notes on an exoskeleton

[kaberett]

A couple of days ago I managed to mess up my morning routine sufficient that I didn't get as far as putting ring splints on 12.30ish, and oh but did my hands hurt.

I'm pretty sure that the hand therapist's attitude would be that I'm wearing them all the time, so of course my hands are getting weaker, so of course they hurt -- except: my hands are demonstrably getting stronger (I'm doing hand physio pretty much every day; I've just moved up to the third and last block of memory foam, which has the most resistance), and it's not the kind of pain that comes with muscle work or fatigue.

Which leaves me at: wow, did my hands just... hurt that much... all the time... and I thought it was normal...? And the conclusion: yeah, probably, that'd be why I started out wearing the splints experimentally and then just kept wearing them despite the fact that they chewed through wheelchair gloves, gave me a bunch of new callouses, did not (in the first instance) fit me terribly well, and were an all-round faff.

So! Yes! If you are bendy, and your hands routinely hurt, and you're sort of dubious about the point of ring splints: yes they're amazing, and please by all means do if we have even vaguely similarly-sized hands ask to try mine on if we're in the same place. Because, to reiterate: I can use chopsticks. I can use chopsticks more than once a week. I can type, and I can make pastry, and I can brush my hair, and my hands just hurt less. They're actually magic.

Comments

[kaberett]

seriously the other things I'm this effusive about are 1. proper wheelchairs and 2. amitriptyline. ACTUAL MAGIC.

[ewt]

Tell me about amitriptyline sometime...

[davidgillon]

1) Absolutely! I am proof of this.
2) Amitriptyline is the spawn of Satan - my reaction to it may have been slightly idiosyncratic, which just proves again that bendy drug reactions are reliably weird.

[ewt]

I am so glad they are helping.

I think what the hand therapists sometimes don't get is that even if I end up wearing exoskeleton for the rest of my life, they are a game-changer in terms of what I can actually do. The fact that using my hands more means they're also getting stronger is basically gravy.

[jelazakazone]

Hunh, wonder if there is something for bendy toes/feet. I just feel like I have other things that are more pressing, but gdi there is a ball of woe that someone needs to untangle and I don't have the spoons to do it.

[untonuggan]

the best i have found (so far) on my epic foot quest is Good Shoes. so far the best support for me it's Merrell hiking shoes in epic wideness, sometimes with the higher ankle support. which is oh so fun to put on and take off, so that is why i sometimes do other shoes. also brooks running shoes are not bad but are not quite as supportive. <3

Extremist splinter group

[hairyears]

I think that splints save bendy people from the downward spiral of pain, reduced use, weakened muscles, decreasing joint stabilisation, more pain, and a reinforced tendency to use the affected digits even less.

However there are medical professionals who do not believe in splints and, being medical professionals, their prejudices are impervious to evidence: doctors and physiotherapists consider themselves rational but, for the most part, their professional opinions are more of a taught belief system than an process of scientific logic.

Their actions against those who challenge the belief system can be quite shocking - as you well know from other aspects of your life.

Which is to say: you may need to find an excuse to seek advice from another physiotherapist.

Re: Extremist splinter group

[davidgillon]

That's a really good way of expressing the problem with medics and fixed beliefs, they're positively religious about some stuff, even when evidence to the contrary is waved in their faces.

Re: Extremist splinter group

[hairyears]

Don't get me started on medics and 'Lifestyle advice'

[sylvaine]

Heh. We've been having a similar experience around here - my girlfriend started bandaging her joints a week or so ago during a really busy work week and hasn't stopped since. I'm hoping we can get her to a doc who'll prescribe her a proper exoskeleton (read: braces) soon.

[silveradept]

A success of technology! Which will triumph in the face of just about every bootstraps narrative thrown at you by gatekeepers and others.

[vass]

WANT.

(And this reminded me to dig out my cervical collar, so thank you.)

[jesse_the_k]

A soothing recursion: human hands fashion non-human hands to help human hands.

[redsixwing]

Yay for the exoskeleton!

[damerell]

Hm. I think my hands are about twice the size of yours, alas. (I smashed up my left ring finger quite nicely in a prang last year and it's not been the same since).

[untonuggan]

some people always think they know your body better than you

[davidgillon]

This,it's absolutely my experience with ankle or knee braces, and collars. Hell, I wore a collar 24/7 for a decade and just stopped when the problem went away for other reasons. Weakened my arse!