12 weeks in and I visited my physiotherapist feeling rather positive. This comes just 10 days after a visit to Addenbrookes where the lady got her protractor out and ‘measured my finger’.
My biggest frustration has been the loss of flexion which prior to the op ws just fine. But they do warn you and so I’ve been working on that and the physiotherapist has had me massaging the scare tissue up to three times a day. According to the numbers (see the table below) it’s worked.
| flexion | 16 Sep 24 | 14 Oct 24 | 13 Nov 24 |
| bottom | 42 | 58 | 86 |
| middle | 64 | 72 | 82 |
| tip | 36 | 42 | 50 |
More important though is what it’s mean in practice and I can now correctly cut the foil off a bottle of wine (see the picture above) which I’ve not been able to do previously. Lots of other activities which require such flexion are now possible so I’m getting there!
Ironically the story on straightening my little finger is less positive.
| extension | 16 Sep 24 | 14 Oct 24 | 13 Nov 24 |
| bottom | -16 | -18 | -22 |
| middle | -42 | -34 | -42 |
| tip | -16 | -10 | 0 |
It’s still a lot straighter than it was pre-op (!) but the trend is clearly not so good so I’ve added exercises into my regular massage and exercise routine to address it.
And that I believe is the secret of my progress: massage and exercise. I’m supposed to do it three times a day. To be fair I rarely hit that but I always do at least one. The problem is that progress is so slow, it’s difficult to discern any sort of improvement. But because I was away for a week but still did my exercises then when I got home and tried to do stuff I’d been incapable of before I found I could do them. I could see a visible difference.
The message is very clear: patience and persistence. It takes time but keep at it. It’s not just about the surgery but also re-establishing the structure of tendons and muscles in my hand which had got used to working in a different way. It takes time!
David Jenkins' weblog 
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