I went down the ergonomics route from sheer necessity more than anything. I have ulnar nerve issues in both elbows, meaning my hands and fingers end up tingling, then hurting for days if I'm not careful. I have pretty broad shoulders (used to play on the offensive line in american football) and very large hands, meaning "regular" non-split keyboards inherently create a lot of tension in my wrists and elbows due to the sheer angle I have to maintain. I use a split board just so I can reduce wrist pronation by keeping my arms at shoulder width and having some tenting.

However, I have to say, "large" split boards, like this one or my Iris l, aren't nearly as weird to use as they look. For the most part, until you have some fancy mappings going on, all that's different by default is having some modifiers and common special keys right under your thumbs instead of weak fingers or positions (pinkies or having to reach under your palm). Those tiny 3-4 row boards that need 3-4 layers just to be usable are IMHO another game entirely haha.

I feel like this is where the rabbit hole will end up taking me

This is a setup btw, it's not a real plane. https://youtu.be/xRaiCEzDFKA?si=3V6-XwBzyq_DChov

I answered to another comment with some details, but long story short, it tends to be the kind of thing you don't think about until it's causing you problems in the first place. I never thought about any of this either until the pain started ~8 years ago. I have nerve pain in both elbows that shoot down to my ring finger and pinky, and up to the shoulder if it gets really bad - that is, if I'm not careful, like typing scrunched over a laptop in a meeting room all day... Using a split keyboard alone fixed like 90% of the problem, the rest is controlled with stretches and PT exercises, minding my posture, taking breaks, etc.

That other guy seems to think so