Recovery From an Injury is Often a Journey …

The journey of recovering from an injury …

This week we share the saga of Cindy’s thumb, which is a good reminder that the body CAN put itself back together with a little support and guidance. And time!

A refresher of the series of events …

We featured Cindy last fall in one of our videos (see below) as we worked though her hip and abdominal surgery recovery, which had caused low back and neck pain. These kept her from being as active as she wanted to be.

When she returned for a follow-up session, she had a new development. She fell down stairs, landing oddly on her thumb, which severed a tendon. We did a special video showing micromovement support for her wrist and hand function.

In this new follow-up video, Cindy says her thumb feels ‘stiff as a board’ although she received an ‘all clear’ from her surgeon. After three months of being immobilized, her muscles have forgotten how to work together. It was time for some Bridging® to get those muscles working again!

Even at the thumb and hand, Micromovement disrupters accumulate to impact your ability to move and stay active. Staying active is essential to both physical and mental health at ALL AGES!

The saga of Cindy’s thumb

Here is the timeline of events …

• In late October 2022 Cindy fell down stairs, landing such that a tendon in her hand was severed.
• She had surgery in November and her forearm was placed in a splint.
• In December she was healed from the surgery and began doing exercises with her hand but still wore the splint to protect her thumb and wrist.
• By February 2023 she was able to shed the splint and we met again.

Although her thumb was technically healed, she had no ability to move it. Exercises didn’t do much because her thumb inherently did not move.

Micromovement disruptors involved (Yes, we always identify the disrupters because they each hold a key to recovery.)
Injury: severed tendon
Medical procedures: surgery, immobilization after surgery

Watch in the video to follow the process of laddering support, and guiding muscles to reset so they can work together again.

March 2023:
Coaxing the thumb to bend

Following the all-clear from her surgeon, her thumb remains very stiff. The muscles have completely forgotten how to work together!

Watch to see how we recruit adjacent muscles and coax her thumb to begin moving.

December 2022:
Supporting the wrist and hand while thumb heals

After the surgery, Cindy’s hand and forearm were in a splint. Even though she was cleared to exercise, there was still swelling which contributed to stiffness.

Watch to see how we restored movement to the arm and wrist so they are able to support the recovering thumb. Swelling goes down and movement improves!