“Hello, it’s so good to meet you.” You extend your hand. You may be doing this several times in a day. A handshake reveals your personality, whether you are confident, assertive or timid. The upkeep of your hands will reveal whether you are a neat and tidy person. Also, the lines on your palm can reveal your future according to the astrologers. But most importantly, researchers have now come up with a new observation. Your hands leave a trail of red-hot health clues. They can reveal mental as well as physical health; from skin rashes and shakiness of your hands, to the shape of your fingers and the state of your fingernails.

As reported by BBC News, General practitioner Dr Chris Britt from UK knew something was wrong when he shook hands with Mark Gurrieri, 36, from Loughton, Essex, UK, as he felt Gurrieri’s large, spongy feeling hand. Rightly so because when Gurrieri underwent tests, he was diagnosed with acromegaly, which results because of a tumour in the pituitary gland in the brain. The condition causes the secretion of excessive growth hormone and has serious effects if left undiagnosed. 

Hands can tell all

Says Dr Navin Davda, consultant physician at the Jupiter Hospital, Thane and Professor of Medicine at Dr D Y Patil Medical College, Navi Mumbai, “It is true that you can extract a lot of information from a handshake. For instance, a strong grip; not willing to let go may be a sign of myotonia, a muscular disorder. Shaky hands suggest a nervous personality, Parkinsonism or even ataxia, a problem with balance. Warm sweaty palms indicate thyrotoxicosis; thyroid problem, cold sweaty palms reveal anxiety. But one must remember that only doctors may be able to diagnose these problems through a handshake”.

According to a study from Alabama, USA, reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, a handshake reveals personality traits and can predict specific behaviours. A firm handshake was related positively to extroversion and emotional expressiveness and negatively to shyness and neuroticism. A firm handshake was also positively related to openness to experience, but only for women.

Age-old technique

Five thousand years ago using pulse as a form of diagnosis was created and used in Ayurveda Medicine. The doctor would lift up your wrist, check your pulse and look at your tongue to investigate your health status. The ancient Yellow Emperor’s Medicine Book also has mentioned about pulse diagnosis in Chinese Medicine. If you practice yin and yang, you can get a lot of information about the person merely by a handshake. The information comes from feeling the texture of the palm and from the handgrip.

Handshake diagnosis

·         Osteoarthritis – William Heberden, an English physician from the Eighteenth century recognised the ‘Heberden’s’ nodes; hard bony lumps around the joints of the fingers, particularly the joint nearest the fingertips as a sign of osteoarthritis

·         Alcohol withdrawal or Parkinsonism can be identified from hand tremors. James Parkinson in 1817 documented the symptoms

·         You may lie that you are not smoking but your tobacco-stained yellow-brown fingers can betray you by letting out your secret

·         Palmar erythema can inflict the skin of your palms causing redness, especially the side where your little finger is; a classic sign of liver disease. Spider naevi; a capillary with several fine blood vessels running out of it on the palm, is a sign of liver disease

·         Warm, moist, sweaty palms suggest stress, tension, nervousness and may be thyroid problems

·         A thickening of the tissues in the palm of the hand slowly causes some of the fingers to bend over into the palm, forming a sort of claw. This is medically termed as Dupytren's contracture. It typically affects the ring finger first. More common in people with cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, epilepsy and alcohol dependence

·         Fatty knuckles that show when you make a fist are actually cholesterol deposits

·         Serious lung disease, liver cirrhosis or inflammatory bowel disease can cause ‘clubbing’ in the finger and toe tips, which look swollen with soft tissue

Hands can give away your age

Appearance of hands can reveal your age, reports a study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). According to the study, most people can accurately tell a person’s age by viewing only their hands. The good news, however, is that there are umpteen number of medical skincare procedures to reduce age-related changes. 

Nails tell a tale

Healthy fingernails have a healthy pink colour having crescents at the bases. Ideally, they do not show any lines or marks, should not be brittle or abnormally thin. Any change in the size, shape and colour of the nails can help suggest a potential health problem.

Says Dr Nina Madnani, consultant dermatologist at the Hinduja hospital, Mumbai, “Nails often give us clues to diseases happening inside our system; hence examination of nails forms an essential part of a good medical examination. For instance, pale nails indicate anaemia, blue nails show high levels of carbon monoxide in blood (methemoglobinmia), white nails point to kidney disease and low albumin levels and yellow nails can be a sign of obstruction of lymphatics, nicotine staining, food staining or nail varnish”.

“Flat spoon-shaped nails may be normal in little children”, says Dr Madnani. “But can be a symptom of anaemia in adults. Thick curved nails suggest respiratory obstruction or disease, hyperparathyroidism, while thick discoloured nails reveal fungal infection or psoriasis. White spots suggest injury to nail root (not indicative of calcium deficiency)”, she adds.

In addition, squared fingernails suggest hormonal disorders. Flat and thin ones can be a symptom of vitamin B-12 deficiency. Flat fingernails may reveal a lack of iron or protein. Vitamin C deficiency can cause red spots on fingernails. Diabetes, jaundice, a symptom of hepatitis may cause yellowing of fingernails. Stress too can discolour your nails. Brownish fingernails may suggest a kidney problem.

Not only can nails tell you about your present health but also about your past health. For instance, Horizontal lines and depressions, medically termed as Beau’s lines can tell you a lot about your past trauma or illness. White spots or white lines on the nail suggest a random injury to the nail bed and there is nothing to worry about, say experts. 

Photo: Robert Owen-Wahl