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magidjust had my first official appointment with the physical therapist. (previously, i'd gotten splints made, and some preliminary exercises.)
the totally cool part for me, the math geek, was how she measured range of motion in both hands (for comparison purposes), using 2 clear pieces of plastc grommetted to a clear circular plastic protractor. i may have been her first patient who was so interested in this... there was also a cool tool for measuring the circumference of fingers at different points (precision to the nearest eight of an inch). lots of notation, a whole page of numbers giving a description of where i am (left hand) and where i'm trying to be (right hand).
she also asked about pain, and was surprised when i said there wasn't any. i think i have different perceptions of pain, somehow. she kept persisting, and i finally agreed that when i was trying very hard to make a fist, maybe a 1 on a 0 to 10 range. really, things are stiff. very stiff, but not very painful.
she asked for the things that were most frustrating me not being able to do them. somehow i couldn't seem to remember much besides chopping veggies and driving until later in the appt.
now i have 5 new exercises to do 4x/day, things to work on the axes of motion i have trouble with. so i try to make a fist, to lay my hand flat on a table, to bend my hand forward from the wrist, and bend the fingers forward from the bottom joint. oh, an put my hand as flat as possible, then pull the fingers as close as possible, then spread them as far apart as possible.
i don't have to wear the splint! she recommends it when i'm out, or traveling, or sleeping, but it's more of a reminder (to me and others) to be careful around it. so, no new splint with red and yellow velcro...
maybe i should make a small sculpture with the 2 splints, the pins, and the bottles the prescriptions came in, enhanced with some gauze or something, put in one of my x-rays if i can get it, call it "healing"...
nah, not quite my style.
the totally cool part for me, the math geek, was how she measured range of motion in both hands (for comparison purposes), using 2 clear pieces of plastc grommetted to a clear circular plastic protractor. i may have been her first patient who was so interested in this... there was also a cool tool for measuring the circumference of fingers at different points (precision to the nearest eight of an inch). lots of notation, a whole page of numbers giving a description of where i am (left hand) and where i'm trying to be (right hand).
she also asked about pain, and was surprised when i said there wasn't any. i think i have different perceptions of pain, somehow. she kept persisting, and i finally agreed that when i was trying very hard to make a fist, maybe a 1 on a 0 to 10 range. really, things are stiff. very stiff, but not very painful.
she asked for the things that were most frustrating me not being able to do them. somehow i couldn't seem to remember much besides chopping veggies and driving until later in the appt.
now i have 5 new exercises to do 4x/day, things to work on the axes of motion i have trouble with. so i try to make a fist, to lay my hand flat on a table, to bend my hand forward from the wrist, and bend the fingers forward from the bottom joint. oh, an put my hand as flat as possible, then pull the fingers as close as possible, then spread them as far apart as possible.
i don't have to wear the splint! she recommends it when i'm out, or traveling, or sleeping, but it's more of a reminder (to me and others) to be careful around it. so, no new splint with red and yellow velcro...
maybe i should make a small sculpture with the 2 splints, the pins, and the bottles the prescriptions came in, enhanced with some gauze or something, put in one of my x-rays if i can get it, call it "healing"...
nah, not quite my style.