Does anyone have any ideas how to make your fingers more flexible? Or is it just not possible?
I've been cracking my fingers out of habit (ever since i started sc2, thinking that cracking my fingers would make my hands more flexible..) and I feel like my fingers have gone extremely stiff..
I'm not double jointed but my fingers were never this stiff to begin with. I played much faster about a year ago and now I sort of feel like a grandpa trying to move my fingers around my keyboard.
Also I was wondering if anyone has this problem where your extremely inflexible? Like I can't even bend my wrist back 90 degrees, and i can only SLIGHTLY bend my fingers back, very slightly. (had this since i was born)
also my fingers/hands are slightly shaking now for some reason... should i go to the doctor about this? I never had this about a year ago . ..
Are you a troll or what? In case not, just to make sure: Buddy, what you are describin is in any case not good! Go to a doctor and let him check your hands and everything! Its not normal and unhealthy!
If your hands are shaking, that's either shivering, something to do with exercise (unlikely since it's your hands), or something you might want to consider getting medical attention for.
EDIT: If this is actually a troll, I don't see how this is supposed to get people mad at all.
you should definitely seek medical attention. merely cracking your knuckles numerous times daily will not cause this to happen. as a chronic knuckle cracker, i can attest to that. please do go see a licensed physician for a more indepth review of what's happening to your hand
I have what is called a "benign tremor", I cannot hold my hands perfectly still (they shake a little). Doctor told me nothing to worry about. And I am also very inflexible So these things are not automatically bad. But then again, I have gotten faster just from practice. Slowing down sounds bad... Still not sure this warrants a thread tho....
EDIT: fell for it gosh darn it. I'm too tired to see through it.
Don't keep cracking ur fingers! It's bad.. I don't know why though, but from what I've heard it's bad for ur fingers. And go to doctor! And might wanna consider learning guitar/piano to loosen them up if u really want to.
Play an instrument that stretches your hands. My left hand is longer than my right by half a centimeter and can stretch laterally over an inch more than my right hand tip-to-tip (ring and pinkie finger) from many years of piano, violin, and guitar. Also I know bboys/bgirls increase finger flexibility (backwards) with practice, which you need when you first start for good hand positioning during footwork.
Also go see a doctor and stop cracking your joints, please. edit: okay, at least see a doctor even if you keep cracking your joints. if troll. learn to troll.
some people have shorter tendons than others. unfortunately, tendons in the hands are numerous and hard to extend. unfortunately, they're likely to shorten as you age due to tearing. if you want to stretch your hands out to be more flexible, literally stretch them a few minutes out of every day, sure why not? i'm not a doctor.
Best way to ever get your hands moving faster imo. It's a keyboard version of DDR. I'm quite good at piano but this is a lot easier training because your movements are "guided" meaning you are forced to try to move as fast as you humanly can.
Look up a guy named Greg Irwin. He's a finger fitness expert. Which may sound silly, but has created a good chunk of exercise for warming up your hands and increasing your finger dexterity. Plenty of musicians have found it useful.
Just a small example, but it'll give you an idea of the exercises.
I've cracked my fingers for 6 years now out of bad habbit.. If you can. You should stop right away. Now everyday I'm trying not to crack them. It hurts like hell. Probably got arthritis also because of it
Everyone has different levels of dexterity. Unfortunately there isn't too much you can do about it except continue to use your hands and take care of them (no cracking knuckles)
the cracking sound from joints is NOT caused by the bones popping out. It is caused by nitrogen bubbles being released.
Wiki it.
As for your problem at hand, I believe it is probably that you have just overestimated your flexibility with your hands. Be careful as RSI may occur as a result of trying to overdo things.
Remember that RSI does not only create pain at the wrist joints.
I never had any problems with stiffness of fingers during starcraft. But my speed at starcraft is horrible and i've played piano for a long time. Regarding playing piano, maybe somewhat similar to playing starcraft, i always played more fluently if my hands were warm and if i had done some easy excercises before seriously playing. Maybe playing something like osu just before playing starcraft will help a bit, in the sense that you force your fingers to be active before you actually play starcraft. There are of course numerous ways to achieve being warmed up.
I wrote this all under the assumption that this is not a medical condition. If it is, just see a doctor. Also, i wouldn't know anything about the shaking. the only time i had something like it was when i faced some serious stress over semi-long term.
On October 25 2012 17:32 NeWeNiyaLord wrote: I've cracked my fingers for 6 years now out of bad habbit.. If you can. You should stop right away. Now everyday I'm trying not to crack them. It hurts like hell. Probably got arthritis also because of it
At some point every time I would crack my fingers my whole hand would proceed to go numb. Doesn't happen anymore but still
On October 25 2012 17:32 NeWeNiyaLord wrote: I've cracked my fingers for 6 years now out of bad habbit.. If you can. You should stop right away. Now everyday I'm trying not to crack them. It hurts like hell. Probably got arthritis also because of it
Been doing that everyday for 12 years atleast, they give quite a pop nowdays :/ Do the same thing with my arm and that thing sounds a bone being cracked in half. However i dont feel any pain anywhere.
