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Publish at May 12 2015 Updated November 03 2021
Even though not all subjects are affected to the same degree, many teachers, regardless of the level of the class they teach, are confronted with the recurring refrain of scriptwriters complaining of hand pain. Chronic pain, a more or less bogus excuse, or a real symptom, it is sometimes difficult to know where to stand. so here are a few things to make it clearer.
Writing Stamina
One of the most common reasons for children having problems with their hands while they write is the learning process itself. Like any athlete, children need to warm up and train before they can acquire the ease and endurance needed to cover their writing needs. Children suffering from these pains should therefore add exercises to strengthen the hand to those concerning fine motor skills. In addition, like any self-respecting sportsman, it is important to dose his effort and to take regular breaks, even if they are short: 5 minutes are sometimes enough to fully recover his mobility.
Holding The Pencil
Another key element of pain-free learning consists in holding one's pencil well, fundamental to avoiding cramps which some people experience quickly. So, if there is a complaint, the teacher can start by checking that the student is holding the pencil (or pen) without squeezing it too tightly and without pressing too hard against the paper. The key to writing endurance is indeed the flexibility of the gesture. To maintain fluid and easy movements, the paper must also be well-positioned, straight in front of the writer. This is also true for left-handed people, who often complain of pain in the wrist - even up to the shoulder - while teachers are exasperated by illegible writing. This is in most cases due to a bad holding of the pencil: instead of having a flexible arm, the wrist takes an incongruous position, in the swimmer's neck. This affects nearly 70% of left-handers in France, which is huge. Yet, this uncomfortable position is not necessary, on the contrary, it is simply the result of a poor accompaniment of the little left-hander in his initial positioning.
So, to write well, it is important to hold one's pencil correctly, to free the whole arm and increase endurance as much as the possibility of concentrating also on the background. It is interesting, in the digital age, to remind students who take their notes on a computer, that most exams are still done on paper, by hand. Many of them find it difficult to keep up during a particularly long exam or a series of closely spaced tests. Exercising the hand muscles is then important to hope to finish essays in good conditions.
An Interesting Medical or Psychological Symptom
Of course, it's not just bad habits that cause such pain to scribblers, regardless of their age or expertise. Some pathologies come under the heading of disability and that require adaptation strategies, proposed by ergonomists or graphotherapists. On the other hand, persistent pain despite good posture and minimal experience is sometimes to be taken more as a symptom.
In the medical field, this can refer to more or less serious pathologies, the most common of which is carpal tunnel syndrome, which sees the latter narrow and jam the median nerve. This then causes tingling and numbness in the fingers which can quickly become unbearable when writing.
From a psychological perspective, specialists find that it is a good indicator of deeper disorders, especially for what they call "those children who write badly." The latter are often socially adopted children, even learned children who dazzle with their knowledge and seriousness, having invested heavily in speech and language. Their problem is therefore not one of learning, but of the symbolic dimension of writing. There is therefore first and foremost drawing, a necessary stage in the tracing and representation of forms, and writing, which represents words through letters and symbols, thus engaging in a form of communication through the body. Writing is then an interesting diagnostic tool for Marie Alice du Pasquier because it is an "intimate act" that "mobilizes in the child both his or her impulsiveness and narcissistic organization engaged and articulated in a symbolic activity."
Graphotherapy, a Little-known Discipline
It is a specialty that focuses on treating and correcting dysgraphia through various methods. It is as much about relearning to write, as it is about holding your pen after different life paths. These pains can be present from the time of learning and constitute from the start an element to be improved for the children. But they can also appear after an accident or an illness, in adulthood. In short, whether it is simply a matter of improving one's illegible and penalizing handwriting in daily life or to prevent it from becoming so. Graphotherapy aims to regain a comfortable position, but also to allow the psychological situation to be stabilized by improving the self-image so that it does not constitute an additional break in daily life. Writing has a transitional value that exists between objective and subjective, which is important to always remember.
To be noted, we find that these pains essentially associated until now with writing, pose the same problems concerning typing on a computer. If the hands are badly positioned, they cause the same pathologies (carpal tunnel syndrome) as the pen! So you have to pay attention to the position of your fingers and wrists over your keyboard as much as the way you hold your pen if you want to write for a long time.
Picture credit: reeducation-writing.com
References
How to Prevent Hand Pain From Writing - WikiHow
http://fr.wikihow.com/emp%C3%AAcher-la-douleur-%C3%A0-la-main-%C3%A0-force-d%E2%80%99%C3%A9crire
Finger Cramps - Muscle Pain
http://douleurs-musculaires.comprendrechoisir.com/comprendre/crampes-aux-doigts
Writing pain: a pain in the ass? - Writing rehabilitation
http://www.reeducation-ecriture.com/reeducation_en_ecriture/Infos/Entrees/2012/4/2_Gaucher___une_galere_pour_ecrire.html
Cursive writing and carpal tunnel syndrome - SOS Écriture
http://www.sos-ecriture.fr/2013/11/ecriture-cursive-et-syndrome-du-canal.html
The child who writes badly. - Marie-Alice du Pasquier - Cairn.info for PUF
https://www.cairn.info/load_pdf.php?ID_ARTICLE=PSYE_452_0333
Ecrire mal et mal d'écrire : l'écriture de vos enfants déchiffrée par une graphologue - Denise Berthet - Canal Académie
http://www.canalacademie.com/ida5940-Ecrire-mal-et-mal-d-ecrire-l-ecriture-de-vos-enfants-dechiffree-par-une-graphologue.html
La graphothérapie - Passeport Santé
http://www.passeportsante.net/fr/Therapies/Guide/Fiche.aspx?doc=graphotherapie_th
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