I Want to Hold Your Hand
Without shaking, cramping, or seizing.
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Tremors, Spasticity, and Spasms
Don’t Let Multiple Sclerosis Take Over Your Fingers
With curated exercises, get those phalanges moving again.
Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash
6 Hand Exercises for Multiple Sclerosis
I started taking piano lessons upon entering second grade. Enamored with the piano, I couldn’t wait to go to weekly lessons. When I progressed enough to practice scales, I was ecstatic. The reality of conversing with musical possibilities was endless.
I didn’t have a piano of my own until junior high school. Mom purchased a second-hand Baby Beethoven for the two of us. The keyboard was half the size of a regular 88-key instrument. Of course, that meant some lower and higher -octave composition segments had to be altered sometimes, but we learned to accommodate the occasional rewrite.
I continued with piano lessons until I left the nest for college. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t seek further instruction during those years of higher education.
I did, however, discover the haunting beauty of a similar instrument I found tucked away in the basement of the college chapel. Every chance I got, anyone could find me pecking away on the ancient harpsichord that no one else appeared to use.
Upon acquiring my first big-girl job as an English teacher and moving into a big-girl apartment, my first purchase was a Thomas Chickering pecan wood piano. Along with a three-legged loveseat, my college dorm 24-inch black and white television, and an inherited sleigh bed, this big girl was ready to take on the world.
… and offer piano lessons as a mandatory side job. Do you think school teacher salary is sparse now? Forty-plus years ago, teachers needed as many side hustles as possible to remain financially anchored.
My piano moved with me several times over the years, serving as a personal form of entertainment, as well as my son’s introduction to the instrument.
