that

This video is so good! Thanks so much! I rethought my setup everywhere.

Hipyo. That Dygma keyboard you had in the shots is the Dygma Defy. The Raise 2 has yet to ship to customers. The Raise 2 is a split 60%. The Defy is a split ortho columnar keyboard.

I love this. What resonates with me most is the body posture and the desk/chair height. When using an adjustable chair, I tend to adjust the height a lot to try to find that comfortable, neutral position.

That's such a good vid, like wth! Thank you for making the effort!

Really great video. Touched on a lot of good points and practical ideas. I very much appreciate hearing the expert's thoughts. Thanks.

What a genius idea for a video.

Didn’t expect to enjoy this video. Good job Hipyo and team 😊

Excellent video, very informative! Made it all the way to the end!

This was so informative, I appreciate you shareing the assessemnt with us. I recently purchase an Ajazz AKS068 Pro 68 trying to find a keyboard that would relieve some hand fatigue and soreness. But after watching this video I see there is more to it than just the keyboard I'm using.

I have pretty bad carpel and cubital tunnel due to my day job and that is what started me going down the ergo rabbit hole. When I talk to people asking questions about it and looking to reduce their pain, I always tell them that there is no one answer and that it's an adjustment and tweaking of variables. I am so glad that you took the time and money to make this video. It drives that point home and hopefully will help some people looking to improve their setups. I am a keyboard tray person rocking the Cheapino V2 keyboard, which is a super affordable board so it's really not as inaccessible as some might think to get a good ergo board setup that works for them.

This was so helpful! Thank you!

What great niche of information I was currently interested in. Use the same mouse. Love it! Just started my first custom keyboard and your content has been a bit of a home page for my rabbit hole.

Great video on a topic not just a new product comparison. Love to see more content like this.

Hipyo is truly doing everything we didnt know we needed him to do for us. Hes a freaking legend lol

Cool and helpful video. Thanks!

this was a good video idea to branch out. It was really informative and related closely enough to the content I would normally come here for.

I enjoyed this one! Good work

Finally early to a Hipyo video, amazing as always!

Honestly loved this video. So much about online or "gamer" culture is about what is cool or hardcore or whatever, so it's genuinely nice seeing someone talking about healthy habits and avoiding pain.

13:50 I used to play a lot of Counter-Strike when I was a teenager and I had my keyboard and mice way too deep in the desk and I eventually started getting horrible wrist pain, I eventually started positioning my peripherals near the edge and while my aim sucked at the beginning (and it never got as good as it was before) the pain went away and many years later I still find it to be the most natural

Omg Hipyo, I NEED that ergonomic hoodie!

Awesome vid. And great job, British editor!

This is quite useful! Thank you!

This is good stuff!! Much prefer these longer videos to shorter ones.

You paid expert to help you with your ergonomics 309 $ and that still costs way less than what this keyboard hobby cost me in 3 months. I have a bit of a problem I guess 😂

Very good video and i hope this will help a lot of people to start thinking about their working and gaming positions.

Made it to the end. Thanks for the informative video. I was surprised to see the advice to bring the keyboard and mouse closer to the edge of the desk. It might be due to the width of my chair's back, the fact I have the sliding keyboard tray, or the fact I don't have armrests and use the tray as my arm and wrist rests.

Been having recent pain so this comes at an excellent time! Going to try a split/tented board, raise my chair a bit, and move everything to the edge of the desk/scootch the chair up more. We’ll see where that gets me.

I have tried a lily58 and I absolutely love them. The only gripe is that because it's hand soldered and all that, it end up having some build issues. To me tenting kit is a game changer, having the board on flat surface just twist my hands too much. I ended up having like a 30-50 degree tent and those feel very comfy to put my hands.

