He may not be standing down for another couple of weeks but Alex Salmond has already lost his grip.
As his deputy Nicola Sturgeon waits in the wings to take over the top job, the current First Minister has had to give up something vital to any polished politician the ability to shake hands.
The SNP leader is nursing an injury which means he must forgo the traditional greeting, despite treatment from Europe’s Ryder Cup physiotherapists.
Mr Salmond greeted so many people during the course of the referendum campaign he was left with a searing pain in his right arm.
Now he is wearing a temporary cast around his wrist to prevent further injury even though it is further up the limb which actually needs the rest.
“It’s my elbow which is in pain,” Mr Salmond told The Courier. “It flared up during the referendum campaign because I had to shake so many hands.
“When I was at Gleneagles I saw the European Ryder Cup team’s medical staff our golfers were all so fit they had the time and they gave me all sorts of treatment to help it.
“They said to me I had to rest it for two months, absolutely no hand-shaking, but because it wasn’t sore I just carried on.
“It’s been agony since then, though. This (the cast) is more to show I can’t shake hands just now than to support my wrist.”
Despite the number of photos he snapped on camera phones with supporters during the campaign, Mr Salmond insisted the constant clicking of “selfies” was nothing to do with his ailment.
Mr Salmond isn’t the only high-profile politician to suffer a public injury.
Former US president George W Bush fainted and fell from a sofa after choking on a pretzel, leaving him bruised and battered, in 2002.
During the G8 summit in 2005, Mr Bush collided with a police officer during a bike ride within the grounds of Gleneagles Hotel.
His successor Barack Obama has kept up the tradition of hitting the headlines after suffering minor injuries.
In November 2010, he had to get 12 stitches in his lip when he was elbowed in the mouth during a game of basketball.
Australia local government minister Shane Rattenbury was involved in a skirmish with a kangaroo last May.
He bumped into it during his morning run and was left with deep cuts on his legs after the animal jumped on him as it tried to flee.