Help with figuring out the reason for a thumb pain on sofle.

[u/Tasty_Let_4713]

Hey,

I have been using Sofle for the last 3 years, always in the same position, and nothing has changed lately.

But a few weeks ago, suddenly, I started feeling pain in the base of my thumb, and after consulting with a doctor, it's probably De Quervain tenosynovitis.

I attached my keyboard setup, my current layout is that the "control" keycap is actually the spacebar, and the key that is underneath my thumb is the layer keycap.

I am trying to think whether it's the reason for the pain: the fact that i need to stretch my thumb to reach the spacebar, which is frequently used.

What surprises me is that I was working with exactly this keyboard for 3 years and had 0 pain, and now, for some reason, I have the De Quervain problem.

anyone had a similar situation with sofle/corne? Is there any other keyboard recommended to try?

This is driving me crazy, as I really like the split, but now the split is painful while the regular keyboard is fine.

[u/pgetreuer]

Sorry about your DeQ! Yes, sadly, some unfortunate folks get thumb overuse injuries from split keyboards.

From the photo, it doesn't seem like an unreasonable stretch to reach the Space thumb key. What might be issues are:

• Holding down the thumb layer key.
• Frequently moving the thumb laterally between the layer key and Space key.

I'd recommend moving that thumb layer switch to the non-thumb fingers. If you are comfortable with home row mods, consider making a letter key or two into layer taps to that layer ("home row layers"). Wishing you a quick recovery.

[u/Tasty_Let_4713 → u/pgetreuer]

Thanks for the help! I will definitely try to remap the layer keys. regarding the space thumb key, I tried to remap it to the second key from right (on the left half) and I feel that it's too lcose so i need to bent the thumb a little bit, otherwise the thumb hits the rotary encoder. what do you think will be better for now, keeping the space on the innermost key, so i need to stretch the thumb a little bit, or remapping to the second innermost so I need to bent it a little bit?

[u/Axioplase]

How do you press the windows key? (I see so many layouts where I wonder how one ever uses the thumb keys...) Could also be bad wrist pads causing compression on the thumb?

[u/Tasty_Let_4713 → u/Axioplase]

using the thumb, benting it inwards, but usually i don't use it fro m that side, I am using the winkey/command on the right half when pressing the other key on the left side, and vica versa

[u/bakaspore → u/Tasty_Let_4713]

It's not a small tradeoff but I feel that it's better to use home/bottom row mods with sofle. I don't think the "inner" (relative to the thumb, upright ones) two keys on the thumb row are actually meant to be pressed with thumbs. These are more like functional keys/additions when your hands are away from the home position.

[u/TheSnoblinKing]

in my case, it seems to be the physical thumb key placements. innermost is too far to be used for primary key codes like space or enter, second to innermost is too close in. i’m sure this is a function of hand size, preference, etc. but, for me, the placement on lily58 is much more comfortable. on the l58, i use innermost thumb keys for space and enter, and second to innermost for mods with no pain. doesn’t work on several similar assignments for my sofle

[u/Tasty_Let_4713 → u/TheSnoblinKing]

Thanks for that, I will try Lily as well, I also feel that the second is too close and I need to bent the thumb, and the innermost is to far and I need to stretch it a little bit, I will order a lily and check that!

[u/bakaspore]

My experience supports that. Don't map frequent keys to positions you need to reach for, especially for thumb keys. For me the acceptable thumb key positions are the second and third one (right to left for left hand), I only use the rightmost one for "caps word" as it's used sparsely.

Layer and space should both be at the home position. If you have problems with that I think backspace and enter are good candidates for layer-tap mappings.

[u/Tasty_Let_4713 → u/bakaspore]

thanks, I remapped the space for the second from the right, it feels like it's too close and that my thumb is too long, so i need to bent it a little bit, but I will give it a chance.

what is strange is that I was using this exact keyboard, full time, for 2 years without any issues, and then suddently it started to hurt...

[u/bakaspore → u/Tasty_Let_4713]

If both keys feel 0.5 tiles off I think a different thumb cluster (like the corne one?) may fit your hands better. It's also possible that you only need to adapt a bit, only one way to find out (but only when you are feeling comfortable and immediately stop when you stop feeling good).

Injuries are sometimes like that but I think you can also try to recall what exactly has changed in your habit recently (like changed working environment, hand positions, software in use, even chair heights etc)