WHY DO I KEEP DROPPING THINGS?

It might be that you find yourself dropping things without, seemingly, any reason. The objects you are dropping might not even be heavy or in any way difficult to handle: You pull a fork out of the drawer and it mysteriously slips out of your hand, you can't seem to just hold onto that coffee mug.

Well, the possibilities for why you keep dropping things runs the gamut from the relatively benign to indications of a serious, even degenerative, condition. Of course, it won't help to assume the worst. It's better to consider the possibilities, and so be armed with some knowledge, and proceed from there. It is best to consult a doctor to get down to what the underlying cause is for your dropping things, and to find out if medical treatment is necessary.

Stress, Anxiety and Fatigue

Like I said, the cause of the butterfingers could be relatively benign; meaning, at least partly, it could be within your control to deal with it effectively.

When you are dealing with a significant amount of stress, which is creating anxiety, you can be very distracted by it and the issues that are on your mind; this means it's likely you're not paying attention to what you're doing. Something as simple as holding onto a cup could be difficult. This means that you need to deal with the stress in some way. The best way, as far as I'm concerned, is to take time out and look at what it is you're having difficulty dealing with; just ignoring it will likely keep it there festering in your mind to continue to haunt you. Fact is, you probably need to deal with the issue or it wouldn't keep pestering you. It is something that can and needs to be dealt with, so you can handle it, or it is something you can't do anything about so worrying about it is futile. Or, it's really not a big deal. Whatever is the case, you will have to put your attention onto it to figure it out. It is distracting you and your mind keeps going back to it. There is a statement made by a philosopher named J. Krishnamurti that goes: "That which you understand, from that you are liberated."

There are a few other reasons why stress contributes to being clumsy with your hands. One reason is that you are likely pretty shaky; your hands are shaking and not steady enough to hold onto things; anxiety also causes delayed responses; any adjustments you might make to your grip to hold on to something are delayed too long because anxiety has taken over. Also, anxiety is a by-product of thinking too much. You can think about something so much that you can't even do it normally and naturally and sensibly.

Of course, you might be working too hard or not getting enough sleep. The body then wants to rest, not hold onto a pen or carry coffee to the table. If you are tired, you are also weaker, so it becomes more difficult to do anything physical, even something as basic as holding onto a small object. It's a good idea to listen to the body. If it needs rest, eventually it's going to have to take it if you won't give it.

Conditions and Disorders

Various conditions, especially degenerative ones that get worse over time, can weaken the hands and lead you to drop things. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease) are probably the most prominent conditions that can cause this kind of thing to happen. ALS is a progressive disease that slowly weakens all of the muscles in the body. Like MS, the early signs of the condition can be subtle; starting with something as basic as dropping things, because the muscles in the hands are getting weaker.

Both conditions are neurological ones that affect nerve signals to the brain and so affect motor skills. If your dropping things concerns you and you suspect one of these conditions might be the cause, you could consult a neurologist.

Arthritis which can affect the joints of the hand is a very painful and debilitating condition that could make it difficult for you to hold things adequately.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which involves the compression of nerves in the wrist due to overdone and repetitive movement, can cause numbness in the hand and cause you to drop things.

Fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by muscle pain generally throughout the body, can cause weakness in the wrist and hand which in turn can cause difficulty in keeping hold of things and therefore dropping them.

Cardiovascular problems, particularly having a stroke, can cause loss of motor skills and therefore might cause you to drop objects.

Other conditions that might cause you to drop things often:

• Peripheral Neuropathy, a neurological condition caused by Diabetes: One of its main symptoms is, actually, dropping things.
• Various forms of Encephalopathy (brain disorders) have been known to cause people to drop things.
• Attention Deficit Disorder - due to giving attention to the wrong things or not to what is happening, this condition can cause a person to drop things.
• Ehlers Danlos Syndrome - a condition that affects connective tissue, marked by loose joints. Those affected can become uncoordinated, bump into things and drop things.
• Compartment Syndrome - occurs when swelling, usually due to injury, in compartments of legs or arms prevents blood and oxygen and nutrients from getting to the area; the condition causes nerve damage and numbness and pain. Sufferers might not be able to control their grips well enough to hold objects.

There are almost countless neurological, muscular, auto-immune and brain disorders, and conditions that cause extreme pain, that could cause you to drop things often. I've listed some of the major ones in this section.

Source: http://hubpages.com/health/Why-Do-I-Keep-Dropping-Things