Update on the Releas and SaeboFlex Splints

Rebecca Dutton
Home After a Stroke

April 14, 2013

Doing 80 repetitions while wearing the Releas splint made my hand tighter.  I don't know if this would have happened if I hadn't stopped using the SaeboFlex splint for five months after I broke my forearm. SaeboFlex exercises reduce the flexor tone in my hand for 24 hours.  Now I use the Releas splint to help me during ADLs with thin objects, like inserting a return slip and check in an envelope.  After I close my hand on an envelope the Releas splint helps me let go.  My hand was completely flaccid for three months so the photo on the right feels like a small miracle.

Folding laundry one-handed is aggravating and takes forever.  As I straighten one section of a garment I drag another section out     of place. The photo on the left shows my hands just before I lift my right hemiplegic thumb so my sound hand can put the two halves of the fabric together.  When the two halves touch I press down with my hemiplegic thumb to hold them together. The problem is once I pinch it is hard to let go without help from the Releas.    

Wearing the Releas splint during functional activities changed the way I do SaeboFlex exercises.  I pick up a ball, transfer it to my hemiplegic hand, and set the ball on the table. To keep the ball from rolling off the table I place the ball in a glass custard cup.  Then my hemiplegic hand pick ups the ball and drop it in a crate.  I hope to graduate to an inverted peanut butter jar lid and then a towel as my ability to open my hand at arms length improves.

A stroke taught me my non-dominant hand needs to reach for objects on counters and hold them still.  The photo on the right is a sample of objects that require this skill able-bodied people take for granted.  The Releas splint taught me I need to stop thinking of exercise when I use the SaeboFlex splint.  I put out a bottle of soy sauce to help me remember the goal the SaeboFlex splint is preparing me for.

3 comments:

J.L. Murphey April 14, 2013 said... WTG on multi tasking your splints.

oc1dean April 17, 2013 said... Until I get my wrist spasticity to stop, holding things upright on the counter is an exercise in tipping things over. But this might get me back to therapy.

Rebecca Dutton April 20, 2013 said... An unexpected consequence of doing so many exercises where I turn my palm up and down is that my wrist is more relaxed. Probably not enough for someone to see a difference, but enough for me to feel less resistance at the end of wrist movement.

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      Update on the Releas and SaeboFlex Splints
      in Home After a Stroke