Apparently, I have “poor fine motor skills”. I’m not disabled, just clumsy. What can I do to improve in this area?
I have always been rather clumsy with my hands. I found that my finger dexterity seemed better after I learned to knit. I knitted quite a bit for several years, and this really seemed to improve my ability to manipulate small things with my hands. I can’t guarantee that it will work for you, of course.
I’ve always been quite clumsy.
In college, I decided to combat this. I took up juggling, in the hope that it would give me a chance to practice my coordination and improve my motor skills.
Now I’m a quite clumsy person - who can juggle.
I don’t know if there is a general purpose way to improve all of your motor skills and reduce clumsiness. I now know that, if there is one, it isn’t juggling.
The same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice, practice, practice. Not everyone has the innate musical talent to get to Carnegie Hall, or the coordination be able to juggle chinaware, or hit a golf ball 300 yards in a straight line, but everyone can improve up to their physical limit.
MapQuest can help improve fine motor skills?
I’ve heard/read somewhere that many surgeons who perform delicate intricate surgeries also practice card shark tricks. Wait a minute…I have the sneaking suspicion that I read this in a Tom Clancy novel. Maybe it’s a lie.
While Cathy Ryan in the Tom Clancy “Ryan” series of books IS a surgeon, and DOES use cards to practice hand movements, and the Jack Ryan character does confess that he’s not sure he “trusts his wife to deal cards in a stakes game,” I’m sure that it would be a great way to exercise you hands. Handling, pitching, shuffling of cards would certainly move a whole lot of muscle groups.
I for one am a very fast typist, and have found that I can manipulate small items pretty well. My wife, who also types VERY fast, makes me (50-60wpm freeform) look slow, is also a quilter. Her skills in picking out a wee little thread, or making a blind stitch are amazingly fast (though not even close to her mother’s skills… yet…). She is even better with small items than I am. I’d put that up to a wider range of movements with her hands, and more time with small detail, in addition to having fingernails, and smaller hands.
Drummers for example, can do some amazing things with their hands, I’ve seen some pretty neat displays of items in the hands of drummers. Other heavy hand musicians too… wind instruments, guitarists, etc…
I didn’t catch exactly what part are you trying to improve, so I have to assume hand/finger - eye coordination. I’d say pick something that looks fun, involves the hands, and practice practice practice!
I can attest to this. I picked up the Recorder several years ago, and with daily practice, I still suck. However, my fingers wiggle much more quickly and accurately than they did when I started.
Actually, there was NYTimes article a few months ago about a surgeon who has studied the effects of video game playing on surgical ability. Surgeons who played video games for some number of hours per week performed operations significantly more quickly and with significantly fewer errors. (I remember that the surgeon’s favorite game was Super Monkey Ball, or something like that.) I guess the implication here is that playing video games improves manual dexterity.
I’d imagine picking up video games would help, as would practicing typing faster and faster.
You mean you cover the wrong hole right now and smack on the button?
I had a different experience… I’ve juggled a lot since I was 8, and I tend to think it has improved my hand-eye coordination.
Of course, maybe I have good hand-eye coordination already, and that’s why I enjoy juggling… 
Joking aside: I don’t drop things, and when I bump things off shelves or desks I tend to catch them instantly and reflexively. I credit juggling for helping to train my muscles in that respect.
IMHO, as always,
d
Exactly, and sometimes even with authority! 