What are your hands and wrists doing while creating? 

The goal of this article is to create awareness of what your hands and wrists do when creating  and to give you strategies to keep them in neutral (comfortable) while performing your ceramic work.

I have always had a passion for ceramics but, I had to stop throwing pots…because my hands were in pain right after using the wheel. Now I can only hand-build.  I developed a repetitive strain injury in my right hand and wrist from being a graphic designer and using a mouse too much. Because of this, I decided to start to teach graphic design instead. In order to get a tenured track position I needed to obtain a masters degree. I thought going back to school to get a graduate degree in graphic design was a bit risky, since, most likely, I would be forced to perform the very activity that caused me the discomfort in the first place! So I went to grad school and got a masters in human factors and ergonomics. Now…I get to help people stay healthy by teaching them about neutral posture and I love my job! I really want to help you all to stay healthy so that you can keep making your ceramics! Not only because it’s fun, but because it’s important to add your creative energy to this world.

The Importance of Neutral Posture

We can all learn to use our body in a more neutral position to keep ourselves healthy as well as to reduce or eliminate our discomforts. Using awkward "non-neutral positions can fatigue our arms, hands, limbs, and joints. Maintaining a neutral posture is important because, if you respect the way your body is designed to move while performing your ceramic work, then you can minimize aches and pains.

Neutral posture is a body position that uses the least amount of stress and strains to your muscles, joints, and ligaments. Neutral positions are natural, normal positions that are easy on the body and your musculoskeletal system. These positions are easy for the body to maintain and are painless to reposition from. When your hands and wrists are in an awkward position or non-neutral position, grip strength is actually lost and you have less power to complete the task, plus your muscles work harder and fatigue easier. Performing tasks using awkward posture on a consistent basis can lead to fatigue, discomforts or even disabilities.

My first article in this series focused on ergonomics in the studio (see Ceramics Monthly, February 2018) discussed that a neutral spine has three curves, forming an S shape. The second article (see Ceramics Monthly, March 2019) demonstrated a neutral position for your elbows in which they are in line with the body. You want to do most of your ceramic work with your elbows as close to your sides of as possible and not stretched out in front of you or your arms winged out to the sides. I tell people to get in touch with their “T-Rex” dinosaur arms—envision having short little arms held close to the body and emulate that to ensure you are working in neutral.

Hands and Wrist

This article focuses on how to position your hands and wrists while performing various studio tasks. Neutral position is easy to find, remember neutral is always with you. Here is a simple exercise to find what a neutral hand and wrist posture looks like. Stand in front of a full-length mirror and look at yourself straight on. Drop your hands to the sides of your body. In this position, your hands and wrists are in neutral (see 1 and 2).

This article focuses on how to position your hands and wrists while performing various studio tasks. Neutral position is easy to find, remember neutral is always with you. Here is a simple exercise to find what a neutral hand and wrist posture looks like. Stand in front of a full-length mirror and look at yourself straight on. Drop your hands to the sides of your body. In this position, your hands and wrists are in neutral (see 1 and 2).

Notice three things about a neutral hand and wrist position:

1.        Your fingers naturally curve in toward your palm.

2.        The tip of your thumb should be close to the tip of your index finger.

3.        Your wrist should have a slight curve away from your body.

To get a better view of this neutral position try this advanced exercise using only one arm: keeping your hand and wrist exactly as you see it in the mirror, bend your elbow 90 degrees, and look at how your hand and wrist are positioned. This is where people mess up. Try to avoid moving your fingers. People tend to make them stiff or straighten them out. Also try to keep your wrists from bending. If any of these happen, drop your hands to your sides, shake your hands out for a few seconds, and then try the exercise again. Shaking your hands out is kinda like hitting the reset button. Learning this will help you to embody this information.

Figure 1: Hand at the side of the body in a neutral position: 1. fingers curve in towards your palm, 2. the tip of your thumb should be close to the tip of your index finger; 3. Your wrist should have a slight curve away from your body.  Figure 2: Same hand position, just bent elbow 90 degrees to be able to visually look at hand: 1. Fingers curve in towards your palm; 2. The tip of your thumb should be close to the tip of your index finger; 3. your wrist should have a slight curve away from your body.

Making a Behavioral Change

So how can you use this neutral position as much as possible and if you devi- ate from it, which you will, how do you come back to it? This is going to be a behavioral change. You need to start paying attention to what you do and how you do it. This is a great exercise to take on, though, because through this process you can train your body to use neutral positions as much as possible and reduce your chances of getting aches and pains or even worse symptoms, like long-term injuries.

