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05-23-2005, 09:59 AM
|  | Journeyman Clam Artist Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Winnipeg, baby | | | Let me see your thumb, please...
How far back does your left thumb bend? Another way of asking the question: is your left thumb double-jointed?
The reason I ask is I've recently been told that my thumbs are double-jointed. Naturally and easily, my left thumb bends back from the vertical about half-way: 45 degrees or so. I've got an issue with a small amount of tenderness in there -- not right to call it "pain" -- from bass-playing.
It's not so much an issue of gripping too hard when stopping strings. I know about that and my teacher and I have been working on it and progressing in normal ways. I really don't think that's the right tree. The issue is simple anatomy -- any amount of pressure when the thumb is in that position (i.e., bent back) over time creates a kind of downward stress on the thumb.
What I'm wondering is: how common is this condition and do folks have any thoughts to share about managing it? I know Jaco used to be real proud of his "double-jointed" thumbs but I could never figure how that helped him any...
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05-23-2005, 10:39 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Maui | | | Hang on a minute, lemme pull it outta my....okay, I'm looking at it, and it doesn't bend backwards at all when I'm playing. Actually, it curves the other way just a bit. I think I'd be getting some stress in that joint if I bent it back. I'm trying it, and it feels like it tightens up in my wrist, at the base of my thumb. |
05-23-2005, 11:16 AM
| | Journeyman Clam Artist Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Winnipeg, baby | | | Thanks, MJ, you can put it back now...
BTW, to be clear: I'm talking about the knuckle joint on the thumb. First joint south of the fingernail.
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05-23-2005, 12:41 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Maui | | | Jaco did have quite a bend there. I don't know how long he could've survived on DB with that thumb. |
05-23-2005, 01:46 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: AL/GA | | | Mine won't go any further back than vertical. I'd take a photo, but I don't want anyone to see the hair in my palms.. |
05-23-2005, 02:55 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Maui | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by mchildree Mine won't go any further back than vertical. I'd take a photo, but I don't want anyone to see the hair in my palms.. | So that's where it went 
Mine went to my ears and my back. |
05-23-2005, 04:14 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Ft. Worth | | | Thumb
My kids play a game...
"look up, look down, look all around, see my thumb, gee your dumb"
so...
Mine curves back, but not at 45 - more like 20?
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05-23-2005, 06:16 PM
|  | Registered User
Vice President: Upton Bass String Instrument Co. | | Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Warwick, RI & Stonington, CT | | | Genetics!
http://www.bhs.jordan.k12.ut.us/~sci...ics/humgen.htm
It's genetic...at least one of your parents has "hitchhikers thumb" as well.
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05-23-2005, 06:47 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: May 2003 Location: Springfield, Ma. USA | | Mine goes back at about a 90 degree angle.
These are the best pics I could find without taking new ones:   |
05-23-2005, 07:41 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: VeeTee | | | My thumb bends back approaching 90 degrees. If I keep only the tip of my thumb on the back of the neck and concentrate on not sqeezing it will usually not collapse, but when I am playing a long time or am not aware enough it will bend back and get sore. |
05-23-2005, 07:52 PM
| | Journeyman Clam Artist Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Winnipeg, baby | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by VTDB If I keep only the tip of my thumb on the back of the neck and concentrate on not sqeezing it will usually not collapse | This is pretty much the same approach I take, using the tip of the thumb when possible. But I have to allot brain bandwidth for that, and bandwidth ain't that easy to come by. After the gig I usually wind up with a somewhat sore thumb.
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05-23-2005, 07:58 PM
| | Journeyman Clam Artist Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Winnipeg, baby | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by eroy | Now ain't that somethin'! Homozygous recessive, huh? I'm sure there's a support group for it somewhere...
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05-23-2005, 08:09 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Ft. Worth | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by tsolo Mine curves back, but not at 45 - more like 20? | Mine looks more like the picture (with all the other genetic traits). So, I guess it is more like 45 degrees.
Damn, that hurts.
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05-24-2005, 05:52 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Leamington Spa, UK | | | Too much knowledge...
Arrghh, I've got hitchhiker's thumb and short index fingers. Doomed! |
05-24-2005, 06:16 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: London, UK | | | I've got the same 90degree problem, and find it quite painful if i try to keep my thumb from bending back against the neck.
A problem when playing in thumb position as well, its difficult to keep a proper shape, and unless I concentrate on it the whole time my thumb shoots back into the 90degree bend again |  | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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