On October 25 2012 17:32 NeWeNiyaLord wrote: I've cracked my fingers for 6 years now out of bad habbit.. If you can. You should stop right away. Now everyday I'm trying not to crack them. It hurts like hell. Probably got arthritis also because of it
Been doing that everyday for 12 years atleast, they give quite a pop nowdays :/ Do the same thing with my arm and that thing sounds a bone being cracked in half. However i dont feel any pain anywhere.
Yeah I also crack, My neck, back and all my toes xP Definitely a BAD habit And people think it's pretty disgusting to watch/hear
On October 25 2012 17:32 NeWeNiyaLord wrote: I've cracked my fingers for 6 years now out of bad habbit.. If you can. You should stop right away. Now everyday I'm trying not to crack them. It hurts like hell. Probably got arthritis also because of it
Been doing that everyday for 12 years atleast, they give quite a pop nowdays :/ Do the same thing with my arm and that thing sounds a bone being cracked in half. However i dont feel any pain anywhere.
Yeah I also crack, My neck, back and all my toes xP Definitely a BAD habit And people think it's pretty disgusting to watch/hear
You should try your jaw, that shit even looks disgusting haha
Cracking joins has no bad effects according to long term studies over the years. It just releases some gas and gives temporary relief and make it more flexible for a few minutes. But the more you do it the more gas it will be required to the joints because of losing it so your joins will try to adapt to it by enlarging the connection are to keep more inside. The feel of stiffness could cause from that but it shouldn't have any serious effects like you say. I believe it's caused by something else or you forced your fingers to the point you must not. Seeing a doctor would be good for you.
Could any of you show us actual proof that cracking your fingers is bad ? I read somewhere that it's just a myth, but unfortunately I don't remeber where I read it.
Yes, you have to start doing exercises. Yoga is extremely helpful when it comes to making things more flexible. Cracking your fingers is a really bad idea (bone against bone at an extreme angle for the joint, eventually it will be painful and wear your hands down!). I googled "yoga exercise for fingers" and got multiple hits from youtube. I would def. give that a shot for a couple of weeks, and see if that helps.
I try not to crack my fingers to often, but I do continually do it (through life, that is, so not every day but sometimes multiple times a day). Studies continually tried to link arthritis and cracking joints, but I believe Derrida is right in that it's never actually been proven. I have heard studies that it can weaken your joint strength in the long term, so if you stop now, you should be fine, but the more often you do it and the longer you leave it before stopping in life, the more you'll supposedly have weakened your grip strength. Perhaps if you do it enough, you won't be able to pick up a pencil to write when you are 80 years old. It might take some work, ignore the pain, keep working at it, you might set a record! (AKA I'm not serious, so please do not). I think the people who suffer the most actual pains from it are the type who would do it very frequently when they crack them and crack multiple parts of each finger rather than just the simple knuckle-crack method or other obvious ways and in addition, some people really force the joints even if it starts to hurt them, rather than only cracking if it feels 'natural' and pain-free to do so (I've pretty much stuck to this when in the habit). Use the clenching+unclenching (correct term?) and other exercises and definitely rebind keys to suit you, make sure you are comfortable with the keys. Should people avoid black switch mechanical keyboards? I find my rubber dome keyboard comfortable though but I thought blacks were specifically weighted and so they always sounded heavier than rubber to me, but I thought I'd read that all mechanical switches were still lighter than rubber domes. Hmm...I'm off to that thread again now.
It sounds like tendonitis. Don't flex your wrist/fingers or crack your knuckles. It's very easy to overextend when you're doing those wrist exercises, (bending your wrist backwards or forwards). If you do those stretches, go very slow and don't exert it far; you aren't supposed to feel it stretching like you do when stretching muscles (i.e, touching toes).
What temperature is the room you're in? Cold hands will make your hands stiff. Adrenaline can make your hands cold.
But if it is tendonitis, you shouldn't be stretching whatsoever, and heat will actually just increase the swelling (don't use hand warmers if you think it's tendonitis). Ice pack on affected area + naproxen + complete rest is how you treat tendonitis.
Posture is important. Post your setup (keyboard, mouse, chair/desk height, hands in playing position). Show a video of you playing sc2 if you can (particularly want to see how you hit shift and ctrl keys and overall posture.)
professional safety engineer here. I work in an big companies and ergonomics as well as healthcare are part of my everyday work as i care for like 1500 peopleFinger cracking wears of your inside knuckle bones as well as the cartilages. If done over years you form a cavitation which is automatically filled with water. This is what u feel. The aftermath is stiffness and vulnerability for sickneses (omg my english is bad sorry for that guys) like articular gout and rheumatism.
