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A week after the Ipad’s launch, which has seen 450,000 units sold according to Steve Jobs, there have been plenty of ‘hands-on’ reviews expressing concerns about the device’s ergonomics and how it may affect sufferers of conditions like repetitive strain injury and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Here’s a selection of reviews which look at the ergonomics of the Ipad.

Ben Long, from Macworld, thought that “the iPad does nothing that I can’t do with any of my other computers, or my iPhone.

“What’s more, though, my computers do most of those things better. They have interfaces that are more efficient, screens that are easier to read, and ergonomics that are profoundly more comfortable and healthy for someone with repetitive stress injuries.”

Ben Cheng, on Neon Punch, described the Ipad as an “ergonomic disaster”.

He explained: “When the device is orientated vertically, the onscreen keyboard is too small for typing with both hands, while the device is too large for me to hold it tightly and type with my thumbs at the same time, which made me use the iPad horizontally most of the time.”

He also had trouble working out the most comfortable position to use the Ipad comfortably. Cheng said: “I have tried to:

“Put it on the table, but than I have to lean my body towards the table to see the whole screen, which is a position my doctor advice me not to take for my neck;

“Lie down on a bed, this is the worst one since my arms feels really tried after using it for even 3 minutes in this position;

“Sit on the sofa, but then the iPad just slips over my legs all the time;

He summed up: “Frankly the iPad has made my shoulders really hurt now.”

Kelley O’Malley, on Injury Free Blog, had no concerns over the weight or shape.

But the touch screen made her wonder if a peripheral device might be needed by some users:

“The iPad can cause pain in the wrists and fingers, but common sense should motivate a user to take breaks when his/her notices aching in their joints. If the user’s wrists are aching while typing on the smaller keyboard screen, a keyboard attachment is a good idea for purchase.

On Web Trends, Daniel Nation was of the same view, yearning for a mouse. “It might sound a little crazy to add mouse support to a device with a touchscreen,” he said, “but after seeing how nice the iPad functions with the wireless physical keyboard, I couldn’t help but wonder how much nicer it would be with a wireless mouse.

“Most of the time, I’m fine with the on-screen keyboard and touch controls, but if I’m setting it up on a stand or docking station and using a wireless keyboard, it might be more ergonomic to use a mouse to control the iPad.”