Wrist

“ The wrist or joint between the hand and arm lessens on closing the hand, and grows larger when it opens. The contrary happens in the arm, in the space between the elbow and the hand, on all sides; because in opening the hand the muscles are extended and thinned in the arm, from the elbow to the wrist; but when the hand is shut, the same muscles swell and shorten. The tendons alone start, being stretched by the clenching of the hand. ”

“ The wrist is a directing instrument for the forearm and the hand.
The wrist has its three movements.
It is eccentric when the extensor muscles are in motion.
It is normal in the horizontal position.
It is concentric when the flexor muscles are in action.
In the concentric position the wrist is in pronation, for the thumb is turned downward; this is the sign of a powerful will, because the pronator muscles have more power than the flexors.
In the eccentric position the wrist is in supination; that is, the back of the hand is downward; this is the sign of impotence. ”

“ Appliances with Mobile Joints.—In the course of work the direction of the wrist is changing at every instant, flexion, extension, pronation, and supination occurring, sometimes in order to move around the object, sometimes in order to maintain a suitable position when the movements of the shoulder and elbow vary the direction of the forearm.
The consequence of this is that the worker learns to turn the piece of work around with his sound hand. ”

“ But when a weight is placed in the hand, these joints became fixed by the action of muscles. The fixing muscles are placed in the forearm, both in front and behind, and are set in action the moment the hand is loaded. The wrist joint is fixed just in the same way as the joints of the foot are made rigid by muscles when it has to serve as a lever. Even when we take a pen in our hand and write, these engines which balance and fix the wrist have to be in action all the time. The steadiness of our writing depends on how delicately they are balanced. ”

“ It is the wrist, for a broken wrist would cut off the muscular reaction: that is one reason I have broken more gun-men's wrists than probably any other so-called gun-fighter on the Coast. Some people think that I have broken wrists because I hesitated to kill even human vermin.
But to return to Thrope. ”

“ If the wrist or side of the hand rests on the paper, all motion coming from the muscles of the arm will stop at the wrist and it will be an impossibility to use muscular movement. Watch the wrist and the side of the hand closely. ”

“ My wrist, exposed between the glove and the edge of the sleeve, is ornamented with a regular swelling like a bracelet all round the arm; in a word, wherever the enemy has been able to penetrate, he has wrought indescribable ravage.... ”

“ The bones of the arm were strong, with strong projections for the attachment of muscles; those of the wrist were few in number and closely united. The rudimentary first finger, or thumb, consisting of a single slender bone, was turned backward toward the shoulder for the support of the membrane in front of the elbow. ”

“ It is to be remarked, that, as probably forty or fifty t’choories are to be worn upon each wrist, those appropriated to the thicker part of the arm, being, of course, the first to pass, the hand becomes gradually suppled, and disposed to receive each succeeding ring, which is imperceptibly of less diameter than its predecessor. ”

“ Why, one child, who was very vain about her figure, must needs get a piece of string, or tape, and begin to measure her companion's wrist, thumb, neck, waist, and height, saying--"Twice round the thumb, once round the wrist, twice round the wrist, once round the neck, twice round the neck, once round the waist, and twice round the waist, once the height." ”

“ Several of the muscles in the forearm run into tendons in the wrist because if the muscle part were to extend along the wrist, this part of the arm would be large and clumsy instead of graceful and slender. ”

“ When the pupil comes to recognize the wrist as a condition rather than a thing he will find that the matter of the tight, cramped wrist will cease to have its terrors. In fact, as far as touch itself is concerned, the motion of the arm as a whole is vastly more important than that of the wrist. The wrist is merely part of the apparatus which communicates the weight of the arm to the keyboard. ”

“ The ideal arm, however, should gradually decrease in size from the shoulder to the wrist, the outlines being marked by those inward curves which are also noticeable in well-formed shoulders. The wrist should be slender without being thin, the bone at the outer side being well covered and indicated rather by dimples than otherwise. ”

“ The wrist is as delicate an organ as the throat—the articulations of the legs as sensitive as the vocal chords. The mechanism suffers from the smallest disturbance; the instrument gets out of gear and will not answer to the player. ”

“ The lower edge of the right hand is struck, at an angle of forty-five degrees, against the left wrist at the point mentioned. The blow must be a sharp one, and a springy one. The instant that the right hand has struck the left wrist the right hand should be withdrawn with a lightning-like rebound. ”

“ At rest the right forearm is pronated, the wrist completely flexed and bent toward the ulnar side, the thumb is slightly adducted, and the fingers, although slightly flexed, are comparatively free, enabling him to use the scalpel with dexterity. ”

“ To the lunge of the left foot add an equally full and direct and fast lunge of the left shoulder, elbow, and wrist. Your head should come forward also, above your left foot. Imagine yourself to be aiming at a ball, and see that your left wrist is in a line between your eyes and some object, say a chair’s leg in the bedroom. ”

