Thumb Injury

[JohnnyK]

Glad to hear that the braces worked for you. I'm too active with my hands to go that route. Had major thumb surgery years ago and they work fine now. Had one trigger finger done about a year and a half ago...very successful. I'm getting the trigger ring finger and pinky done on the other hand in about a month. I have recovered successfully from all my surgeries and expect the next one to be successful too. Don't want to be down for too long now that the pottery business is starting to take off...

[JeffK]

1 hour ago, algebraist said:

Since we're talking trigger thumb again, I (as the original poster) may as well report in.  The hand specialist I saw suggested that cortisone would just be a temporary fix -- 6 months at best -- so I didn't bother with that.  He is a surgeon, so naturally advocated the surgery that you had so successfully.  But I am surgery-averse, and went with the third option: I wore the custom made hand brace every night, not just for the 8 weeks he had suggested, but for about a year and a half...  Also, I very quickly developed trigger thumb in my other hand as well, so I was wearing braces on both hands every night.  (Try to do anything without either thumb...)  Anyway, the punchlne is that that seems to have cured me.  No surgery needed, but a lot of patience, and very limited pottery during that time.  

As Bruce Lee once said, criticized that he knocked out an opponent with a right cross instead of a karate move:

"I use what works."

- Jeff

 

[Sea Winds]

Thanks for all the valuable input.  It is great to hear that surgery work successfully.   I had an appointment with a physiotherapist and have some exercises for my hands.   Will see how that goes and take one step at a time.  Fortunately the arthritis is not advanced in other areas of my hand; just my left thumb joint at the base.  The physiotherapist also has arthritis in her hand and is very knowledgeable on the issue. 

[neilestrick]

22 hours ago, JeffK said:

As Bruce Lee once said, criticized that he knocked out an opponent with a right cross instead of a karate move:

"I use what works."

- Jeff

 

Hand injuries are the worst, but the human body is amazingly adaptable. A few years back I shattered the fingertips of the middle and index fingers on my left hand. The index healed okay, but the middle didn't. Had a broken bone for almost 8 months total while I waited for show season to end before doing the second surgery to get a bone graft and screw. In the mean time, I threw with the ring and pinky fingers on my left hand instead, broken middle finger curled safely away in my palm. After a few weeks of building strength in those fingers, it didn't hold me back one bit. My point to all this is don't be afraid to change your technique if necessary, even if temporarily. There's more than one way to make a pot. There are few 'rules' in clay.

[Stephen]

On 12/5/2019 at 3:28 PM, Sea Winds said:

Thanks for all the valuable input.  It is great to hear that surgery work successfully.   I had an appointment with a physiotherapist and have some exercises for my hands.   Will see how that goes and take one step at a time.  Fortunately the arthritis is not advanced in other areas of my hand; just my left thumb joint at the base.  The physiotherapist also has arthritis in her hand and is very knowledgeable on the issue. 

just wanted to toss in that there are a few centering tools out there that are huge for physical issues. I have a large screw in my shoulder and use a strong arm when doing a lot of pots as it messes with my shoulder to center more than a few pots in a session. I do center normally for the first few to make sure I don't lessen that ability.