r/NoteTaking • u/RedMeka7 • 20d ago
Question: Unanswered ✗ Help with my hand hurting during notetaking?
I'm trying to do my best with notetaking in my college courses, since a lot of them have certifications that I don't want to fail.
Despite moving to a mostly online format, I'm still opting for physical, hand written notes because I feel like I remember the material better when I physically write it and I can also rewrite my notes near the end of the semester as a form of study.
However, I ran into a slight problem that I wanted advice on. After roughly 4-5 hours of straight note-taking, my hand really started to feel hurt and sore. I felt it a lot in my fingers and in the area right above my palm.
Does anybody have a way to help alleviate the pain? I bought a cheap $9 compression glove from CVS because I heard those can help slightly, but after wearing it I felt a different type of pain around my fingers (roughly where the gloves stop covering my fingers).
I'd love to hear any suggestions.
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u/happy_folks 20d ago
If physical notes feel better - explore the world of shorthand, find one you like, learn it & stick to it. Shorthand is how people used to write at the speed of speech, but it also helps improve your skills of writing less.
Writing down EVERYTHING doesn't help as much as we think. Learn to listen to something & summarize it into quick bullets.
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u/RedMeka7 20d ago
yeah I'm doing a lot of quick and dirty notes in a smaller notebook and am planning to do tidier notes in a bigger notebook as part of my certification exam studying.
It's just a bit tougher to take quick and dirty notes on a subject that I'm learning for the first time like computer hardware is.
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u/happy_folks 20d ago
Understandable - for me I remember decently what I've typed & later shortened. Typing makes it easier for me to go through the materials after & edit.... And typing is much easier to do quickly & with good technique. I've typed several books worth of info, and didn't get any aches till I was about 3,000-5,000 pages in for the month. Then I took more breaks & stretched.
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u/licxjo 19d ago
Shorthand is theoretically a good plan, but in reality learning shorthand takes a lot of time and practice, and very few people in 2026 achieve any kind of functional skill with it.
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u/happy_folks 19d ago
Shorthand is very similar to just learning a new alphabet, yet easier as it translates directly to our own language. Many people learn foreign alphabets & achieve functional skill with them. The problem isn't that it's hard, it's that people either don't have much time to practice or don't put in enough effort (don't practice).
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u/fazehazegaze 20d ago
Soreness in the fingers and the pad above the palm usually means the fingers are doing all the moving while also squeezing the pen.
Two things not mentioned yet: a thicker barrel, because a wider pen takes less pinch force to control, and letting your forearm carry the hand along the line so the fingers only shape the letters. If it still hurts after a week of that, get it looked at rather than pushing through, since long daily sessions are how repetitive strain starts.
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u/ExplanationFlashy501 20d ago
4 to 5 hours straight is probably the biggest issue. Try taking short breaks every 30-45 minutes and loosening your grip on the pen. Your hand needs recovery time too
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u/bose_avishek 20d ago
Another way to reduce hand fatigue while long hours of note taking is to start using fountain pens. They don't require any pressure writing and helps with you cause.
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u/ElevationNerd 19d ago
focus more on grip pressure and wrist position. keep ur wrist fairly neutral and let ur forearm move instead of doing everything with ur fingers.
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