Great video! Love this topic! Basically the reason why i got into this hobby. Glad she mentioned desk heights; I never got any of those large deskmats because I know most desks are just too high! And I'm 6feet tall! I'd say most office desks are just too high; so annoying.

this made me realize ive had my arm rests a tad too high. I personally think the Aeron trumps the Embody, and I've been using mine for about 3 years now, really loving the change. Great video!

Loved this, i just bought wrist pads and ergonomic mouse, the mouse i think has actually been helpful, now its the turn of the chair

Really insightful video! Took away a few really solid tips that would be helpful for improving my own workspace. Thanks, Hipyo! ((Also noticed a few hate comments already, please ignore them they're cringe))

good video! this is something we easily forget, until it's too late - some good insights

Thanks for the video. makes me think about my own setup at home as i also have scoliosis with bending. oh btw. that dji osmo pocket 3 is well used!

This was a great video. The idea of maximizing neutral position was obvious but I didn't think it was really important until now.

Just changed my whole setup placement. Already feel a huge difference!

@hipyotech thank you so much for this video, I’ve been dealing with shoulder pain for quite some time just thinking it was from picking up my boys all these years when it occurred to me that I haven’t done that in SO long that I shouldn’t still have that pain anymore. Since that thought, I’ve been on the road to better ergonomics because at this stage in my life, I don’t want to have to get into a new career. (UNIX Engineer by day.) I picked up a new ZSA Voyager Split Ergonomic keyboard to see if that helps and next on the list is a better chair since the old hand-me-down chair from my previous employer isn’t doing me any favors. Can’t even come close to being able to afford a Hermon Miller, so we’ll see what that brings. Thanks again, because now I have more things to look out for.

This was actually a surprisingly good video!

Top tier review as always

Nice to have all that information, thank you. And yes, i made it to the end.

Ergonomics and desk posture I’m constantly trying to improve, have RA so back, hip, shoulders, hands, wrists all take a beating. Work 8hrs a day at my wfh office, 2 days in the company office, it’s so difficult, thrown so much so much money away trying to find solutions, I really worry about my long term posture health. Love to draw and that’s when I’m my worst, I get so focused learn in, completely forget everything and end up in pain. Great topic Hipyo, may not be cool, but important to us all at some point. Seeking independent advice sounds a smart move. Had 3 work ones, which are so quick and just a check box exercise. Thanks makes me think I need to seek advice 👍

Made it to the end. Thanks!

this is really interesting, i have some upper back/shoulder pain and definitely need to improve my posture, but i think my chair seems good from this... if i don't sit like a gremlin which tends to happen the second i stop thinking about sitting properly. pulling the keyboard close to the edge of the desk feels so unnatural! and a wrist rest always really helped with wrist pain for me after i got an rsi, so i still swear by it. for now i'll push my keyboard and mouse closer to my wristrest and everything down a little and try to get used to it!

Yep, made it all the way to the end. One thing that is more old school but very helpful is an adjustable keyboard tray. She mentioned it. Adjustable keyboard trays allow you to have the keyboard and mouse almost directly over your lap and even allow slightly negative angle to allow for chunky keyboards to be flat essentially when you are typing. Way back in the early 2000s I was typing up high and injured my wrists and had tennis elbow. Getting a keyboard tray helped eliminate most of that because it brought it down to that comfortable zone right in front of you in your lap. I'm on team ergo and love my Kinesis keyboards. That being said, just having a keyboard that can be split and moved apart by a few inches probably produces most of the beneficial effects of a Kinesis keyboard if it's at the right height. Good video.

I've been using a Steelcase Gesture for over 8 years and it's like new and still so adjustable it fits me like a glove. Initially I thought there wasn't enough padding on the arm rests, but... turns out that just helped me break the habit of leaning on them.

Hypio nice video! We love you!

Awesome video!

