With My Own Two Hands

Since I can't really take pictures of what I do on a daily basis (major HIPAA violation) I thought I would show you a few of the splints I made recently. I am putting together a book of all of the patterns and pictures of the splints I am learning. I will then have that to take back to Texas with me and reference as needed. These three splints were not made on actual patients. Although I did get to make my first forearm based ulnar gutter on a patient today. It turned out great, too!

This is a Clam Shell/Bivalve Wrist Splint. It combines the first splint we made (volar wrist splint) and then you add the dorsal component for added stability. The top piece locks in place on the bottom piece. I think this is a fun one to make because the top piece just snaps right into place.

This is a hand based fracture brace/clam shell. It is low profile and usually used for athletes that have a mid-metacarpal shaft fracture. It allows them to return to sports but be able to wear the splint under their glove or whatever. Pretty basic splint.

This is a finger belly splint. It is used to stretch a PIP flexion contracture. I don't think it's the prettiest of splints, but it's good at reducing the amount of PIP flexion.





We have a list of splints that we will be making and we are about 1/4 of the way through. That's pretty amazing considering we are only on our fifth week here. I will hopefully be taking more pictures of the splints we make.

Update on my abs...They are feeling much better, but still sore. I worked out again with Lance tonight and told him about my abs. He told me that I would be happy to know that we would not be doing abs tonight. Phew! He did try to kill my legs though. He asked me if I was sore anywhere else after our workouts and I told him mainly in my arms. I think he was a little sad that I wasn't sore in my legs. So, I think that is going to be his goal now. Tonight he had me do pull ups (assisted with the machine. there's no way I could pull my body weight up. never have been able to!). He also had me do dips, but that was killing my shoulder. My own fault though since I haven't exactly been doing my rehab since surgery. Surprise, surprise! After doing arms, I did a hamstring curl/hip extension exercise using a stability ball. It was tough! But, before we started Lance was positioning my legs. I could tell he was just staring at my legs and then I realized what he was looking at. He noticed all of my scars from softball/falling while running/falling off my bike. How embarrassing! He just kind of chuckled and said he figured I was an aggressive athlete with all of these scars. No Lance, I just haven't learned to not slide and how to stay on two feet. The last set of exercises he had me do was walking lunges, then go immediately into an incline leg press/squat. It was so tough and I was so scared of the machine. I was very hesitant to go into a deep squat. I did that each three times and by the end, my legs were worn out. He really is on a mission to give my legs a good workout. Although, he did say since I'm doing a lot of running, my legs are able to recover a lot faster. We will see how I feel tomorrow!

Alright, I'm off to bed. Wednesdays are long for us. Conference at 6:30 and clinic until at least 9:00 tomorrow night. But, it gives us more time to practice out splints!