“ They are employed in straightening the fingers, when the hand is shut. These tendons are confined by the ligament or band, e, which binds them down, around the wrist, and thus enables them to act more efficiently, and secures beauty of form to the limb. ”

“ The passes develop the regularity of bodily action, the parries give force and suppleness to the wrist. You must be careful, however, not to depend only upon the wrist; in the circles especially there should always be a slight rotatory motion of the elbow. In fact, you should feel that you have an elbow. A man in perfect health never feels that he has anything; we recognise our limbs only when there is something unsound about them. ”

“ Your arm must be raised until high overhead, the hand hanging from the wrist and dropped into your lap or down at the side, letting the elbow "give," so that the upper arm drops first, and then the fore arm and hand,—like three heavy sand-bags sewed together. The arm can be brought up to the level of the shoulder, and then round in front and dropped. ”

“ For instance, if there is a DISLOCATION OF THE ELBOW, the patient being settled, let one man take hold of his arm near the shoulder, to make counter extension while another makes extension at the wrist. You yourself being seated grasp the elbow with your two hands by applying your fingers to the anterior part and your thumbs to the posterior, press on the projecting point of bone downwards and forwards. ”

“ In like manner, if we keep the compass-points one or two centimetres apart, and draw them down the forearm over the wrist and palm, finally drawing one along one finger, the other along its neighbor, the appearance will be that of a single line, soon breaking into two, which become more widely separated below the wrist, to contract again in the palm, and finally diverge rapidly again towards the finger-tips. ”

“ But when the bones happen to take up a great deal of room, and come near the skin themselves, as is the case in the wrist, the artery is forced, whether he likes it or not, to venture to the surface, and then we are able to put our fingers upon him. ”

“ Reflect, Francis, upon this, and let it be your comfort throughout the coming conflict, that there is no jaw-bone in the head of mortal man so strong as his wrist. With your wrist and elbow you can knock a man down ”

“ The forearm is used in addition to the wrist when the balls lie farther apart, judgment, of course, being exercised in imparting the force in accordance with the distance between cue- and object-ball. ”

“ The individual turns around with a great impulse from the shoulders, with the leg raised, but the hand and the rest of the body remain inert. Then come the elbows, but without the hand. Later come the wrist-joint and the torso. With this movement of the wrist, the face becomes mobilized, for there is great affinity between these two agents. The face and hand form a most interesting unity. Finally, from the wrist, the articulation passes to the fingers, and here is imitative perfection. If we would speak our language eloquently, we must not be beguiled into any patois of gesture. ”

“ It is of the utmost importance to have the hand, and wrist, in a proper position at the beginning of the series of up-strokes, if the hand is already turned inwards, how will it be possible to execute a wrist movement in the same direction? The first finger should press firmly on the bow as the hand moves for the attack of each note, this attack if analysed, will be found to be a modified kind of sforzando on every semiquaver ”

“ The thumb of his left hand under her wrist, the fingers extended above it; the thumb of his right hand resting on the thumb of the left, the fingers lightly resting on the fingers of the left hand. As soon as the curtain was fastened he extended the fourth and index fingers of the left hand to the fullest extent and pressed hard upon the lady’s arm, relaxing at the same time the pressure of his second and third fingers. This movement exactly simulates the grasp of two hands, and enables the medium to take away his right hand altogether. ”

“ The process by which it is done is slow, and intended to be merciful, as the skin of the hand is turned back, and the wrist then separated at the joint by a small knife, not injuring the bones of the fore- arm, and also allowing some flesh to form a flap. ”

“ After playing these exercises for an hour, including the Halir legato studies, pages 1 to 4, Tonleiterstudien, the wrist and forearm are supple for the daily work, while the left hand falls easily into line. In all technical work the left hand must be trained to anticipate the bow-arm. More depends upon the left hand than upon the bow-arm, hence the necessity of strong fingers and an ample technic. ”

“ Besides these peculiarities of the hands and feet, which, moreover, are supplied in every joint with tendons and muscles of great motive power, the fore-arm is capable of turning the wrist forwards or backwards, or, as it [Pg 213] is called, rotating, and also of bending. Again, the upper arm is loosely but firmly attached to the shoulders and neck, so as to admit of great range of motion, so what with the bending and rotation of the fore-arm, and the mobility and cushioned state of the fingers, these creatures possess a wonderful apparatus, suited for extreme action and safe holding on. ”

“ All these several free movements of the hand and fingers may be repeated many times, with advantage; still by simply performing them, short though they be, daily and regularly, the prescribed time only, the desired end of strengthening the muscles of the fingers and wrists, and rendering them vigorous and flexible, will be surely attained. ”

“ Median and posterior interosseous.—Entry, over the external margin of the radius at the centre of the forearm; exit, at the inner margin of the olecranon 11⁄2 inch below the tip. Lowered cutaneous sensation in median distribution, and loss of median flexion of wrist and fingers. Complete wrist-drop. The triceps supinator longus and extensor carpi radialis longior were perfect. Twelve days later the wrist could be raised into a direct line with forearm, but there was no change in the median symptoms. ”