Every time I play WoW I have to take a break after 30 minutes as my shoulder hurts too much. I think I’m positioning my keyboard wrong.
How do you guys position your keyboard? Centered with ‘B’ lining up with your belly button or off-centered to the left? Angled or parallel with your monitor?
Thanks!
Both my arms stay in a rested position with my elbow on the armrests. Keyboard and Mouse are on a pullout board with the mouse on an elevated pad with an extra extended swivel arm if I need it.
for all games i play i have my keyboard around like a 170 degree angle maybe a little bit less
I put my keyboard vertical directly in front of me and make my arm bend 90 degrees to use it. I’ve always done it since 1.6 land no pain for me.
Looks like this
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|||. Keyboard
o
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^. Me
^
Side
If you don’t look like the guy with no real life, you’re doing it improperly
I keep the WASD centered on the left armrest of my chair. I use 2 monitors, left for browsing stuff, right for gaming. My keyboard is on the right side of the left monitor and i just look slightly right to play games.
I have my chair at the max height with the keyboard and mouse sitting on top of my desk. This let’s me sit with a mostly flat arm to wrist.
I found it i used the keyboard tray built into the desk, my wrist is bent hard and gets uncomfortable.
I sit more or less centered with my chair slightly lower than my desk to have my arms naturally rest on my desk without having to reach too high or slouch down to reach it.
Are you sure it’s the keyboard positioning?
Shoulder pain is most likely posture related. Either tension through the traps or a forward scapula position closing over the shoulder joint and potentially causing an impingement.
Do you get numbness in your hands at all? Or just the pain?
my keyboard is angled for my left hand on the desk sliding tray when playing WoW. the sliding tray also acts as sort of a lazy rest for my left wrist.
for the fewer times i actually type reports or programming code, then i’ll have the keyboard squared up in the tray with the J key centered on my belly button, as I was taught 35 years ago in touch typing class (on an IBM Selectric)
Well if we’re going off belly button, lemme just
feels around stomach
plucks away cheerio
Ah here it is, now let’s see what key it points to…seems to be pointing between the right shift and the ? key.
Like Jeroud, I have a table to support my monitors, and a lower pull-out shelf for my keyboard and mouse. That way my forearms are basically horizontal.
I set the height of my chair-arms so that I can rest my elbows on them much of the time. And I try to remember to sit up straight (not leaned forward).
While playing, my left hand is on keys and my right hand is on the mouse (except when I’m typing messages with 2 hands). So my keyboard is positioned so that the main left-hand keys (asdf, 12345) are directly under my left hand fingers.
I always use a doubled wrist-rest under my mouse hand, so that my arm-wrist-hand is roughly horizontal most of the time.
I learned this basic posture (horizontal forearms, flat wrists) as a child playing piano. For many years I’ve been at a computer for 10+ hours each day, so I try hard to copy this position. Otherwise I develop painful wrists, hand, etc.
Make sure the height is correct.
Keyboard to high or to low can mess with your shoulders/back.
No numbness in my hands but I have discovered that I keep my left shoulder lifted/shrugged in the air. Idk why I do it but I think it is because my keyboard has been in an awkward position for too long. Now i’m trying to find the natural position for the keyboard but don’t know what feels natural because I’ve messed up my left shoulder.
I do that too. I shrug one shoulder or the other and I’m not sure why I’m doing that. I’m trying to work on my desk and hardware positioning, as I’ve been having problems, myself.
Thanks for starting this thread. I’ve enjoyed reading the replies, and it’s giving me a lot of thought for how to rearrange my station to encourage better posture.
No numbness is good, but you probably have postural imbalance going on in the upper body.
The shrugged position is typical of tightness in the upper trapezius as this muscle’s function is to elevate the shoulder blades.
What happens when we hold a certain (usually bad) posture over periods of time, the muscles tighten and shorten up, whilst the opposing muscles stretch and become weaker.
It’s definitely something I would get looked at if you are able to as severe postural dysfunction is something that can lead to significant complications later on.
I would highly recommend it if you eventually do get numbness as that is a clear sign it’s transitioning into something malicious.
Once you have the tools which are typically strengthening and stretching exercises for various muscles it becomes something you can self manage if it ever becomes a problem again.
Do you find you also get rolled shoulders, like a forward slump?
Most of my shoulder issues come from age and working in a kitchen for so many years.
This is my game set up
And yes I know I need to clean my desk 
Slightly to the left so your arm is straight when your hand is on WASD. Also slightly angled up on the right side because your index finger is longer than your pinky and you don’t have to bend it as much if there’s a slight angle.
Also, I don’t know what kind of desk you have, but it’s usually better for your keyboard to be lower than your monitor. You shouldn’t be lifting your shoulders at all. Desks with a pull-out tray for the keyboard are best.
I play standing. Dont @ me.
Stress maybe? I have the same problem if I have been away for awhile. My shoulders will move up as I tense my shoulders and neck. I have to remind myself to relax and let my arms/shoulders drop down and get all loose.
Same thing happens when I pick up my bass or guitar after not playing for awhile. I have to work on my breathing and letting everything loosen up. A little bit of stress or tension will manifest in all kinds of neck, shoulder, and back problems. 
Also I have to make sure to get up and walk around every 30 minutes or so. Especially to get my eyes off of the monitor.
I’m a programmer, so sitting and staring at monitors is something I already do too much of.
There are YouTube videos on this matter.
Also if your hair costs less than 500 then you’re prolly killing your body.
You should be getting up every 30 mins to walk around and stretch anyways no matter how comfortable your set up is.