Now left-dominant

As you know, I'm pretty much right-handed (with hints of amidextrousness), but had my right arm in a sling.

I've been out of my sling since Monday, and spent most of the weekend preceding out of the sling as well -- so, this is essentially my seventh day sling-less.


Curiously, my five weeks in a sling have made me left-hand dominant. Although I still instinctively use my right hand for writing, scissors, and knife work in the kitchen, everything else is reflexively left-handed: scratching my nose, opening doors, turning on faucets, brushing my teeth...

Since abandoning my sling, I've returned my cell phone "belt pouch" to my right hip -- which means I now take the phone out of the pouch, hold in in my right hand, and use my left hand to text.

Likewise, I've returned my public transportation "swipe card" to my right pocket: when I get to the train station I take it out with my right hand, hand it to my left, "swipe" with my left, then hand it back to my right hand to put it away.

When I get jugs of milk or juice out of the 'fridge -- if the jug is on the left, I'll pour with my left; if the jug is on the right, I'll pour with my right.

Even with writing, I've experienced a partial shift to my left hand: I tend to underline phrases in magazines and take note of the page number. Since removing the sling, about one-third of the time I've used my left hand for underlining and noting page numbers (i.e. writing the number on the magazine cover). Written notes (actual words), however, tend to be done with my right hand.


I'm curious to see how long -- if ever -- this behavior persists. It's probably self-reinforcing: the more times I do a task with my left hand, the more "normal" it seems to my system.


--GG