Why I hate the index finger (1980)

I’ve always preferred holding a guitar plectrum with my middle finger and thumb instead of the usual index and thumb. I always felt guilty about it since I’ve noticed professionals seem to always use the index finger.

I’m a violinist (amateur but play regularly). When I have an important note, which is held for a while and needs vibrato, I frequently decide to shift my left hand position so that my middle finger is responsible, rather than the index finger. It feels stronger, easier to nail the intonation (pitch) with precision, and freer to perform the desired type of vibrato. (String players do vibrato by wiggling the left hand finger, which affects the pitch and overtones / oscillation modes of the string.) In fact, I tend to avoid using the index finger on notes that require vibrato.

That preference might be explained here, by the precision/strength combination. I tried holding a hammer as described in the author’s hammer exercise, and there’s similarity, though it requires much more weight-holding. The left hand doesn’t hold the weight of the violin (consider a cello or a guitar with shoulder strap), but a little grip strength is required to securely hold down the string, especially with vibrato.

Overall, fascinating article. I feel quite motivated to read more on hand anatomy and biomechanics.

I partially amputated (at the joint closest to the nail) my index finger a decade ago, and it’s been a huge impediment. This has motivated me to seek out some other opinions.

Sent it to some doctor friends and they are floored by the writing style as well.

As an older competitive gamer, I liked the part of this that describes how on injury or amputation the middle finger will quickly take over the index duties - I’ve noticed over the years that when my “trigger” finger on a controller is experiencing tendonitis and I have to rest it, that my middle finger performs just as adequately and I barely notice. This has always surprised me.

Makes me think of Tommy Caldwell, top-tier rock climber who created so many of the iconic routes in Yosemite Valley. Despite losing an index finger in his 20s.

As a competitive bowler, the index finger is not used at all. The middle and ring fingers are inserted into the finger holes. I think it has to do with the connection to forearm muscles as described in the paper - the middle and ring fingers provide the most grip strength which is required to provide torque to the ball.

The hammer example made me remember something. I did some Aikido long ago, and the instructor spent quite a lot of time showing us how to grip things like sticks. As I remember it, instead of the instinctive way of just forming a fist around it, we should instead start from the little finger, wrapping the fingers one by one, but letting the index finger actually rest more along the handle than wrapping it. That way, supposedly, the grip is just as good, but more flexible and the index finger can help with control.

I could relate to the claims in the article: for the last 6 months I've had soreness and pain in my left index fingertip that has confounded the doctors I've seen about it, and all that's helped is to avoid using it. Perhaps someone here has experienced something similar?

When typing I feel pain initially at the fingertip where nail meets skin, which worsens and radiates around to the middle finger side of the fingernail after more use. Even when typing without using the index finger, stretching the finger to keep it away from the keyboard induces some pain after a while. If I cut the nail very short, I think I notice some tenderness and loss of sensation in a spot near the middle of the skin just under the nail edge.

I think the pain developed over time while heavily using a split mechanical keyboard (kinesis freestyle edge) with poor typing technique and putting repeated pressure on the tip and side of the finger, but it has not gone away after switching to something more comfortable (kinesis 360). I don't remember any significant injury happening.

The only visual sign is that the skin seems strongly attached to the nail near its edge, there is minimal free edge compared to what my other fingernails (which are all short) have. Actually that is somewhat true of the other index finger, but to a much lesser extent. There is nothing apparently abnormal about the skin under the nail but perhaps any issue isn't visible.

Interestingly, the pain seems worse when my hands are warmer.

X-rays/MRI/ultrasound scans showed nothing abnormal apparently. All my internet searching for an explanation has yielded nothing, hence writing this comment to see if anyone can help.

All those cartoons had it right all along: four fingers per hand is more than enough!

"When you make the patient your enthusiastic ally in reconstructive surgery, you can get him to fly with six or eight small feathers."

That is just brilliant. The article was an object lesson in clarity and humanity.

That was unexpectedly hilarious, wow.

Someday my arthritis will get me beaten to a pulp by a gang member or, more likely, a cop. I seem to get itches on my face a lot and scratching with my index finger hurts too much. I use my middle finger instead. I try to be situationally aware but it’s only going to take one lapse…

When I was teaching my wife how to play shooters I had to study how I was using my left hand on the keyboard.

I noticed that the WASD placement excluded the middle finger. Once you lift it up and keep it hovering, the pinky hitting A, the ring hitting W and S and the index hitting D, it's very easy to dance them.

I find the middle finger much less responsive than other fingers due to tendon connections (it is much stronger though as another user noted for bowling)

I am left handed but I do use the PC like a "normal" person. She is right handed and she played noticeably better once doing this.

The other major thing was to avoid cross talk between hands. Full aiming related things on the right, full movement related things on the left. (grenades, aimed abilities, etc. on mouse keys)

Related note: in paintball, you feather the trigger with the index and middle finger as they are the fastest. The pinky is also fast but the ring is so slow that doesn't work. Middle and ring is slow for the same reason.

TLDR: ring is your muscle finger, other fingers are more agile.

I mean if the middle finger is that versatile and important it's great that we have less important fingers providing a buffer on both sides of it.

Ablative fingering, what an innovation.

Quite a jarring and informative article. I had no clue how finicky muscles are and bad amputation may result net negative results to the patient.

Well it worked for Roland Deschain...

Hilariously, I anecdotally also can relate to this. I'm a competitive powerlifter and the calluses on my hands and fingers are most pronounced on the middle, ring, and pinky - with very little on the index.

Great article. Unfortunately the author overlooked a critical use case for the index finger: the Vulcan salute.

This article is giving Kurt Vonnegut and I love it.

"In spite of its singular ability of precision, it is not difficult to feel ashamed of the index finger."

"To me, index fingers portray a hideous personality reflecting conceit and pantywaist attitudes. In essence, they are smart-ass digits we can often do without. If I had to lose a finger and had my choice, I would choose first my nondominant hand index ray and next the other index. I find index digits easy to hate and sometimes hard to love."

LOL

Probably most experienced drumkit players don't generally use their index fingers either (except when playing the ride cymbal).

Worth the read.

I am so worried that we as a society have lost the ability to write well, and risk losing the ability to recognize and appreciate good writing. Rote professional written communication skills are changing and diminishing. The written word is generally seen to be a burden. Anyways, bittersweet thoughts from a really funny article.

I play string bass. Many suggest you focus your attention through the thumb of your left hand as you practice.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-our-team-over...

It’s really important, ok?

(1980)

Whoever wrote this was creating satire and I don’t even know if they realize it.

I'm rather ambivalent about the index finger. The middle finger, however...