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I had an accident with an electric drill . It twisted my left thumb and the hand could not grip a door handle for a month .
Before the accident I could not reach an octave with the left hand. The right was fine. No problem .
After the hand had rested and recovered I noticed the reach was much greater . It reached an extra inch without me trying . Now it can reach an extra note above the octave .
Is this familiar information with piano players ? When I had tried stretching before the accident I just ended up with sore fingers .It was a happy result from the accident and maybe hands work better with a months holiday .

I have NEVER heard of that! What a serendipitous side effect! I had surgery on my right thumb and I went through so much physical therapy because I was TERRIFIED of losing mobility in the joint and losing dexterity and/or reach. Fortunately I did not lose anything. But I definitely didn't GAIN anything!

I'm sorry you hurt yourself but I guess...congratulations too?

I guess the electric drill was created too late for Robert Schumann....

Wow.

Gives a whole new meaning to piano drills...

Please tell us your doctor's medical explanation for why this occurred. What changed?

You must have stretched or torn a ligament.

I guess here must go some warning like, don't try this at home, the trick was performed by a professional.

I just told my dear friend, a professional pianist who struggles for an octave, that I’m buying her a drill for Christmas.

🤣

I work with a lot of power tools and this is one of my great fears, right behind losing an eye. Were you wearing gloves that got tangled in the bit?

Guess you might call the accident a blessing in disguise...

My brother is a corneal surgeon and he's told me there are many ways of losing eyes and that power tools barely make the grade. Losing an eye from falling is a lot more common.

At one point, I worked weekends building furniture for myself in a professional cabinet maker’s shop. Why he let me work, alone, I do not know, I guess he trusted me. I dealt with a lot of spinning blades, in table saws, band saws, jointers, and planers. Drills were the least of my worries, although they can be dangerous. I wear glasses so I was not worried about losing an eye. I worried most about losing a finger. Cabinet makers are often missing a finger or two.

I’m happy to say that I’ve left that all behind me now.

It's very easy to trim off a finger with a table saw. Even with a circular saw, I remain vigilant at all times.

Roger that. I use both on a regular basis and there are no 2nd chances.

I have a buddy who lost an eye using a pneumatic impact wrench. It was a freak accident but it's not something I'll ever forget. My kids know that if I catch them using power tools without polycarbonate safety glasses they will getting a boot to the posterior. It's just one of my quirks, I guess. I used to play a lot of paintball and I've seen a lot of people take foolish risks in that hobby.

Circular saws are evil, table saws are far more civilized. It is far safer to push the wood into the blade than it is to push the blade into the wood. The culprit is kickback. In the shop where I worked, the guy who ran the service elevator had messed up his leg with a circular saw and walked around with a permanent limp. He did it on a job site. All the guys tied the blade guards up on their circular saws because they got in the way. Well, his kicked back and messed up his right leg.

If I were still in the game, all of my saws would have SawStop, which stops the blade when it detects that the current is not zero, meaning, there is a finger touching the blade. It is truly amazing technology.

You can reach, but can you play? How is the strength and dexterity?

Let`s describe the drill first . Quite a chunky thing with SDS holding the bit .I use it to break up concrete sometimes . The left hand was holding the extra handle for stability .The hole in the wall was for the sink waste pipe. The bit was a tubular cutter. So the bit is turning clockwise. When it jammed , the drill went in the reverse direction. The handle scooped the thumb with it for just over half a turn before the switch released. So the thumb was pulled left which opens the hand . Afterward I was just glad it had settled down . I never asked a doctor about it .
There is no weakness in the hand now . I was surprised to notice the wider reach long after the hand was healed . It was not something I had checked at all .
I had another stranger accident helping at my daughter`s house some time ago . The builders had left a lot of grit inside the drainpipe. Just a one storey section. Just to clear it I lifted the pipe to get it clear. The right arm above and left hand down.As the pipe moved I realised it was full of water and in that instant the top pivotted over my shoulder twisting the arm backwards . It was amazingly fast and I still remember the pain . That made me howl . I must be made of rubber .
Did you notice I mixed up past and present tenses just like a football commentator .I have absorbed a bad habit .