Made it all the way to the end. Very informative TBH. 😁

Bro, thank you for this video, one thing I never though about was the height of chair vs height of table, I feel so stupid about not realizing how important that actually is. Really good video

That ergonomic deskmat tho 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Love you vids hipyo! Btw can you try the asceny one keyboard? It’s a budget keyboard that I have and it’s pretty good in my opinion

Oh this is such a great topic. I would love to see this but for us digital artists who use cintiq screens or screenless tablets. Because some of the common ergonomic guidelines sort of dont work with our setups so it would be nice to find a good alternative

Nice video, would have loved to see some mention of tenting the keyboard, I believe the dygma raise can do that if equipped with the tenting kit. It brings your whole arm and wrist into a more natural position. Also keywell keyboards like the kinesis advantage or glove 80 can br stupidly comfortable.

This is one I'm gonna need to come back to periodically.

Personal experience no bs : I used a normal cougar racer gaming chair i bought at 2019 till 2023 . First the chair was ok , then the leather started tearing off the headrest , ofc i could never use the lumbar pillow , it just pushed me off the chair , the armwrest pads broke in half so i had to buy a cover from amazon ,and then at the end of 2022 i started experiencing back pain , and booty pain alot too , i thought i was sitting wrong , keep in mind i never sat on anything else so i didnt realise that the seat itself was dying ,like the bottom sinked way too much i was pretty much sitting on the wood at the bottom , then i started noticing this pain continued even when i was sitting in public , on wooden chairs , on an airplane ,in a car .... I researched abit and bought herman miller embody gaming chair ,first i asked my parents to test it. They hates how it felt , i asked my friend to try it , they also hated it , then i proceeded to sit on it knowing damn well i m gonna refund , just to find myself falling in love with it ,after a single day of usage ,it got rid of my back n booty pain completely, i aint daying this so that everyone goesand buys it, it wont fit everyone , and the lack of a headrest may push some people away , but for me it is more comfortable this way , and it doesnt feel like sitting on a chair more like floating , and this is coming from a 100 kg man

This is a fantastic video, in no small part thanks to Raymi (sp?) for being good on camera. Love the conclusion that ergonomics is a holistic correction, a sum of the parts of your setup and workflow.

9:51 that perfect seinfeld "no"

Nice vid mate

thanks, nice video it really help to increase my point of view about the posture. What I notice for me that it works is if you and 20 min yoga routine for back it will help you with your back pains on all of your back and then you only have to worry to have a good posture.

Two things that helped me the most when I started having constant golf/tennis elbow pains, back pains and some wrist pains, were an ergo keeb (Keychron v10 in my case) and a table extension, so I can get my whole forearm on it. It's so nice. You know the ones with like a hole for your belly. Adjustable height desk was a good one too. I used to sit on my foot too, but let that go. I probably can't even bend my feet like that at my age any more :D I really want a Herman Miller Aeron, but haven't splurged yet (used/refurbs are pretty affordable, 500-600€). My employer paid for an IKEA Styrspel mesh chair, which has been really nice, kind of an Aeron LITE. After 30, you start caring about ergonomics a whole lot more when you start making noises getting up etc. :D

That was kind of cool thanks. Keyboards have always been a pain point for me, my wider shoulders means I always have to squish my right inwards to type.

I have a Steelcase Lamia (BTOD frankenstein chair, Leap + Amia seat), couldn't be happier with it personally.

Really nice video! Wish she would have talked about Monitor height and distance. It seems like a trend to have the screen all the way down and super close

Hipyo, thank you, so, so much for this video. Also, what is that white split ergo keyboard that you have that vaguely looks like a pair of Logitech G13s?

One thing that has been absolutely incredible for me, is a vertical mouse. I have tried a bunch of them, and landed on the Logitech MX Vertical. I do wish they made a gaming mouse that was vertical and had the buttons on the side for say an MMORPG. But we haven't gotten there yet it seems. This one change has really helped me with wrist fatigue where after 3-4 hours of working, or gaming I couldn't deal with the pain. With the vertical mouse that pain is pretty much gone. I can go a full 8 hours of work (with a few breaks of course) without pain.

Good job, I think this is your best video

This is a really good video idea.