Are your shoulders sore after a day at your computer? Do your hands or wrists ache when you spend too much time at your keyboard? Here are a few tips to help you stay healthier and pain-free while typing.

Confirm proper keyboard placement. Your keyboard should sit flat on a surface, or even better, at a slightly negative slope away from your body. The optimum placement is one to two inches above your lap, only slightly lower than your elbow height. The space bar on your keyboard should be perfectly centered to your body. A keyboard tray allows for easy adjustments to height, angle, and position for every user.

Sit up straight! Remember your mom always telling you to sit up? She was right. Good posture is the most important key to pain-free typing. If your chair doesn't provide enough support for your lower back, consider adding an easy-to-install, adjustable lumbar support.

Keep your wrists straight. Your arms and hand should form a straight line starting at your elbow, through your wrist and down to your middle finger. Never bend your wrists to the side, or up and down, in order to reach a higher key, or to use your mouse.

Hover over your keys. Your hands and wrists should always hover over the keys, with your hands relaxed. Never rest them on your desk or wrist rest while you are typing.

Rest on your palms. Between typing stints you can relax the weight of your hands and arms on your palms. Do not allow any direct pressure on the wrists, or you risk injuring the carpal tunnel area.

Press the keys softly. You should never need to pound on a key when typing. Most keyboards require very little pressure to register a keystroke. Changing this one habit can reduce the muscle use and strain in your arms and hands.

Never strain for a key. When your hands loosely hover over the keyboard, it should feel natural to move your entire arm and hand to press the needed key. Any reaching or stretching will strain muscles, and wear on your tendons.

Keep your fingers bent. Hold your hand loosely almost like you are holding a golf ball. Be especially careful that you don't allow your littlest finger or your thumb to lock straight.

Use both hands for two-key combos. Whenever you use your Shift key (or Ctrl or Alt) with an additional key, always press the Shift key with one hand and the second key with the opposite hand. Using only one hand for two simultaneous keystrokes can stress the tendons in your wrist and hands.