It’s not surprising that handwriting with arthritis can be painful or difficult! The good news is, there are so many small muscles, tendons and joints in the hand, that making small changes to your handwriting grasp or approach can actually lead to large benefits in your comfort.
As an occupational therapist who’s lived with rheumatoid arthritis for over twenty years, here are three quick tips for handwriting with sore hands:
- 1) Use a wide pen – a pen that has a wide shaft, or a pen that has a “wide pencil grip” on it, is much easier to hold than a thin one. That’s why so many “arthritis friendly pens” feature a wide grasp!
- 2) Fast rolling pen – This is an under-rated life hack for handwriting with arthritis! The decreased friction from a fast rolling pen makes it easier to maneuver.
- 3) Write in cursive – cursive actually is less demanding from a kinesiology perspective because you don’t have to keep picking up the pen or pencil and putting it back down.
Another tip is to use the “Taylor Swift grasp,” a modified tripod / adapted tripod grasp, which I covered previously in this video.
What else helps you? Let me know in the comments!
