...PT ["pain & torture" ...aka "physical therapy"...]

yes, gentle readers...
I have embarked on the road to recovery...
[aka "physical therapy"...]
and it is clearly marked...[see above...]



it brings me here...
Pine Street Physical Therapy in Mudville...
[they also have offices in...
"the sleepy village to the north"...
as well as several other towns in the area...]

my therapist & her smiling assistant are very nice & capable...
on my first visit, she gave me a lengthy interview...
and took all sorts of measurements & administered tests...



one of the tests used this device...
which measures the pressure in your grip...
[right hand 50 lbs, left hand 25 lbs...]



another test measured the "range of motion" in both joints...
both from above & below...

after all the results of the measurements & tests...
carefully recorded...
the therapy session began...

first they had me make as much of a fist as I can...
wrapped it to keep the tendon stretched out...



and had me dip my wrapped hand...
into the melted parafin wax...
5 times... creating a waxy glove...
which was wrapped with plastic wrap...
and then in a fluffy towel...

I then sat for 10 minutes...
trying to let the warm relaxation soothe the soreness...
that came from making a fist and having it wrapped tight...

I learned from this...
& didn't let them wrap it so tight the next visit...



after the waxy glove was removed, the therapist massaged my hand...
which felt pretty good even though she was "exploring" scar tissue...
and swollen joints...[the hot wax is really relaxing...]
she even got my top joint to bend 10˚ farther after the wax...



she gave me these "tendon gliding exercises" & worked me through them...
she told me that if my finger was really swollen, stiff or sore...
after doing 10 reps, to cut back to 5 [which I had to do...]

taking into account the pictures are of a right hand...
and I do them with my left...

check out my progress...







yeah, I know that my injured finger...
doesn't bend as far down...
or go as flat as it should...
what you see is really quite painful...
and is my current limit...

AND I'm discovering some lingering injuries...
to the neighboring fingers...
that I didn't recognize before...
due to the severity of the dislocation...

she also wrote down some isolating exercises...
that I can't photograph since they take both hands...
[not to mention a thumb I don't have...]



this is an example of an isolation exercise...
that is moving only the top joint...

I'm supposed to hold my slightly bent finger...
between my stump right thumb and forefinger...
just below the top joint...moving just the top several times...

then grasp in a similar manner below the middle joint...
to isolate that joint & exercise it likewise...

not easy...

as I have to concentrate on moving the correct muscles, etc...
without cutting off circulation to the finger tip...
not too bad once you get the hang of it...
and these don't hurt like trying to make a fist does...
[have I mentioned that making a fist, of any kind...
really hurts ! ?]

to help combat swelling...
and to encourage my lymphatic system...
to flush out excess fluids...
she decided to wrap my finger...
[light compression helps the healing...]
with the same brownish stuff [Coban]...
that I'd been using to keep the surgical dressing clean...



[wasn't I just here?...]

oh well, 3 times a week for a month...
[2 down & 10 to go...]

this is NOT fun...but it's better than "Frankenfinger"...
it hurt ALL the time...this...I can handle...