# Are my thumbs triple jointed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-thumbs-triple-jointed/46886 "2000-12-22T18:22:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kuwatto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@kuwatto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuwatto)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-thumbs-triple-jointed/46886/1 "2000-12-22T18:22:34Z")
Or just freaky? This is one of those weird skills you aquire as a young boy, like crossing your eyes, as a way to impress your friends. But anyways, I can bend my thumbs backward **and** sideways. I really like to freak people out with it. Some people think bending the thumb backwards is really creepy looking, but most are jaded as this is not uncommon. However, everyone is shocked when I bend them sideways(away from the hand, 90 degrees different than the thumb normally bends). You can put your finger on the inside of the joint, next to the skin that stretches from finger to thumb, and feel that it actually dislocates on that side. They have never injured or dislocated completely, and otherwise function and look completely normal. Has anyone ever seen this before? I have never encountered anyone else who can bend them sideways. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-thumbs-triple-jointed/46886/2 "2000-12-22T18:38:20Z")
**kuwatto** , allow me to introduce you to Professor Xavier. He’d like a word with you, if you have a moment… ---
**Author:** ![kuwatto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@kuwatto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuwatto)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-thumbs-triple-jointed/46886/3 "2000-12-22T18:44:16Z")
Hmmmm, maybe he can help me find a mutant triple jointed thumb support group! ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-thumbs-triple-jointed/46886/4 "2000-12-22T22:53:46Z")
Is this a good enough trick to get on _Letterman?_ If so, let us know so that we can tune in and see for ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2000, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-thumbs-triple-jointed/46886/5 "2000-12-22T23:57:59Z")
I can do that. It’s just about having really flexible ligaments between the joints, it’s not really dislocation because the bone remains nimoinaly where it’s supposed to be. Of course I can also: Scratch any area on my back myself without needing a back scratcher Reach my hand up behind my back and stick a finger in either ear. Feel absolutely no pain from having my arm twisted behind my back. Eventually it just locks against the shoulder blade. Bend my hand through 180[sup]O[/sup] so my fingertips/fingernails can touch my forearm about half way down. In my case I can stretch my hand away from the foream so that there is a quite visible two-inch gap between the end of the arm bones and the beginning of the wrist bones. The same goes for my shoulders, there is a very prominent indentation at the top of my shoulder when I stretch my arms. Looks for all the world like a dislocation, but it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2000, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-my-thumbs-triple-jointed/46886/6 "2000-12-23T08:00:37Z")
kuwatto is a both friend and co-worker of mine. I have a sense for the weird and this thumb-thing he does makes me squeal and look away becasue it’s so wrong looking. So _painful_ looking. eww.