Have you been looking for an arthritis friendly handwriting grasp? This might surprise you, but holding your pencil the way Taylor Swift does can help decrease hand pain from arthritis! It’s also useful for many other conditions including hypermobility and low muscle tone! In this post I will explain how the Taylor Swift grasp is so arthritis friendly.
Understanding Different Handwriting Grasps
As an occupational therapist, I was taught that children go through a predictable stage of precision grasp development that starts with a “gross grasp” (holding objects with all 5 fingers) to more refined fine motor techniques such as the “pincer grasp” and, when it comes to handwriting, the tripod or gradrupod grasps.
While professionals used to believe that the “dynamic tripod grasp” was the only functional, efficient grasp, in occupational therapy school I learned that there are at least three “functional,” efficient pencil grasps, usually established by age 7-8. These functional efficient handwriting grasps are:
- ✅ Dynamic Tripod Grasp – This has historically been considered the “gold standard” pencil grasp, however it’s currently recognized as one of a handful of functional, efficient grasps. The “tripod” in this case is the thumb, pointer and middle finger which touch the pencil with the end of the pencil resting in the “web space” between the thumb and pointer finger (between the pointer finger knuckle and base of thumb joint).
- ✅ Dynamic Quadrupod Grasp: This one is very similar to dynamic tripod, the only difference being that your ring finger is also touching the pencil and the middle finger “pad” is resting on top of the pencil. This grasp distributes the force across 4 fingers rather than 3 so for people with hand pain this grasp may be helpful.
- ✅ The lesser known but very useful “Modified Tripod,” also known as the “Adapted Tripod,” or “Adaptive Tripod” grasp, but I simply call it the “Taylor Swift Grasp!” In this grasp, the end of the pencil is stabilized in between the pointer and middle fingers, while the thumb is actively helping move the pencil as well.
Why the Modified Tripod / Adaptive Tripod / Taylor Swift approach is an Arthritis Friendly Handwriting Grasp
The modified tripod is most often recommended or used by people with hypermobility (too much joint movement), low muscle tone (which can be a result of specific medical conditions like stroke, cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome or simply variations of normal muscle tone), low muscle endurance/ fatigue, or finger pain (such as that caused by Rheumatoid Arthritis or osteoarthritis).
As I explained to a Slate.com reporter who interviewed me on this topic, holding your pencil between the pointer and middle finger provides extra surface area to stabilize the pencil and requires less active muscle contraction. This helps both people with hypermobility and arthritis. Additionally, in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) I am conscientious to avoid positions that promote “ulnar drift,” the deformity associated with RA where the knuckles “drift” to the pinky side over time. The dynamic tripod squeezes my knuckles together in a way that is more painful than the modified tripod / “Taylor Swift Grasp.”
I’d love to hear from you – which grasp do you find most helpful / comfortable for arthritis? You might also like my other video about 3 ways to make handwriting with arthritis easier.
Let me know your best tips in the comments!
Citations:
- Background picture 1 from my video above (with the grasp circled in yellow): “Develop Learn Grow” website post called: “Development of Pencil Grasp – How to Promote a Functional Grasp with 5 Types of Activities”
- Background picture 2 from the video above, about hypermobility – from “Your Kids OT” website blog post: “What if my child can’t use a “normal” pencil grasp? Should I change it?” @yourkidsot
- Slate.com article I was interviewed for: “Why Does Taylor Swift Hold Her Pen Like That? Should we be concerned? We called up occupational therapists to find out.”
