Ringing Forums

Two main pieces of advice (and this is a common complaint / feedback):
Try practicing grip and release with something rope size, dressing gown cord or similar, to get your hands used to it, repeatedly whilst watching tv or waiting for the kettle to boil
Try to grip less and have faith that the rope will stay where it needs to be, explain the mechanic that the rope ‘wants’ to move up and down in a straight line with natural rhythm from the wheel so you can work with it and then don’t need to actively, fiercely grip the rope

If it doesn’t feel better within a couple of weeks of trying both then it is worth seeing a doctor in case it really is a ‘tennis elbow’ type issue but often it is just that it’s something new and the ringer is gripping as though their life depended on it.

Thank you Lucy. The ringer has consulted her doctor, who was unable to offer advice except "rest". The ringer has exceptionally small hands and thin fingers - maybe that is relevant.

as Lucy says, a lot of ringers grip too hard, failing to relax their grip between strokes. I suggest explaining that during the period when the rope is slack between each stroke her grip should be completely relaxed, not gripping the rope at all but just cradling it gently. (It's the same action needed when raising, so the bell can pull more rope through the hands at the top of the stroke as needed.) You could demonstrate that by getting her to hold the rope loosely and then checking that you can pull it through her hands.
Many people also pull too hard, which increases the pressure they need when they do grip. You can assess that by holding a rope above her (stand on a box or chair if needed) and get her to reach up and apply the amount of pull she typically uses while ringing. Quite likely that will be far too much so get her to reduce it until it feels about right to you. Then move the rope up and down while she tries to follow it with no more force but not letting the rope go slack (is like when ringing).
Obviously if she is habitually gripping and/or pulling too hard/long it will need sustained effort to undo the habit.

Thank you John.
I have noticed that the ringer actually holds the sally far too gently and thus cannot pull it effectively. Although it is true she could be holding the tail end too hard.
It is hard for me to understand - is she just suffering the normal aches and pains that anyone may feel when taking up a new sport, or is she in serious debilitating pain that could cause a life-changing injury if she doesn't give up ringing immediately?
Has anybody any knowledge of medical conditions that could cause this problem? She did wonder about arthritis.

Ask your novice how much other manual work (yes - I mean with the hands) she does elsewhere. If she is accustomed to using hand operated tools and equipment (not electrically powered) e.g. in gardening, DIY, car maintenance, laundry or cooking, then her muscles will be used to gripping and releasing tools and equipment, firmly with the necessary strength. Now, with 'labour saving' devices fewer people build their manual strength and dexterity so they may well find ringing takes time to build the technique. Traditionally everyone used their muscles in every day tasks, but who now wrings by hand several double bed 100% cotton or linen sheets routinely on the weekly washday? As she has already consulted her Dr, hopefully she has avoided the risk that something more serious may be amiss.

As a tip, she says her right hand is dominant, then advise her to develop consciously the use of her left hand to equal effect. Also check her rope hold - she may well be using her right hand predominantly, Many ringers use their left hand for the tail end through the palm and not just under the thumb so rely on the right hand almost entirely for the sally. This means the left hand is not gripping the sally fully especially with small hands or fatter sallies, consequently tiring her right hand.

I hadn't spotted the significance of it being mainly right hand, which could indeed suggest that she isn't using both hands effectively, with the right hand doing most of the work. But other things being equal I would expect gripping the thinner, harder tail end to cause more pain than the thicker, softer sally. However, there is more scope for an awkward grip at handstroke so obviously worth looking at.
Are there differences between the hands? One might expect the dominant hand to be used more for other things. Would that make it stronger and more resilient or is it already suffering strain from other causes that ringing, as an unfamiliar activity, exacerbates?

Just a passing though, is she keeping both hands together when pulling? If the hands are apart then probably only the right, upper, hand is actually doing any work.

Thank you all for your advice which I will pass on to the student and her main teacher. Reading through your comments, it occurs to me that maybe the lady's best solution would be to re-learn to ring in style of a left-handed person.

I'll be interested to hear what the experts say, but there are a couple of problems with left-handed ringing. First, when ringing up and ringing down the rope has a right-hand lay and will naturally form loops when passed from the right to the left hand. This is not co-incidence, sailors regularly coil ropes and the ropes are made to make this task easy. The other problem is that if the ropes fall next to each other, a left-handed ringer is likely to throw his rope out the other way, and there is the risk of entanglement or grasping the wrong rope.

"Tutors Handbook" CCCBR, ISBN 0-900271-36-1 p17
"The New Ringer's Book" CCCBR, ISBN 978-0-900271-93-9 p7
Coleman, Steve: "The Bellringer's Bedside Companion" Sue Coleman Publishing, ISBN 0-9523896-0-6 pp306-317

I also note Martin's comment immediately above. I find the reasons for right hand on top vs left hand on top fairly weak, so I always let my learners choose at the outset (I get them to put their hands up on a rope, without saying why, and see what comes naturally.) If they choose left hand on top, I then check whether RH on top feels wrong. If it does, I let them continue with LH on top, as I don't want them to have to un-learn their natural inclination, on top of learning bell handling. I fear that your lady might have real problems un-learning, and I don't think that's where I would start.

Thanks for comment.
Two of our band ring left-handed. You are right that the coils are not so easy, but they have worked out how to manage it.
Regarding the throw of the rope, it depends on the rope circle. I can ring either way round (as doubtless so can all of you) and sometimes I choose to ring left-handed in order to leave more space for the ringer next door.
I actually think everyone should learn to ring the opposite way round to their natural inclination. This is not just because I am perverse (although that is also true), but because I think it makes it easier to make your weaker hand do its fair share of the pulling if your dominant hand is lower and encumbered with the tail end

Thanks Richard.
Thinking about it, I wonder if learning to ring BOTH ways round might actually be quite a good exercise for many ringers. Especially if someone has got stuck with a pattern of incorrect handling which is now ingrained too deeply for them to change. Maybe changing the handedness of their ringing would enable them to rid themselves of that fault.
Like - when I learnt to ride as a child we used to do mild gymnastics ("round the world", "scissors", etc) on horseback, in order to make ourselves more comfortable and relaxed, obtain a deep seat, etc. So if you become confident swapping the grip from hand to hand, it could make you less likely to hang on with a death-like grip. Which is where we started!

yes, ringing other handed is a useful exercise. So is ringing one handed. As well as enhancing general dexterity it gives confidence that you can carry on if one hand 'has to do something else'. It also enables you to keep ringing if you get an injury to one arm or hand.

yes, I think there's an element of rationalising a preconception in some of the arguments that everyone should ting the standard way.
One interesting thing I've noticed when I ring opposite handed is the my hands occasionally collide with each othe on the rope. I think that's because the dominant hand has a orefetance for going farther (up and down) than the non dominant hand. That might just be habituation from normal ringing but it could equally well be inherent and/or acquired from everything else we do.

Hi all - just to note I'm interested in this topic as I've had a similar kind of issue for a number of years. I've been ringing for many years but have developed an issue where my left hand is slow to come off the sally at hand stroke (or at least it doesn't feel comfortable). I know it's to do with gripping too hard with my left hand on the tail end, and that strong level of grip is what I've ended doing on the sally too. So I've ended up ringing with just the right hand on the sally, which is not a real solution as my left hand just stays in one position in the tail end and I probably end up gripping the tail end even harder.

From reading the replies here, I think the solution for me to is to learn to ring like a left-handed person (with tail end in the right. Thanks all

Definitely worth trying as an exercise to give your hands a different viewpoint.