When you use Linux you have a nice pool of window managers to choose from.

I tried to eshew the mouse a long time ago.  I don't use the pointer that much, but am forced to use it occasionally and sometimes it's actually pretty useful.

Even if you run a run of the mill window manager, you can get by quite far with the keyboard.  You've just got to change your habits.

Switch applications/windows with Alt+TAB, some window managers allow you to switch between windows belonging to the same application.  That can be a replacement for using something like a web browser with multiple tabs.

I never bother minimising windows, if I have too many open, I try and group by tasks using workspaces (not sure if you can do that in Windows - I bet though there's an app for that).

I barely ever close windows by trying to locate window controls.   CTRL + W mostly works, failing that Alt+F4.

Try and get used to a file manager with good keyboard shortcuts.  And an application launcher,  I use Synapse on Debian/Linux.

The issues I still run into, is moving between application panes (moving focus).  With application tabs, I find the controls to switch between them, and their behaviour varies wildly.

And some applications steal keyboard shortcuts.  Google+ steals the space bar!  Didn't once CTRL + PgUp/PgDwn page left and right?

The above are the things that slow me down the most, so I doubt a tiling window manager can help me there.

But I agree dragging windows about, and resizing them is tedious, fidly and mostly a waste of time.  If  I have to move windows under Linux I use ALT +  Click and the pointer, beats having to select the title bar.  But I'm mostly happy with them maximised.

I page down in the browser by using the space bar (and shift+space to go up) - scroll bars are really fidly.  CTRL + L to focus on the location bar.  I add keyword searches to the location bar (or CTRL+K to focus on the search input in Firefox).

Windows 8 is surprisingly keyboard friendly.  Though it's still a little tedious tabbing around controls.  OSX feels to me like it has taken a step backwards, it used to be quite keyboard friendly under Tiger (at least the native apps).

I'll give that window manager a spin some time.  Hope your wrist feels better.  The main issue I could have with the mouse is that I sometimes lean into it.  I actually quite like the touchpad,  it's the clicking part that I find difficult - as it requires too much pressure (well mine does).  Thankfully my Thinkpad has a button above the touchpad, which I can use with my thumb.  I find my nipple/nub needs too much pressure to use comfortably, which is a real shame.  It's those hard push down clicks that I feel up near my neck and shoulder.

I do "manual tiling" and tried to switch to a genuine tiling manager several times, but haven't found a way to "hide" parts of a window beneath others.  For example, when running vlc, the bottom part is a waste unless I actually need the controls, so I "hide" it beneath another app that I'm using (when I do need a control, I'd just select it to the foreground temporarily).  If anyone knows a way to do this, I'd love to switch to a more minimal manager.

Maybe for vlc, but that's just one example.

In general, apps can't be relied on to have hiding behavior.

Put it another way: many apps don't have an obvious hiding behavior to implement in the first place.  VLC is lucky, in that it has either screen+controls or screen.  But what about apps with header, footer, different toolbars?  Is that going to have a shortcut for hiding the different things?