Updates have been slow lately because I played racquetball on Friday, forgetting that men in my family have about as much athletic ability as the average brine shrimp. While playing, immediately after thinking “Hey, I’m getting pretty good at this,” I took a dive and landed on my wrist and elbow. Hard.
I didn’t break the wrist, although from my completely pathetic fainting fits you would have thought I did. I eventually did end up going to the ER, and they say it’s a very bad sprain. I can’t lift anything heavier than about a couple of pounds with my right hand, and even using an Xbox controller for more than about 10 minutes is out of the question. I can type, but I shouldn’t overdo it, so I’m saving most of my typing for work until I recover a bit.
Apart from that experience, racquetball is fun. Hopefully this will heal fast so I can play again soon.
In the meantime, I’ve been trying to train myself to use my left hand for everything. It is hard. If you have any tips, share them below.
One thing that’s worked really well for me there is being born left-handed. I find that with that, I have very few problems using my left hand for things.
Also, good to hear you’ll be back playing. I fear being the only new player in our group and being slowly destroyed by the more experienced guys.
If I had any advice, it’d be: don’t dive!
(I’m making a distinction between “taking a dive” and “falling on one’s ass”, here. I do the latter all the time.)
I say this for several reasons. You have already experienced the down side of going ballistic, which can be (has been, for me) compounded by the fact that at speed, it’s sometimes hard to tell where the wall is, so that’s -two- things to avoid running into badly. It’s also probably true that after one’s valiant toss of self to make that brilliant save, one will find one’s self in a lumpen heap, and all the other has to do is thwop the ball into the opposite corner, taking the volley anyway: it’s best to stay on one’s feet. I must admit, also, that I get a small kick out of just being old and conceding the volley when I’m pretty sure I’ve no chance at it anyway.
It’s a bit like wisdom. Really wimpy wisdom.
I have occasionally injured my right hand into temporary uselessness, so I have a little experience here.
HOWEVER. I’m substantially more ambidextrous, naturally, than most right-handed people. What worked for me might not for you, depending on how obediant your left hand is.
1) Don’t try to use the left hand the way you use the right. You know how left-handed people always seem to have their hand upside-down when writing or eating? Try that. It’s a lot easier.
2) One mistake I made a lot was trying to use my left hand like normal – for bracing and holding things steady – while ALSO trying to use it for “right-handed” stuff. It can’t do both. Make something else do the bracing. Wedge things against books or table edges to get leverage, or if you can, clamp them against your body with your right arm to get a good angle with your left hand. Between the knees is good, too.
3) Make sure to give your left hand a break. It’s not used to doing so much work. If it gets tired, REST IT. The only thing more annoying that not being able to use one hand is not being able to use BOTH hands. Also, ibuprofen helps. And plenty of water.
Ye gods man, you can’t lift anything heavier than two pounds and you’re complaining about XBox Controllers? Has Penny Arcade taught you nothing??