Injury Update

Sheesh--where do I begin...... When I first fell, my left 4th finger and the attaching joints were extremely painful and tender. I immediately began my own therapy, and it has now been over four months. Initially, I about addled my stomach with asprin and Ibuprofen. Today, I rarely if ever take either--this has been the case for the past month and a half at least.


Only with huge, tremendous, phenomonal, extreme, effort was I able to bring the bad-boy back on line successfully, though it is to some extent still ongoing. The remaining symptoms are a low grade pain, a small problem with coordination, and maybe some kinetic type things where one thing leads to another that I anticipate will either disappear over the next six months or have a lasting impact.


Another remaining challenge is a horizontal weakness between the third and fourth finger. This challenge's solution has come a long long way, but every once in awhile when I don't pay attention to how I pick something up, it feels like it just gives way. For this issue, I invented squeeze ball exercises between the fingers that have had a great impact. Initially, it was like some kind of sick torture. Now, I can actually make the smaller squeeze ball which is extremely firm, 'squeeze'.... While this week, I've been focusing exclusively on flexibility, over the next couple weeks, I'm going back into strength training for this issue.



The hand overall, and there is some irony in this, but the hand feels stronger than before. (sheesh--I've got a buff left hand). When I was a young person I had these exercises I use to do for coordination where one presses fingers on each and then both hands in rhytmic patterns. One of the first things I want to do either before or in conjunction with Hannon is to reconstitute these little exercises.

A few months ago, I also began Osteobiflex treatment, and there is something good happening, though very subtly, with my joints overall.

I now feel confident that at a minimum, that the injury will not hold me back in terms of being a good general player. Virtuoso? Well, that was probably a pipe- dream anyway???? I'm not instituting limitations, or negative attitudes, just reality. This is love babeee!