Hand Update — and Now I Have Fake Reins!

Photo by Luis Quintero on Unsplash

So, yes, my hand is getting better, but things got a little amusing at the hand therapists’ today.

I still don’t have full range of motion of my pinky finger. It’s close, but it’s still not flexing completely all the way, not extending *completely* straight although this is very close, and it really doesn’t want to go all the way out to the side.

This is all pretty expected. It can take a long time to get these things back after an injury.

Sideways? Nooope

My pinkie finger does not want to extend all the way out to the side like pinkie fingers are supposed to. My therapist manipulated the joint and told me I have my full range of motion in terms of the joint and bone. So, there are three issues:

1. I still have some swelling of that finger. It’s going down, but slowly. This is normal…I’ve been told I may even have a tiny bit of swelling as much as six months post surgery.
2. My brain doesn’t wanna do it because it involves moving the fractured bone and brains sometimes need to be convinced that it’s okay to do something again.
3. The muscles that run down the outside of my hand are badly atrophied from lack of use. In less medical terms, my flexor digiti minimi, abductor digiti minimi and opponens digiti minimi, which…