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| Rebecca Dutton Home After a Stroke |
My post on finger exercises is a perfect example of why I can't be my own therapist. When I'm struggling with an object I don't have one brain cell left free to analyze what my body is doing. One advantage of being an OT is that I instantly understand what my OT is telling me. I thought the muscle that bends the joint closest to my thumbnail was the bad boy. My OT helped me understand that my real problem was weak muscles at the base of my thumb (see arrow). As an OT I know that a muscle imbalance gets worse when I use it so Cathy had my attention.
A 2nd advantage of being an OT is that I see the connection between exercise and function. I've done the exercise in the photo on the left all year round for SIX YEARS. WHY? I do this because the tip pinch I use to take bills out of envelopes and fold laundry isn't forceful enough to manage a zipper. I'm not independent in driving if I can't zip my coat when the weather turns cold. Brrrr!
Being an OT makes me a picky consumer. If my therapists say I should do an exercise I have to see a visible pay off. Olympic athletes are going to talk to their coaches when the exercises they are given don't make them jump higher or run faster. When I was in the rehab hospital I was too emotionally devastated and physically exhausted to think about why I was doing an exercise.
As an out-patient I exercise and then verify. Ta-da!
P.S. Photos above show me wearing rubber fingertips used to count money that I bought at an office supply store (e.g. Staples). I use them for two reasons. First, my OT has two good hands when she uses a vibrator. While my sound hand holds the vibrator, the rubber fingertips act like a 2nd hand that keeps my hemiplegic hand in a functional position. Second, I wear them to zip my coat at the beginning of winter because my weak tip pinch makes me slow. As the winter progresses I can zip my coat faster so I don't take the rubber fingertips out of my coat pocket. Speed isn't an issue in therapy, but how long I stand at the exit of a store zipping my coat while people walk past matters to me.
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