Medical Issues Causing Difficulties With Penmanship - Help Please!

[Floreat]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a hypermobility/connective tissue order which affects how I hold a pen. This was not diagnosed until about four years ago - I didn't realise I even had a problem, I thought it was "just me". The main problems for me now are:

 

1) I hold the pen with a "thumb wrap" death grip; if I try to hold it in the "proper" way I simply drop the pen as my finger joints are so loose they bend back on themselves.

 

2) It is really very difficult for me to hold a straight-nibbed calligraphy pen at the correct angle. If I hold such a pen in my "natural" way, the strokes are reversed so thick strokes come out thin and vice-versa.

 

Problem 1 has meant that I am a "finger writer" and I gave up on doing cursive writing and returned to printing (which I can do quite beautifully with an ordinary nib if I try) as soon as I could at school. Sadly that also meant that I write incredibly slowly, which had a bad effect on my performance in important written exams since I could never finish four essays in three hours as all of my A levels demanded. Since I can't really move my arm when writing, I find it difficult to do cursive writing because my hand can only move so far, and it's impossible to finish long words without cramming all of the letters in at the end of the word, which does not look elegant.

 

Problem 2 means I have huge problems doing printed calligraphy, and I would SO love to be able to do it. I have been experimenting with turning the page 90 degrees and writing vertically, and have had some success with this - it was actually rather mindblowing to see the letters shaped properly for the first time!! I had always been puzzled as to why I couldn't do calligraphy and this is why.

 

I took my new Montblanc pen into the MB boutique last week to get it looked at because it was skipping, and the guy there recommended that I swap it to an oblique nib, because of the way I write. Does this sound sensible?

 

Also, I've heard that Arabic/Hebrew nibs are designed so that the thick strokes and thin strokes come out opposite to a Western calligraphy nib. If this is so, then would such a nib help me? If I write with a straight-edged Western calligraphy nib, the nib points to 9 o'clock.

 

Many thanks for taking the time to read this - any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

Anna

Edited September 1, 2014 by Floreat

[fountainpagan]

You need a sort of hand grip such as:

 

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/538/vdWLg2.jpg

 

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/661/vf3BJI.jpg

 

you can find it at ebay (or at a medical supplies store near you).

 

I hope this could be of some help to you.

 

Or,

 

maybe one of the extraordinary pen makers in the forum could make a fountain pen bsaed on this medical pen

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/673/30Kyxc.jpg

Edited September 1, 2014 by fountainpagan

[bardiir]

See PM

[Floreat]

Thanks tons, both of you! I shall take a look at Ebay for those grips - hopefully they'll fit on most of my pens. I've got a collection of about 20 pens now and whilst I enjoy printing with them, it would be great to be able to do cursive.

 

Bardiir has just offered me a pen with a nib that he has custom-ground for Hebrew/Arabic writing, I hope he doesn't mind me mentioning his generosity here! I'm excited to try it, and will update this thread to let you know how I get on with it

[Floreat]

Here are a couple of photos showing my pen-grip.....one photo taken from my point of view as I write, and the other taken from the side. The latter has surprised me, I didn't realise quite how squashed-up my fist is when I write!

[Floreat]

Oh, for some reason the pics are rotated - the "Dotpad" logo should be at the bottom.

[fountainpagan]

I think the grips will greatly help you.

[dms525]

Hi, Floreat.

 

Those grips may help, but I think re-training yourself to write with less finger movement and more arm and shoulder movement would help also. It's worth the effort.

 

Also, if you were my patient, I would be referring you to an Occupational Therapist for help with your writing difficulty. O.T.'s are specialists in helping people with neurologic or orthopedic problems who are having difficulty with "activities of daily living," especially those involving fine motor skills like writing. I assume you are under the care of a specialist in neurology, orthopedics or rehabilitation. They should be able to refer you, and, since your problem relates to a medical condition and is interfering with your "job" (school), you should not have to pay for this service yourself.

 

LMK if you have questions about this.

 

David

[Ghost Plane]

+1 for a good occupational therapist. You may also find that fat/wide pens help your grip. Lamys are too narrow for my hands - I'd get cramps and I don't have your issues.

[Floreat]

Thanks David - it may be a little late for me now though, I'm in my 30s and I did well at university, both as an undergraduate and a postgraduate It's still frustrating that there was a reason for me writing so slowly in exams though! My grades would definitely have been higher in my arts subjects if I had been able to finish the essay-based exams - back when I did A levels, everything depended on two three-hour-long written exams at the end of a two year course, with no assessed coursework component. Those exam grades determined which university I went to.....but everything turned out fine in the end, so it doesn't really matter.

 

I saw a hand therapist a few years ago, when I was diagnosed with the connective-tissue disorder, and she made me various splints to use when playing musical instruments - my main problem here is that I cannot hold a viola bow correctly and have trouble doing certain types of bowing.

 

My printed handwriting can be very neat and looks quite nice if I take care with it, and I'm able to draw and paint quite daintily (my avatar is one of my own paintings). I would love to be able to learn to do calligraphy and beautiful cursive writing too, but it's not holding my life back in any way so it isn't something that I could seek medical help for.

 

Those grips look very useful though so I'm looking forward to trying those, and to having a go with the pen that Bardiir is so kindly sending to me

 

ETA Ghostplane, you're spot on - my most comfortable pen is a socking great fat Jinhao x530. It's the biggest pen I have by far.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Floreat

[ac12]

I would try to write with your arm. It will take you a while to do and dedication. It took me 3 months of daily 1 to 2 hours writing to retrain my arm muscles to write with my arm rather than fingers. It was horrible when I started. But I made the change.

 

Since you finger write, which is what I used to do, try to break up the words. As a finger writer, I could not write long words, so I would break the word into segments and move my hand for the next segment. Example, the word bicycle, I would write it as bi cycle. Write the "bi" then move my hand and write "cycle." The letter t was a favorite letter for me to break a word at, because of how I crossed the t. Some words were broken into 3 or 4 segments, just depending on the letters and where it felt right to segment the word.

 

all the best.

[Floreat]

Great advice, thanks ac12 I am definitely going to try to learn to arm-write. I had a go earlier and was horrible but it might be an interesting project to keep a notebook dedicated to this, and see how much improvement there is by the time I get to the end of it.

 

In terms of a clock-face, what is the normal orientation of a pen nib? It seems to me that 12 o'clock is best for flex writing; can anyone tell me if this is correct?

[ac12]

I hold my pen at about 1030. But this varies depending on how I feel.

I use an oblique dip pen holder for flex writing, and with that holder the nib is approximately at 12 +/-1. I have to go pull out a holder to double check.

[bardiir]

It's working with the architects grind

Let's see what is possible with a bigger modification

[Floreat]

Yes I've just received the pen that totally wonderful Bardiir has sent me, and it is working brilliantly! It is amazing to see my letters coming out "properly" with the broad strokes and the fine strokes where they should be, instead of the wrong way round. I keep writing poems and things out just for the joy of seeing my letters form properly thank you so much Bardiir - you've just helped me to achieve something I used to think I would never be able to do!

 

I will try to take a photo or scan of my handwriting with a standard calligraphy pen and with Bardiir's pen so you can all see the difference I was getting good results with broader-nibbed calligraphy pens when writing vertically at 90 degrees, but that is so laborious and takes ages, besides being rather mind-bending, so I'm excited to see how Bardiir fares in creating a broader nib.

 

This is a really wonderful community - I have met so many kind, helpful people here

[bardiir]

There's news on the little agreed on project: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/273875-lamy-experiment-3-hawk-nib-sponsored-by-and-dedicated-to-floreat/