Regaining Hand Motor Skills

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Depleted

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#1
#1
You know how you eat with a fork and knife when you're at a restaurant? If you have to regain that skill again, how do you go from grabbing utensils like they're shovels back to eating like you're in a restaurant?

He's got the strength back, but he doesn't have that ability, and I can't find anything online to refer to. (He's already doing the exercises found immediately.)
 
Willie-T

Willie-T

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Feb 7, 2015
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Two exercises they had me doing in the hospital were repeatedly touching my finger tips to my thumb tip, index to small, then back again. Sometimes tapping them once, twice, three times. And crossing my various fingers. I must have done those hundreds and hundreds of times.
 
blue_ladybug

blue_ladybug

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#3
Feb 21, 2014
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#3
Did you have a heart attack too, Willie? :eek: Glad you're okay and John too of course.. :)


Willie-T said:
Two exercises they had me doing in the hospital were repeatedly touching my finger tips to my thumb tip, index to small, then back again. Sometimes tapping them once, twice, three times. And crossing my various fingers. I must have done those hundreds and hundreds of times.
Click to expand...
 
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#4
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Willie-T said:
Two exercises they had me doing in the hospital were repeatedly touching my finger tips to my thumb tip, index to small, then back again. Sometimes tapping them once, twice, three times. And crossing my various fingers. I must have done those hundreds and hundreds of times.
Click to expand...
Did that work differently than stretching exercises with rubber bands on fingers? (I haven't seen him doing that finger-touching move in quite some time, and yet I see him do enough hand strengthening exercises, that I am now confident if I ever need a lid off a jar again, I can ask him. His hand strength has surpassed me. I don't know if he thinks he's back to his old strength though. At the rate he's going, I can see him stronger than he was, which again, means he'll have to be careful when tightening lids and pipes.)

Also, he's stuck with dead-pinkies. They work better than they used to. (He can move them a bit by now.) But it's much like having a prosthetic sixth-finger. They're completely numb and feel like a foreign object placed there for no particular reason.

I never realized how much easier it is to eat with utensils held like pencils instead of like trowels. Somehow the food gets to the mouth more often than it lands on the floor, if it's done like we were taught when we were kids. (I always thought that was like sticking your pinky out when drinking tea. Not so much common sense, as it is about impressing others with our refinement. lol)
 
Willie-T

Willie-T

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#5
Feb 7, 2015
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Depleted said:
Did that work differently than stretching exercises with rubber bands on fingers? (I haven't seen him doing that finger-touching move in quite some time, and yet I see him do enough hand strengthening exercises, that I am now confident if I ever need a lid off a jar again, I can ask him. His hand strength has surpassed me. I don't know if he thinks he's back to his old strength though. At the rate he's going, I can see him stronger than he was, which again, means he'll have to be careful when tightening lids and pipes.)

Also, he's stuck with dead-pinkies. They work better than they used to. (He can move them a bit by now.) But it's much like having a prosthetic sixth-finger. They're completely numb and feel like a foreign object placed there for no particular reason.

I never realized how much easier it is to eat with utensils held like pencils instead of like trowels. Somehow the food gets to the mouth more often than it lands on the floor, if it's done like we were taught when we were kids. (I always thought that was like sticking your pinky out when drinking tea. Not so much common sense, as it is about impressing others with our refinement. lol)
Click to expand...
Completely different. Because you don't need excessive strength to hold a fork... you need, instead, manipulative dexterity.

"Walking" a 50 cent piece up and down the fingers (knuckles) of one hand is very good, too.
 
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Willie-T said:
Completely different. Because you don't need excessive strength to hold a fork... you need, instead, manipulative dexterity.

"Walking" a 50 cent piece up and down the fingers (knuckles) of one hand is very good, too.
Click to expand...
...until he gets frustrated, and that 50 cent piece hits my forehead. lol

Thanks. I'll let him know. He used to get frustrated at the big things. Now he gets frustrated with the little things. It still amazes me the amount of things we do in life that we take for granted, until we can't do it as easily as we did.

How much did you get back?
 
Willie-T

Willie-T

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Feb 7, 2015
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Depleted said:
...until he gets frustrated, and that 50 cent piece hits my forehead. lol

Thanks. I'll let him know. He used to get frustrated at the big things. Now he gets frustrated with the little things. It still amazes me the amount of things we do in life that we take for granted, until we can't do it as easily as we did.

How much did you get back?
Click to expand...
Next month will be 5 years, and I haven't fully "gotten everything back" yet. But, I get SOMETHING more every month.
 
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oldethennew

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Feb 28, 2016
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Lynn, John,

it's a continual roller-coaster-ride - catch and ride the positive and let the not-yets go'...

I'm an expert at this, and it is what it is - every day is a blessing that we have our beloveds
with us, no matter the cost or reason...
 
santuzza

santuzza

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#10
Feb 12, 2013
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After I broke my wrist, my therapist had me pick up little craft pom pom balls of differing sizes. I'd pick them up one at a time and deposit them into a bowl, empty the bowl out and do it again! Tedious, but it did help my dexterity.
 
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#12
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Willie, I talked to him about it. Ends up it was just momentary frustration. He's excited because just a month ago he couldn't get his pinky close enough to the thumb to touch, and now he can. He has been doing them. I simply had to suggest he do them more often. Finger crossing still requires putting the finger in the right place.
 
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oldethennew said:
Lynn, John,

it's a continual roller-coaster-ride - catch and ride the positive and let the not-yets go'...

I'm an expert at this, and it is what it is - every day is a blessing that we have our beloveds
with us, no matter the cost or reason...
Click to expand...
If it's a coaster ride, it's usually a happy uphill. He collected the trash for me tonight. First time I wasn't completely in charge of trash since November, 2015. And the only reason I brought dinner in was because my risotto was done last. (Just last week, he was so exhausted making dinner, I had to finish plating it and bringing it in.)

Long gone are the days where it's 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Now it's 100 steps forward and 1 step back.
 
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#14
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santuzza said:
After I broke my wrist, my therapist had me pick up little craft pom pom balls of differing sizes. I'd pick them up one at a time and deposit them into a bowl, empty the bowl out and do it again! Tedious, but it did help my dexterity.
Click to expand...
He has a more enjoyable one.
Pull hard candy out of the dish.
Unwrap it. (Requires both hands.)
Enjoy it. lol
 
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oldethennew

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Feb 28, 2016
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our mate's frailties will often be the un-doing of us if we don't totally Trust our Saviour...

it takes such a powerful amount of Christ's Love to battle this life...
 
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mar09

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#16
Sep 17, 2014
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How abt shaping clay? "Playing" piano and typing on typewriter-).
 
Fenner

Fenner

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#18
Jan 26, 2013
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If he has trouble holding a writing instrument, have him put a cotton ball or Pom Pom in his palm and then grasp the pencil. We do this at Pre School with kid's who have trouble with their fine motor skills. Who knows it might help.
 
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