If you are a teacher, you can then teach these simple things to your students. It is best to start in a neutral position as much as possible from the beginning, so you do not have to retrain yourself later on.  Behavioral changes don’t take 18 days to learn, unfortunately, it takes about 3-6 months to make changes. One way to help is to put reminders where you can easily see them. You can even use the pictures from this article to help visualize a neutral position.

Limit the amount of time you throw pots in one sitting. By this, I mean, TAKE BREAKS!!! Set a timer get up and stretch, ideally every 30-40 minutes, get something to drink, take a few deep breathes, etc. for one to two minutes. Then sit down again and continue your work. It is important to take these short and frequent breaks. Studies have shown, the power of quick breaks helps recover from using your body in an awkward position. Our bodies are flexible so we should use that flexibility. And not abuse it by sitting for 5-6 hours without getting up and wondering why our backs, arms, hands hurt!

Pinch Grip Hand Position:

The ability to pinch grip is the finest movement our bodies can make, so we want to use this motion only when appropriate. In other words we want to protect this motion so we are able to use it when we need to use it.

Analyze your own habits. How do you hold your pen or a tool? A lot of people use an awkward position to hold a pen or a ceramic tool and grip it with too much force (3). Can you hold a pen or a ceramic tool in your hand using a neutral position and applying just enough force for accurate control (4)? You can practice this whenever you are using hand tools. Use the above instructions on how to find neutral posture and use that to hold a hand tool in a neutral position.

The ability to pinch grip is the finest movement our bodies can make, so we want to use this motion only when appropriate. In other words we want to protect this motion so we are able to use it when we need to use it.

Analyze your own habits. How do you hold your pen or a tool? A lot of people use an awkward position to hold a pen or a ceramic tool and grip it with too much force (3). Can you hold a pen or a ceramic tool in your hand using a neutral position and applying just enough force for accurate control (4)? You can practice this whenever you are using hand tools. Use the above instructions on how to find neutral posture and use that to hold a hand tool in a neutral position.

Which photo below looks more comfortable?

Look at the positioning of your wrist when holding a pencil (or tool). Figure 3: In this image, the wrist is bent back at an angle, the thumb is flexed, and the index finger is bent and flexed, destroying the natural curve. Figure 4: This image shows neutral hand and wrist posture. The fingers curve in toward the palm. The tip of the thumb is close to the tip of the index finger. The wrist has a slight curve away from the body. 

Image 4, of course. This is the one that uses the neutral hand/wrist position guidelines discussed earlier in the article. Can you take a few minutes to practice a less stressful land more neutral way to hold the pencil or ceramic tool? Check your own posture in the course of studio work (see 5,6 below). 

Figure 5: This image shows a neutral forearm and wrist position while throwing. Note the slight curve in the wrist area, which may cause forearm muscles to tighten. The fingers and thumb are in awkward positions. The thumb is flexed inside the vessel, and a certain amount of force is needed to hold this position. The fingers are straight, with no natural curve. Use awkward positions as needed, but don’t hold them for long periods of time, and control the frequency by varying tasks. Figure 6: While wedging clay, your hands are in an awkward position out of necessity, so don’t spend an entire hour wedging clay. Wedge a few balls of clay, then take a break to do something else. Set a timer for 15 minutes, then when it goes off, stop wedging and take a 5-minute break to stretch and relax your hands.

Remember:  Awkward posture combined with force = less physical strength in that area.

When I got my RSI (repetitive strain injury) I had to relearn how to hold a pen. I got all these gadgets and handle grippers to make the pen thicker. By making the objects thicker or wider, you reduce pinch gripping, which, again, is the finest motion our bodies can make.

Here are some ideas, which are in no way endorsed by me or the magazine, but just some ideas you may want to play with. I found them all on an arthritis website:

the author Serafine Lilien, Master of Science, is both a ceramic artist and an ergonomist living in Portland, Oregon. To see more about her ergonomic work, visit  www.ergoarts.net. To see her ceramic sculpture, find her on Instagram @lserafiner. 

Originally published in Ceramics Monthly, pages. http://www.ceramicsmonthly.org . Copyright, The American Ceramic Society. Reprinted with permission. 

Listen to Serafine discuss wellness and ergonomics for makers on the podcast Wellness for Makers with Missy Graff Ballone. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wellness-for-makers/id1499175094