Fun Facts About Our Hands

I haven’t created a new piece in my hand series for a while and I’ve been itching to create another one.  I’ve got two sketches that I’ll like to create sometime soon.

 

In keeping with my fascination with our hands, I’ve been reading up on the subject and I’m glad to discover I’m not the only one who thinks our hands are quite impressive- there are tons of people who study, research and write about the subject.

Here are 7 amazing facts I discovered about our hands which I bet you didn’t know.

1. Our hands play such a major role in our handiwork that one-sixth of all work-related injuries involve the fingers.
2. Remote controlling is not a thing of the digital age. Our fingers do not have muscle, they are remotely controlled by muscles in our palms and mid-forearms.
3. The muscles which control our fingers are so powerful that some people can support their entire body weight on just a few fingertips when climbing.
4. About a quarter of the part of our brain which controls all movement in our bodies (motor cortex) is devoted to the muscles of the hands alone. (This blew my mind)
5. The thumb is responsible for more than half of the hand’s functionality. It is the most hardworking digit and the index finger is the most dispensable one.
6. When typing , your speed is fastest if successive keystrokes are between fingers on opposite hands. (It’s got something to do with the way our brains process information)
7. Our brains program the movements of our fingers long before we move them. So for a pianist who plays several keys in one second, you can imagine the speed at which their brain formulates a plan and then subsequently executes that plan. Meanwhile, that plan is constantly being updated after every finger movement.

Fun Hand Exercises for You To Try

• Make a fist, and take note of the position of your fingertips. Try with one hand and then the other. Each of our fingertips has a natural tendency to position itself at the base of the thumb when we make a fist. Did you notice that?
• Hold your hand palm up, fingers straight out, and try curling one finger inward without bending the knuckles of any other finger. Can you do it? Our hands are designed such that each time you move one finger all five fingers move.
• Bend your thumbs to touch your wrists. Were you able to? I wasn’t! However some people can.

Hope you enjoyed learning something new about your hands. Do you have any more interesting facts about our hands? Do share.

Warmest Regards,

 

 

Sources:

New York Times

Created in His Image

EatonHand