I went to see the hand therapist yesterday---I've been straining my hands by lifting too many books at once, over and over.
"Don't do that," the O.T. advised.
She gave me four gentle hand exercises to do, such as simply curling my fingers into a loose fist 10 times, 3 x/day.
Also she told me to stop the "violent" stretches I've been doing, trying to loosen my stiff fingers.
"Forcing your hand traumatizes the tendons," she told me. "The idea is to improve the tendons' ability to glide".
I've always been a bit of a bruiser.
When I was a toddler, I used to stand up in my crib, hold onto the bars, and hop it across the room, according to my mother.
But at midlife, at this job, pushing hard is a recipe for injury.
I need to slow down and . . . glide.
You know who's pretty glide-y?
Columbo.
He never forces things---he lets them unfold, and he's there to notice. He's the opposite of Starsky & Hutch, who literally crash into things.
Mz gave me this photo of Columbo kneeling at a crime scene, (below, top right), for Xmas, to take to work to remind me to SLOW DOWN.
He joins on my work-desk pictures of characters I've found on the job.
From L to R: in yellow frame, a book cover illustration of Spock carrying Kirk;
postcard of Chet Baker;
Welsh doctor (in cap) Hugh Owen Thomas, inventor of the Thomas splint, and his nephew--obscuring a poster of Captain America looking sad in the rain (falling rubble);
and, to the right of Columbo, the tip of a Reading Rainbow poster (I've put the whole thing below this photo).
This is the Star Trek:TNG character Geordi LaForge (he's blind and his high-tech visor allows him to see)--his actor, Levar Burton, was the host of Reading Rainbow.
"Don't do that," the O.T. advised.
She gave me four gentle hand exercises to do, such as simply curling my fingers into a loose fist 10 times, 3 x/day.
Also she told me to stop the "violent" stretches I've been doing, trying to loosen my stiff fingers.
"Forcing your hand traumatizes the tendons," she told me. "The idea is to improve the tendons' ability to glide".
I've always been a bit of a bruiser.
When I was a toddler, I used to stand up in my crib, hold onto the bars, and hop it across the room, according to my mother.
But at midlife, at this job, pushing hard is a recipe for injury.
I need to slow down and . . . glide.
You know who's pretty glide-y?
Columbo.
He never forces things---he lets them unfold, and he's there to notice. He's the opposite of Starsky & Hutch, who literally crash into things.
Mz gave me this photo of Columbo kneeling at a crime scene, (below, top right), for Xmas, to take to work to remind me to SLOW DOWN.
He joins on my work-desk pictures of characters I've found on the job.
From L to R: in yellow frame, a book cover illustration of Spock carrying Kirk;
postcard of Chet Baker;
Welsh doctor (in cap) Hugh Owen Thomas, inventor of the Thomas splint, and his nephew--obscuring a poster of Captain America looking sad in the rain (falling rubble);
and, to the right of Columbo, the tip of a Reading Rainbow poster (I've put the whole thing below this photo).
This is the Star Trek:TNG character Geordi LaForge (he's blind and his high-tech visor allows him to see)--his actor, Levar Burton, was the host of Reading Rainbow.
What an interesting desk you have -- Colombo, Marge Piercy, Chet Baker and Kirk!
ReplyDeleteHey--yeah--you spotted Marge Piercy too! I'd forgotten that was there! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThat novel "Woman on the Edge of Time" was a huge influence on my thinking when I was young:
ANOTHER FUTURE IS POSSIBLE... but which one?
What future are we constructing now?
Would you post the gentle exercises your PT gave you? My daughter is having trouble with hand tendonitis and I think they might help her (me, too, come to think of it).
ReplyDeleteAs Steve wrote, you certainly do have an interesting desk!
CROW: Yes, I will post the hand exercises--I'm just leaving for work so it'll be later.
ReplyDeleteSo many of us have to over-use our hands at work (or in life)--gentle tendon gliding is probably helpful to many of us!