3 – 2 – 1
A Story about the Hands
By
It
can happen that one of your hands becomes weak. Or it might become blue. Or
numb. Or painful. Or have unusual
tingling. Or be swollen. Or the same trouble might be in the wrist, or in one of
the fingers. And these things might appear during the day, or they might wake
you up in the middle of the night.
In
all of these cases, the manifestation is disturbing. The disturbance might be
mildly disturbing, and point, worrisomely, to your anticipated, later years. Or
it might affect you strongly now, especially if your occupation depends on using
your hands. For instance, if you are a musician, or use a computer keyboard, or
are a surgeon, or knit, or cook, or so many other occupations that require
intensive use of your hands, it is disturbing to have these symptoms.
In searching for an explanation and a remedy, you are most likely to find descriptions of the damage that has occurred locally. I am writing, however, to share my experience, that often a lot of benefit will come to you as you broaden your horizon.
I see a bigger picture in hand trouble. I call it "3 - 2- 1."
"1 - 2- 3" is a more familiar progression, and it goes forward. This other looks backwards.
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In the Feldenkrais Method, we look at the body, and the person, as a system. This applies both to problems and opportunities. Usually, a person comes to us with a complaint, which is oriented around a symptom. We look at that symptom and at the bigger picture of which it is a part.
It is a kind of detective work.
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As you, or I, listen to a person
describe their problem in their hand or wrist, you are likely to hear
about pain, weakness, and numbness; or, maybe, tingling and swelling.
These are frequently intermittent.
A medical exam may reveal that the symptoms originate from blood vessel or nerve compression anywhere in the region. A common diagnosis for computer users, who are especially vulnerable if they hold the knuckles higher than the wrist, is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. |
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As you look up from the hands
to include the whole person as he works, or if you question him, you will
probably find out that his neck hurts, too. You can see that the head is
forward, and you can feel that the neck muscles are tense. Besides looking bad, a forward
head is significant because the nerves that regulate the hands exit the
spinal cord near the base of the neck. The forward head compresses these
nerves. Further, these nerves, traveling away from the head toward the hands, intertwine in front of the chest under the collarbone with hand-serving blood vessels. This bundle is called the thoracic plexus. It is also compressed by a forward head. This compression is called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. |
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As you continue your investigation, you are likely to notice that the person’s posture is less than ideal. There is a certain amount of hunching. The sternum is lowered, the ribs are drawn down, and the breath is shallow. Cosmetic considerations aside, the significance of the hunching is that it is what has brought the head forward in the first place. For this reason, I often see hunching, or any other contraction in the chest, as the original cause in the cascade of events that leads to trouble in the hands. | |||
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The way to progress is to do something to make upright posture
comfortable. This includes ergonomic solutions, such as purchase of
supportive chairs and special equipment. And especially, from the
Feldenkrais point of view, it includes training the body to release any
contractions that have become habitual and that interfere with the natural
uprightness and openness of the body, and of the person. Under the conditions of good nerve and blood circulation, many times, trouble in the hand resolves itself, as part of the larger picture of healthy living.
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