Musicians with Dystonia Bulletin Board

Although I am a pianist, I must agree that thumb position played an enormous role in my recovery.

Thumb takes away a large portion of the hand, thus by adjusting the thumb's position it would ease and quiet the rest of the hand.

In my case at the begining there was a definite FD action between my thumb and little finger. I couldn't keep the hand open. And thus the thumb placement became my first concern.
The very first excersice what I did was to change the placement of the thumb. I, too, found that by placing my thumb further away from the palm helped. On the piano it is to say to place the thumb on the 'side' of the palm, rather than under the palm, which tanslates in a very slightly lifting of the thumb and stretching it to the side. But not by much; just enough so that I could feel the joints. By doing so I first succeeded in isolating the thumb's involvement within the hand, i.e. making it independant, and this freed the other fingers for further work.