Exercise 110513

               Exercise; may be a word we do not want to hear but it is important.

               I was explaining to my spouse of 44 years how to exercise her thumbs. When we exercise our thumbs something special happens.

               Thumb exercise is often known as, “twiddling your thumbs”. This exercise will help you when shaking someone’s hand and may help with your writing. If you exercise properly you will not only improve the muscle tone in your thumbs but it will keep your mind sharp as well.

Proper positioning of the hands and thumbs is important; the following is the conventional method.

Join the hands together with all fingers interlocked and the thumbs are side by side. Most often one will place their hands in their lap as this is relaxing. The hands may be places on a desk or table if one is more comfortable.

Each person has a preferred direction of rotation which is used without thought. Reversing the direction may be uncomfortable for some and requires a conscious thought process.

               There are three preferred methods used in this workout. 

First there is the, “single direction rotation” method which simply means the thumbs are rotated on one direction. This method should be used when you want to relax the body and allow the mind to unwind. One direction rotation can be accomplished by anyone.

The second method is known as, “bi-direction rotation”. This technique requires one to rotate both thumbs first in one direction then reverse the direction. To stimulate the brain during this procedure one should count the revolutions made by their thumbs in one direction then reverse the direction rotating the same number of turns in the other direction before switching back to the first direction.

There is a third method which is not often used; it is known as, “the non-rotational twiddle”. One should join the hands as previously described and move one thumb under the other stopping when they are again side by side but do not go all the way around, then reverse the process bringing the thumbs back to the original side by side position. This method does not seem as fulfilling to me. 

The speed of the twiddle is also important and may be used to determine the mental stress of the twiddler.       The slower the twiddle the less stress.

Definition of terms used in this commentary;

                              Twiddle; to exercise

                              Twiddler; a person who is exercising 

 

 

For those of you, who may have questions about this exercise, forward your questions to:

Thumb-ology Department

Ford Homestead Foundation

 

Hope you have a stress free day.

Don Ford