Yes and no. The default Emacs setup on a standard keyboard can be a problem -- the pinkies, how they ache! -- but I find that using the mouse is even worse, so if my emacs alternative involves mousing I have an even bigger problem.
You have not lived until you've used Emacs with the Kinesis keyboard. You can remap any key to any other key instantly within the keyboard itself, without mucking around in your OS. And there are bunches of thumb keys. All those wacky control and meta keys now live, in mirrored pairs, under my thumbs, and the Caps Lock function has been moved to a random, faraway key, to be replaced by my own personal prefix key that I can use to trigger stuff like snippets and abbreviations.
Yes, emacs with a kinesis keyboard is great. Hitting the modifier keys with your thumbs instead of your pinkies makes a big difference because thumbs are your strongest fingers.
If you need to hit modifier keys a lot on a normal keyboard, move your whole hand and press them with your index and middle fingers together, instead of using your pinky.
