When it comes to many sports you hear the following phrases, ‘you need good hands’ or you need ‘good hand-eye co-ordination.’ Well it turns out that your hands can actually tell a great deal about you.
it was interesting to read a report which was produced five years ago comparing the length of individuals second digit and fourth digit; So their index finger and ring finger. This report claims that the length can determine much including athleticism.
Those who had smaller second digit to fourth digit ratios, which they found correlates with prenatal exposure to testosterone, these individuals it was reported “showed more verbal aggression behaviors than did the participants with higher ratios.” In addition, the male participants showed smaller second digit to fourth digit ratios and higher levels of verbal aggression than their female counterparts.
The lead author Allison Shaw, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo–State University of New York, stated that “Understanding the causes of verbal aggression, both biological and social, will allow therapists to have a greater understanding of how to work with these individuals.”
Previous research done in South Korea has also shown a link between the size of these two digits and “mental rotation ability, courtship behaviors, dominance, athletics, memory, and physical aggression.”
Testosterone is the natural steroid hormone that enhances athletic and fitness test performance. In general, people with smaller digit ratios are better athletes, researchers said.
Grant Tomkinson, a professor at the University of North Dakota in the USA was quoted as saying “Our study shows that boys with lower digit ratios have better hand-grip strength, irrespective of their age or body size.”
“There is some indirect evidence that this digit ratio of the length of the fingers, is determined during early foetal development by testosterone — the more testosterone the foetus produces, the longer the ring finger, so the smaller the digit ratio,” he said.
The findings from the University of North Dakota was in line with many of the others conducted and suggests that the digit ratio may predict performance in youth sports and athletic events requiring high strength.
Muscular strength is also an important indicator of good health, and those with lower digit ratios probably have better general health they reported.
A Dutch study in 2012 conducted with only females suggested that a low second digit to fourth digit ratio along with a long pinky finger are much more often found in the hands of ‘extroverts,’ while this combination is rarely seen in the hands of ‘introverts.
So will we witness coaches in sport taking more interest in players hands and what they could tell in terms of athleticism and whether the player is likely to be verbally aggressive and an introvert or extrovert?
Incredibly researchers believe the differences in the length of these fingers can also reveal the likelihood of a person being gay, and in the men’s case those with ring fingers that are shorter than their index fingers have been found to be significantly less prone to suffer from prostate cancer.
Interesting information but will this really have an impact on the sporting world and player selection?
