By Anne Malloy, junior writing coach and blog co-editor

My finals last week brought on an array of feelings, as always, but pain was not one I had prepared for. In the midst of writing in-class essays I got a visit from a writer’s cramp, that painful sensation any student or writer dreads. Rather than grit my teeth and work through the cramp, or switch the pen to my left hand mid-sentence, I decided to look into some hand exercises to combat these pesky hindrances the next time they happen.

For any aspiring writer or busy student out there, try out one of these exercises next time an unwelcome writer’s cramp pays you a visit.

 

• Stress Ball: Believe it or not, the squishy spheres that help alleviate our stress can also help stop a hand cramp. Simply grab a stress ball and try squeezing it or rolling it out in your hand so it can work its magic.

 

• The Hunger Games Approach: You all know the gesture: touch your thumb to your pinky finger and you have the iconic hunger games hand gesture. When you feel a cramp coming, start with this District 12 salute, then move your thumb to each finger, one at a time, before ending on a clenched fist. Repeat until your hand goes back to feeling normal.

 

• Standard Approach: If you don’t have a stress ball handy and you’re not a big fan of the Hunger Games, another hand exercise you can try is the standard approach. Simply straighten out your writing hand for 5 seconds, and then make a hook fist, full fist, and straight fist on 5 second intervals as seen in the diagram below. Once you reach a straight fist, make a few circles with your wrist before beginning with a straight hand once more. Again, repeat as you need. 

Any writer can commiserate about the painful hand cramps that show up at the worst of times (say, for instance, in the last few minutes of a final exam when you still have a paragraph to go). Writer’s cramps are anything but a pleasant surprise, so learn these simple exercises to end them as fast as they appear the next time they decide to visit. Happy writing!