Back in April I underwent surgery on my left little finger
(Dupuytren's Contracture), and in the course of recovery I took up an
exercise with a pencil which I will try to describe below. Doing the
exercise, I thought to myself: this should be a snap with my fully
functional right hand. But it wasn't! It was even more awkward mastering
this with my dominant right. I was determined to improve. In the process,
I found my right hand doing much better on my lute, which I had picked up
again after about a three month hiatus. It seems I have gained a little
more independant control of the fingers (I think)--I'm not sure what else
might have been happening.
Anybody else tried this?
Pencil twirling excercise (difficult to describe, I hope you can get the
gist of it): hold a pencil between the extended index and middle fingers;
using only the movement of the fingers, "twirl" the pencil in to a position
where it can be grabbed by the middle finger, releasing the hold of the
index so that it is now between the middle and ring fingers; do likewise to
get it between the ring and little fingers. Keep it going in a kind of
circular weaving in and out of the fingers. Now reverse directions. Keep
the pencil moving; try not to help with the other hand, and try not to let
the pencil fall: if it touches the ground, you may get cooties! (A little
added incentive to master the exercise.)
Regards,
Leonard Williams
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