Why doctors get bad handwriting?

BBC News

01-06-2025

Di writing of many healthcare professionals dey hard to understand sotay dem don even push plenti Brazilian states to pass law wey go require doctors to type prescriptions for computer or, at least, write am make e dey clear wit no abbreviations.
But wetin explain di shape of our handwriting? And why some pipo get a perfect handwriting, while odas own be like say dem no fit write wetin pesin fit read at all?
Anthropologist Monika Saini, professor for di Department of Social Sciences for India National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, tok say handwriting require coordination between di eyes and motor skills.
"I go tok say handwriting na one of di most complex skills wey human beings don develop" she tell di BBC World Service CrowdScience programme.
Saini main academic interest na to understand di factors wey make each of us unique for our handwriting.
"Writing depend on utensils and our hands. And wen we tink of hands, we dey tok about somtin wey dey veri delicate, made up of 27 bones, wey dey controlled by more dan 40 muscles, most of dem dey for di arm and dey connected to di fingers by a complex network of tendons", she explain.
Dis mean say our handwriting dey partly influenced by our anatomy and di genetic characteristics we inherit from our parents.
In oda words: your height, di way you sidon, di angle of your notebook or paper, di firmness of your hand, weda you dey right- or left-handed... All dis dey influence di shape of di letters and words we dey produce.
But small cultural influence dey wey dem no fit ignored. Abi na for house, for early childhood, wey we dey learn to hold pencil or pen, wit di help of our elders.
Di way dem use dis utensils, dem dey pass am on wen di pikin take im first strokes wit pencil.
Den school kon join - and a new wave of influence from teachers and classmates enta di mata.
As di years go by, our writing go kontinu to change. One of di reason na becos, afta years of training and learning, many of us start to write less on a daily basis.
And lack of habit, combined wit di rush of evriday life, fit make us less attentive to di way we write letters, syllables, words, sentences, paragraphs...
We no fit also ignore di role of new technologies, wey dey make us type more dan we write wit hand.
As part of one of her research projects, Ms Saini bin wan get beta understanding of di most important factors for pesin handwriting.
To do am, she prepare a simple text on climate change and ask a group of volunteers to copy di sentences and make dem use di writing style wey dem sabi well-well.
Afta dem collect di papers, di anthropologist fit assess elements like di size of di letters, shape of each symbol, di space between words or di pesin ability to follow straight lines in paragraphs.
Using image recognition programmes, e dey possible to compare di writing wit di model wey i tok about bifor " di researcher explain. Wen a parent teach dia pikin to write, e dey highly likely say we go find similarities between di two scripts.
But pesin handwriting dey also influenced by di time dem bin spend for school or by di style of a particular teacher."
Di brain during writing
Neuroscientist Marieke Longcamp, from di University of Aix-Marseille for France, dey studying how we take sabi how to write.
To do am, she use magnetic resonance imaging machines, wey dey allow pesin brain to be view in real time as dem dey perform certain activities.
For one of di study, dem give di volunteers tablet (writing material) wey fit record dia writing movements while dem dey examine dem.
Ms Longcamp report say e dey possible to observe di activation of different parts of di brain, wey dey work togeda to make di complex act of writing possible.
Regions like di premotor cortex, primary motor cortex and parietal cortex dey involved for di planning and control of hand gestures," she tells CrowdScience.
Structures wey dey for di base of di brain, like di frontal gyrus, wey dey involved in certain aspects of language, and di fusiform gyrus, wey dey process written language dey influence writing."
'Anoda fundamental structure na di cerebellum, wey dey coordinate movements and corrects our gestures', Marieke Longcamp add.
Di neuroscientist point out say writing depend essentially on two senses: vision and proprioception.
"Proprioception dey takes into account information from di muscles, di skin and di whole body. All dis dey encoded wen we write", she explain.
How writing influence learning?
For dis context, e dey curious to see how di development of technology fit influence di way we understand information.
For many centuries, good old-fashioned writing na di only way to take notes, study, memorise and learn different tins.
But dis don change radically in recent years wit di arrival of computers, tablets and smartphones.
Today, many young pipo dey learning to write wit keys and screens, instead of pencil, pen and paper.
Dis transition get any impact on learning?
Professor of psychology and neuroscience Karin Harman James, from Indiana University for di United States, dey seek to answer dis question.
She dey study how our hands, and di way we hold and manipulate objects, influence brain development and di way we learn.
According to dis specialist, difference dey in terms of brain function between to look a letter or words and to uss di body motor systems to interact wit dis pieces of written information.
'I bin want to understand how di interaction of objects wit our hands dey enable us to activate di brain motor systems', she explain to CrowdScience.
For one study, Ms James bin recruit four-year-old wey no sabi how to write.
For di laboratory, dem bin teach dis young volunteers one of three tins: how to complete strokes to form a letter, how to type a letter and how to write a letter.
Wen dem complete di first part of di activity, dem go do MRI scan for dem.
"We bin show di children different letters while we bin dey scan dia brains. E reach one point, all dem need to do na to look di letters wey dem bin learn to make for di laboratory", di neuroscientist describe.
"We observe say di children wey bin learn di letters by hand show brain activation for di areas wey dey linked to dis skills. No be so e be for di oda two groups, wey complete di strokes or type am", she compare dem.
But di relationship between writing and learning no stop for dere.
Ms James bin also assess students.
Dia task na to attend a lecture for subject wey dem no sabi anytin about. Dem kon fill one questionnaire on how well dem bin take taken note of wetin di teacher bin teach dem.
Di next day, all di volunteers bin take di test based on di content wey dem don teach dem.
'We bin compare di results of students wey bin take notes by hand, and wit computer or on tablet', she explain.
Di neuroscientist explain say na common practice for American universities for lecturers to share slides wit students.
And some of dem don get di habit of opening dis file on tablets and taking notes by hand, using digital pens, for di slides demsefs.
'For our work, di students wey bin use di tablet to write for di screen get beta results for di tests', di professor of psychology and neuroscience explains.
"We fit explainam by di fact say di students no only get di original material, for di slides, but dem fit also write dia own notes by hand.
But writing wit pen and paper also prove beneficial. Di volunteers wey bin use dis method bin get beta results pass di pipo wey type dia notes for computer", Karin Harman James add.
In oda words, according to di latest available data, if you really want to learn somtin, di best tin to do na to write by hand, weda on paper or tablet.
You fit improve your writing?
But all dis debate bring us back to di discussion for di beginning of di article: Pipo wey dey write fit write beta so day pesin fit read am to understand and learn?
As part of di CrowdScience programme, Cherrell Avery, one handwriting trainer for London (UK), bin give some advice wey fit prove useful.
Her first piece of advice na to 'go slowly'. We dey write too fast and we no dey pay attention to di shape of letters and words.
Ms Avery also add say di need to understand each pesin style, including di best writing utensil, na how to hold di pen/pencil, di right posture and di type of paper, among oda factors.
For her opinion, e dey possible to improve your handwriting through exercise.
'Of course, one single training session no go reach to make significant changes,' she tok.
But wit a little insistence, e dey possible to create a "muscle memory" wey dey encourage a new writing style.
"At first, na a conscious effort. But little by little, e go become a habit and you no go even think about dis new way of writing", Cherrell Avery tok.
Finally, Ms Avery say writing dey important to us, evritime becos e represent an 'extension of our personality'. "E be like say we dey leave a bit of oursef for di page".