While thinking about some emergency situations something crossed my mind:<br><br>Doug Ritter does mention the use and advantage of "one-handed tools" (knife, firestarter, ...).<br>However, I was thinking: Most people are "single-handed" (right- OR left-handed), little people are "two-handed" (right- AND left-handed). <br>If they would find themselves in an emergency situation with their "main" hand/arm (seriously) injured (or even a broken thumb or indexfinger), most people would have the greatest trouble doing even the most simple emergency tasks.<br><br>An extra problem could be caused by the one-handed tools that are made for the "wrong hand" e.g. Is it possible to open and close Doug's right-handed "Chris Reeves sebenza" with your left hand? (By the way, I truely love that Sebenza. I'd love to own one myself too but they are quite expensive.) In this situation, imho the best tools would be the "one-handed" ones that can be used with both right and left hand.<br><br>When testing gear or "training" techniques, I suggest trying them first with both hands, afterwards with only the "main/good" hand (with e.g. the other one tied to you belt)<br>an finally with the "bad" hand. I also suggest that every one should start "training" their "bad" hand even in daily life. <br><br>When an emergency should occur this "two-handedness" could be a great asset and even a life-saver.<br><br>tranx

Oops something seems to have gone wrong with the title of my post. (I used "" in it)

When you learn to play piano, you have to be agile with both hands. Teachers recommend doing everyday things with your non-dominant hand, like brushing teeth, opening doors, eating, holding the soap, and driving (be careful). If you do a lot of the little stuff, you will eventually build up more dexterity without even knowing it. (Good for 32nd note runs or building a fire!)

I was VERY right-handed. I work as a computer programmer, and one day I felt deep throbbing pains stabbing their way from my hand all the way to mid-forearm. These pains were so bad, I immediately began using my mouse left-handed. I began using my left hand as much as possible, and the pain in my right arm went away. I eventually switched to a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite. The keyboard that curves. When I went back to using my mouse right-handed, the pain did not return. The curved keyboard did the trick. I am not using my left hand as much as I was, but it was gratifying to learn I could learn to use it more often if I wanted to.

My former jobs have often required me to move around between various laptops and a host of PC desktops & Sun workstations (which usually use the proprietary Sun keyboard). I often was working at different computers each day. Add to this the times I often help family or friends with their computers, or do projects/training/presentations/whatever on other people's computers, and I just haven't had the option of choosing one particular keyboard & solely using it.<br>When touch typing, the work is split more or less evenly between my hands, so neither side takes the lions' share of the load. But much of computer work is not touch typing. Small, single button strokes or short strings add up to much of the bulk of my typing, and typically just gets done with my dominant hand, along with every time I hit the Enter button. This loads the work more onto that side, while my off hand just rests. Add mousing with my dominant hand to that situation, and the work load is definitely unbalanced.<br>Twice during my career with computers, I have developed pain, starting minor and growing to severe, shooting up my dominant arm. Each time, I realized, I could even out the uneven load on my dominant hand if I merely switched my mousing to my non-dominant hand. Each time, the pain receded and slowly disappeared.<br>I only had to learn the lesson twice for it to stick: I have, since then, always moused with my off hand. As I move around among and between different types of computers with different types of keyboards, I can still get the benefit of splitting the work load more or less evenly between hands just by moving the mouse/ball/whatever & pad from one side to the other, or just making myself use my left fingers on the trackball/touchpad/whatever. It sets me free to use whatever keyboard is available, and still feel confident I am staying healthy.<br>I often tell people this, but I know of no other person who has adopted this practice. I guess they don't feel the pain I did. I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be doing it otherwise, myself. In only one case do I know that the person still has ongoing problems with pain & still does all the extra work with his same hand anyway. I guess it's just too weird to him to consider mousing left-handed.