It is the time of year to flip the switch…2018 to 2019 and bad habits switched off in favor of resolutions to improve. Given the time of year, I started to think about switches of handedness. Most people associate this topic with left-handers being influenced, even forced, to switch from the left to the right hand. The most frequently targeted behaviors for this switch are writing and eating.

When I first started my research on switching handedness in the 1980’s, I realized I could not ignore the possibility that some right-handed people may try a switch to the left hand. Until that time, few researchers had undertaken a systematic exploration of handedness switches from one side to the other. The few studies on this topic dealt with left-to-right switches only. I designed a study to explore both directions of handedness switching…toward the right but also toward the left. This latter form of handedness switching is usually ignored by researchers.

I found that around 9% of adults I studied reported attempts to switch their handedness from one side to the other. Parents and/or teachers usually apply the pressure on left-handers to switch to the right hand. These switch attempts start early in life either during the pre-school or early grade school years. Attempts to switch to the left hand have a different quality. Most people I studied started the leftward switch attempts on their own…usually as adults…out of an interest in becoming more proficient with the left hand.

Phil Mickelson

Leftward conversions that capture the most attention are those achieved by sports figures. For example, Phil Mickelson is a right-hander…he writes with his right hand when he marks his scorecard during tournaments. However, his nickname is Lefty based on his left-handed golf stance.

Raphael Nadal

Another famous converted left-hander is tennis star, Raphael Nadal. He is also a right-handed athlete who excels at left-handed play. One of the most decorated fencing champions of all time was Edoardo Mangiarotti (1919-2012). He was converted to left-handed play early in his career and went on to win 39 Olympic and World Champion medals as a right-hander fencing with the left hand.

Why would right-handers switch sides to play sports? Fencing and tennis are interactive sports that pit two players against each other in close competition. Both sports are populated by mostly right-handed players. Playing with the left hand is rare and offers a surprise advantage because right-handed opponents lack experience playing against left-handers. This gives left-handers a competitive edge in these sports. Although golf is not an interactive sport, the story goes that Phil Mickelson learned to play golf while he was a toddler by mirror-imaging his father’s right-handed golf posture. This early experience led to his adoption of a left-handed golf stance.

People who injure their preferred hand, whether it is the right or the left, must switch handedness if the injury is permanent. Research shows that both right- and left-handers, with enough practice, can learn to use their previously non-preferred hand. Left-handers are not better at these enforced switches than right-handers. Both handedness types can develop substantial proficiency with the previously non-preferred hand.