The shaking comes maybe from:
1. your fingers being too cold (do you fell like u have cold fingers after playing a long match?) 2. you hindering your own blood flow as u maybe have the edge of your table cutting into your arm? 3. ladder pressure (not kidding) sometimes i n have that too
When playing sc2 I always have a hot water bag around so when a match is over i can warm up my hands which is also good to get your fingers more flexible. I can also recommend training your hands with devices like:
Black Diamond Forearm Trainer (cheap and trains your hand and finger muscles in the long run)
or
Harley Benton Fingertrainer (for guitar players helps wonders as well)
Thers lots of devices but i made good experiences with my employees here
God i didnt think i could use my job knowledge on TL Thtas kinda funny
If you need more information on desktop ergonomics or stuff like that just ask !
On October 25 2012 20:47 jza.osnabrueck wrote: Hi,
professional safety engineer here. I work in an big companies and ergonomics as well as healthcare are part of my everyday work as i care for like 1500 peopleFinger cracking wears of your inside knuckle bones as well as the cartilages. If done over years you form a cavitation which is automatically filled with water. This is what u feel. The aftermath is stiffness and vulnerability for sickneses (omg my english is bad sorry for that guys) like articular gout and rheumatism.
The shaking comes maybe from:
1. your fingers being too cold (do you fell like u have cold fingers after playing a long match?) 2. you hindering your own blood flow as u maybe have the edge of your table cutting into your arm? 3. ladder pressure (not kidding) sometimes i n have that too
When playing sc2 I always have a hot water bag around so when a match is over i can warm up my hands which is also good to get your fingers more flexible. I can also recommend training your hands with devices like:
Black Diamond Forearm Trainer (cheap and trains your hand and finger muscles in the long run)
or
Harley Benton Fingertrainer (for guitar players helps wonders as well)
Thers lots of devices but i made good experiences with my employees here
God i didnt think i could use my job knowledge on TL Thtas kinda funny
If you need more information on desktop ergonomics or stuff like that just ask !
On October 25 2012 16:45 Introvert wrote: I have what is called a "benign tremor", I cannot hold my hands perfectly still (they shake a little). Doctor told me nothing to worry about. And I am also very inflexible So these things are not automatically bad. But then again, I have gotten faster just from practice. Slowing down sounds bad... Still not sure this warrants a thread tho....
EDIT: fell for it gosh darn it. I'm too tired to see through it.
i have the same that i can't hold my hand sitll but my hands but i my fingers are quite flexable and fast (can hit easily around 500 apm in bw)
The "stifness" with not being able to bend your wrist and fingers backwards is normal and nothing to worry about. I think it happens to most people that use their hands physically. I myself was a highlevel footballgoalkeeper and practiced 5-7 days a week and the same thing has happened to my hands. THe shaking though, is probably something you should check up.
Yea I have to warm my hands up for work every morning. I'm a graphic designer and its just weird trying to sketch or use a pen tablet without getting my fingers working. Also before I play sc ill jump on a counter strike map or a fps game to get the speed up. Also on your forearms, there are muscles that knot up real bad and until you get someone to release it you have no idea it's there and it will also speed you up a little lol
On October 25 2012 20:47 jza.osnabrueck wrote: Hi,
professional safety engineer here. I work in an big companies and ergonomics as well as healthcare are part of my everyday work as i care for like 1500 peopleFinger cracking wears of your inside knuckle bones as well as the cartilages. If done over years you form a cavitation which is automatically filled with water. This is what u feel. The aftermath is stiffness and vulnerability for sickneses (omg my english is bad sorry for that guys) like articular gout and rheumatism.
The shaking comes maybe from:
1. your fingers being too cold (do you fell like u have cold fingers after playing a long match?) 2. you hindering your own blood flow as u maybe have the edge of your table cutting into your arm? 3. ladder pressure (not kidding) sometimes i n have that too
When playing sc2 I always have a hot water bag around so when a match is over i can warm up my hands which is also good to get your fingers more flexible. I can also recommend training your hands with devices like:
Black Diamond Forearm Trainer (cheap and trains your hand and finger muscles in the long run)
or
Harley Benton Fingertrainer (for guitar players helps wonders as well)
Thers lots of devices but i made good experiences with my employees here
God i didnt think i could use my job knowledge on TL Thtas kinda funny
If you need more information on desktop ergonomics or stuff like that just ask !
Greetings from OSnabrück.Germany
Thank you and everyone else
I visited the doctors and they said that me being inflexible is completely normal.
as for the shaking, the doctors said it doesn't seem to be anything serious, and we pretty much nailed it down to my diet being extremely poor/no exercise, now that I think about it, this year has been a disaster. I've only been eating takeouts and junk food.
I might buy that finger exercise machine thing that one of the posters recommended. seems really useful.
EPT
So these things are not automatically bad. But then again, I have gotten faster just from practice. Slowing down sounds bad... Still not sure this warrants a thread tho....
