21 July 2019

Ableist

Julie Golob explaining how to hold a handgun.

She's never once had surgery for carpal tunnel or to have a badly dislocated thumb tacked back on.

Nor have countless other pistol instructors.

Thumbs forward isn't the strongest grip anymore if you've had these surgeries.

Worse, if you've had your thumb relocated, thumbs forward means twitch to the strong side as the sear breaks.  Ask me how I know.

I'd mentioned fighting with the M&P and getting the gun to group where I was pointing it.  It took a conversation with my doctor about it to figure out that I am now "deformed" and my right thumb is just tied into my index finger's flexors forever now.

She mentioned that it's also common for carpel tunnel people to get this problem once that ligament is "released".

We've got to hook our strong side thumb to basically pre-flex the twitch before moving our trigger finger.

Everything she writes in her article is true, and if you've avoided surgery, should work for you.  But if you have, and it isn't, try my way on top of her advice and see if you don't see some improvement.

UPDATE:

Crude approximation of what Ms Golob and many instructors are teaching (I can't do it correctly because broken-and-fixed thumb).


What I changed over to that fixed the twitch.


While it's not perfect, or stylish, it does overcome my injuries and their aftermath. 

5 comments:

  1. Could you share a picture of your modification of the grip? I'm having trouble picturing it, but I also had thumb surgery and this might be part of my problem. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will! I will edit this post in a couple hours when Marv gets here for lunch and can take the pictures.

      Delete
  2. The 'approved' hand-position is just the basic start position. Everyone has different hands and some people will have to modify, either for disabilities or for just hand size.

    My fingers are freakishly long compared to many others. To me, a 10mm handgun seems... small. And compacts disappear if I use a standard grip.

    It's what it is.

    I often take what the 'professionals' who 'know it all' with a grain of salt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I understand your point. But Julie is a world class shooter. And she should be the president of the NRA

      Delete
  3. If it works, it's not wrong. Period.

    ReplyDelete

You are a guest here when you comment. This is my soapbox, not yours. Be polite. Inappropriate comments will be deleted without mention. Amnesty period is expired.

Do not go off on a tangent, stay with the topic of the post. If I can't tell what your point is in the first couple of sentences I'm flushing it.

If you're trying to comment anonymously: Sign your work. Try this link for an explanation: https://mcthag.blogspot.com/2023/04/lots-of-new-readers.html

Anonymous comments must pass a higher bar than others. Repeat offenders must pass an even higher bar.

If you can't comprehend this, don't comment; because I'm going to moderate and mock you for wasting your time.