Anatomy TUESDAY – The Hand Brain Connection

There’s a series of hand dexterity exercises gaining millions of views on social media platforms claiming to stave off mental illness and decline, improve health and avoid chronic illness. This is the one that came across my Substack feed.

That led me down a path of exploration regarding hand function and the brain. The illustration above is just one example of how joints of the hand are linked to areas of the brain. There are studies showing writing is superior to typing in activating a larger part of the brain. Apparently, the hand brain connection isn’t just a simple input/output relationship, but rather a very intricate neural mechanisms that affect emotion and cognition.

Neuroscience is not my speciality, but regular followers of this blog know that I use symmetry testing (movement and posture) to determine causes of pain problems. If a movement is not symmetrical from right to left, it raises a red flag for me. In the video linked above (I encourage you to try the 8 moves), I found this one to be the most asymmetrical from right to left for me:

With my left hand, I was able to touch my middle fingers to my palm. My right hand had an inch gap (like shown above). As I performed several repetitions, I felt the greatest limitation in the ability of my right ring finger to flex at the MCP joint.

Scroll to the picture at the top of this blog and you will see the right ring finger links to memory and language. Hmm…

Why does this matter?

The Substack blog had mixed praise, with some people asking for peer-reviewed research to substantiate the claims of these simple hand movements altering disease processes. And I don’t fault them for that. But for me, maybe it’s enough to realize I have limitations in hand dexterity that are fixable and I should work on them now. And maybe it isn’t a bad idea to keep my hands moving in the way they were designed to move.

Just like the yoga toes video created awareness of how your toes should be able to move, this video should help you restore hand function. And if it makes my brain healthier, even better.

Because nobody has time to be in pain.

Until next time…