Hey folks!

For a long, long time I've had peculiar fingers - My pinky fingers, when put next to each other, form a Y, and I can easily bend most of my fingers more than 90° back, touch my wrist with the nail of my thumb, etc, etc. I score 5-6 out of 9 on the Beighton scale, which indicates HMS (Hypermobilty syndrome) but what I've always been able to do, without any real explanations. When I lock my fingers (http://www.kimong.com/2010/05/07/i-thought-i-was-special/) a very clearly defined groove/depression/place to keep small items in becomes clearly visible, I have a picture of it here: http://i.cubeupload.com/Yyae55.jpg I've never seen anyone else do this.

So, I ask those of you who have devoted more time than me to fingers - What is this?

Oh, and can HMS have an effect on handwriting? I've always been terrible when it comes to writing, I've been criticized since before I can remember myself for illegible handwriting, so having an actual excuse other than "I just never got it right" would be a lot better, because this has caused me a lot of grief. (And most likely lowered my scores on exams considerably! )


Thanks in advance, folks!

-Warewolf

Can you post a pic of your thumb touching your wrist ?

If thats 5/6 9 mustbe epic.

I cant do any of that, my handwriting svcks, no excuse. Mine still svcks, no idea how to improve either.

Perfectly normal formation of tendons and bones that allow the bending of certain joints but not others. I'm double jointed (doesn't mean that I have 2 joints) and therefore can bend the last section of my finger in the opposite direction and make my thumb face the wrong way.

I'll try to post one tomorrow! It'll be a bit difficult, because I need to use both hands to actually touch it to my wrist

But for now I must sleeeeep.

I can do that with my thumb, never seen anybody else do it before.

I can't stretch out my pinky fingers properly, meaning that it's always slightly bent. My pinkies form a Y when I put them together too. Some doctor said I have a condition called Camptodactyly, which is described as a flexion deformity. I have very non-flexible fingers, and my thumbs will often click. I can't view those links on my computer, so could you describe it a little better? (I'm no finger expert, I'm just curious ) Also, my friends have always been fascinated and disgusted by the vast amount of very defined wrinkles/lines on my hands.

I can turn my thumbs around backward so that the nail is pointing at my wrist. Great party trick.

I can pretty easily touch my thumb to my wrist and I can bend the tips of my fingers whilst keeping my fingers straight. Apparently my tendons are longer or more flexible than normal or some such [censored], and that accounts for my tendonitis according to my doctor. Also have handwriting that looks sort of like if you taught a monkey to write then broke the poor sod's hand.

I can bring my thumb back to my wrists as well(and do the locking thing-though mainly with my thumb). I've always had loose joints:most notably, I can do http://www.fpes.com.au/images/Shoulder_Tricep_Stretch.JPG, except WAAY further to the point that the scapula is poking out of my side(it was always a wonderful ice-breaker on those first-days of school). I've dislocated my knee twice as a result(that was no fun).




lol, my handwriting's infamously terrible too. It probably hasn't improved since 3rd grade, and I WRiTe iN A sTRANGe miXTuRe OF CAPiToL aND LoWeR CAse LeTTeRs. I doubt it's a result of loose joints or anything, but therapists have referred to it as "Dysgraphia," which as far as I know is just a fancy way of saying "his handwriting svcks, and svcks HARD."

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttt. I finally have a fancy term for my absolutely [censored] handwriting. Also: I do the mix of upper/lowercase letters as well. I also will often capitalize every first letter of a word in any given sentence.

No strange fingers here though. Other then being able to type 110 wpm, and the fact that I used to(and sometimes still do) crack my fingers dozens upon dozens of times a day, there is nothing wierd/special about my fingers

Don't know about the thumbs, which look normal too me, but my left ring and middle can do the same as shown in the picture, just not as severe, while both my pinkies lock at its base. I don't know if the pinky locking is the same as the ring/middle, but I do know the locking in my pinky is considered a health issue and will cause problem when I get old (read it up a long time ago).

I *used* to have really flexible fingers, back when people constantly wanted me to show them, but I guess now I'm out of practice and lost the flexibility. I used to be able to bend my thumb backwards enough to touch my arm, and my fingers can bend straight up to be perpendicular to the palm to be a capital L shape. They used to go farther. I used to be able to easily flatten my pinky horizontally across my hand, making a closed fist with it inside, without even needing assistance from the other hand, but I've lost some flexibility with that too...still don't need the other hand, but the pinky doesn't flatten so easily. I can still easily, not sure how to describe it...dislocate my thumb? The base pops upward about an inch? It's apparently abnormal since it grosses everyone out, but I can do that with just the muscle, no other fingers needed.

My handwriting is also an abomination.

Oh, and I can do that "claw lock" too, had no idea that wasn't the standard.

http://i.cubeupload.com/VvHkaW.jpg

I'm terribly sorry about the image quality, I had to put my camera on top of my PC, put it on a 10 second timer and hold the pose, the end result was bad. And I'm not really willing to do this again for another 10 second stint, this can be rather straining on the thumb

To describe it better than the picture, picture this:

I do a normal "Thumbs up" position, which is also quite strange due to me being born with a hitchhiker's thumb.

I open my palm for dramatic effect, and push my thumb by the Interphalangeal joint all the way until my nail touches my wrist/forearm.

I can also make crack most of the joints in my body without much difficulty.

My handwriting has always been an abomination, and I do have the symptoms of dysgraphia, I was also diagnosed with Hypotonia a few months back. (Low muscle tone, I think I was born with it, but it may have been due to meningitis when I was 6)

So all of these things are combining into one super problem-with-handwriting.


EDIT: I actually score 7 out of 9 on the Beighton scale.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HV0duc3oWn0/TWkRs7dD0EI/AAAAAAAAAGc/CceSLwXU_Kg/s1600/Photo%2Bon%2B2011-02-26%2Bat%2B14.43.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DFpVkprjDvo/TWkRT2ZEcFI/AAAAAAAAAGU/W30BP9Zl_g0/s1600/Photo%2Bon%2B2011-02-26%2Bat%2B14.33%2B%25232.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-16CuYP_yB-E/TWkRH7heA_I/AAAAAAAAAGM/nXQhoe6uxQ4/s1600/Photo%2Bon%2B2011-02-26%2Bat%2B14.33.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VCx8BXf2IUs/TWkRHx4QXmI/AAAAAAAAAGE/0utKmj6JABE/s1600/Photo%2Bon%2B2011-02-26%2Bat%2B14.32.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4-eXajh6Nk/TWkRHvuwdQI/AAAAAAAAAF8/1zp-KRWLkik/s1600/Photo%2Bon%2B2011-02-26%2Bat%2B14.28%2B%25232.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oLsMz6aI2bw/TWkQ3b3uMQI/AAAAAAAAAF0/_I6O45y_75o/s1600/Photo%2Bon%2B2011-02-26%2Bat%2B14.28.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z1kTyBBBaZY/TWkQ3Yurr3I/AAAAAAAAAFs/GikrqFhGv9o/s1600/Photo%2Bon%2B2011-02-26%2Bat%2B14.27.jpg
I can also put my hand behind my back so that my elbow points horizontally.

I can do this with both hands. Most people called it the claws in high school. Luckily i'm constantly exercising my fingers, be it typing or playing the piano.

That's a bit of a different technique with thumb than I use, and if that sideways thumb thing counts towards the beighton scale, I actually have 8 out of 9. Scary.

But I finally got a better picture! Forgot to use macro, though.

http://i.cubeupload.com/Va1ejN.jpg