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good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint
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11/30/2018 11:10
dupynz 
11/30/2018 11:10
dupynz 
Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

Hi Stefan,
I've been interested to see your home-made bike glove splint. Although I have a thermoplastic splint made for me by my hand therapist, for some reason it is getting more uncomfortable to wear all night. I'm thinking it may be because she gave me a silicone strip to wear over scar tissue and it has altered the dynamics of the splint - wearing it under the splint, that is. Maybe I just have to wear it at another time.

I will try your ice cream stick splint - I have some suitable bike gloves. Just need to buy an ice cream!

11/30/2018 11:57
Stefan_K. 
11/30/2018 11:57
Stefan_K. 

Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

dupynz:
Hi Stefan,
I've been interested to see your home-made bike glove splint. Although I have a thermoplastic splint made for me by my hand therapist, for some reason it is getting more uncomfortable to wear all night. I'm thinking it may be because she gave me a silicone strip to wear over scar tissue and it has altered the dynamics of the splint - wearing it under the splint, that is. Maybe I just have to wear it at another time.

I will try your ice cream stick splint - I have some suitable bike gloves. Just need to buy an ice cream!

Looking forward to your feedback. As a hobby cyclist with DD I have started using cycling gloves only a few years ago when I realized the risk of worsening the disease with bleeding wounds to the hands. Unlike my knees they saved me from serious injury and potential DD activity to my hands in a stupid accident a couple of months ago. As someone who cannot stand having jewelery on my hands or even on my arms, I was pleasantly surprised that wearing cycling gloves rigidified on the pinky at night has never kept me awake. My experience has been that the fact that the stick can move around a little and the cut-off glove fingers themselves are elastic helps avoid pressure points. I have tried various gloves I have lying around and they all work (at least for my pinky, the only one affected). You can try different sizes and materials to find the one that works best for you.

Enjoy the ice cream. I now have a good collection of Magnum sticks but rarely replace the one in use.

11/30/2018 22:54
dupynz 
11/30/2018 22:54
dupynz 
Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

Well, I WAS a commuting cyclist for years but last year (and since) have suffered quite debilitating back pain from late-onset scoliosis (69 year old female) and I find cycling just too hard most of the time except for very short distances. I walk as much as time allows with a full time job but even that hurts after a while; I have good exercises to do when I can, and I know I need to keep as active as possible. Bummer!

Using one of the cycling gloves I already had has been "handy" for protecting my still-tender left hand while driving and doing other stuff like vacuuming, but I could see it wasn't tight enough to hold an ice-cream stick.
So, today I bought a tight pair and experimented again. I am happy with the result! It's just a month since I had the op. and it involved surgery to the palm, so the base of the stick is a wee bit uncomfortable in my hand but with a few further tweaks I think this idea will be a whole lot better than no splint. Thank you! I'd never have thought of it!

(In New Zealand we have an expression "the number 8 wire mentality" for being able to invent something like that. Meaning, that as long as you have a piece of no. 8 wire, you can fix or make anything - theoretically/symbolically of course!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_8_wire

I'm seeing my hand therapist again on Monday so I'll show her my glove-stick splint and also see if she can remodel my thermoplastic splint which is of course a lot stiffer - just TOO stiff and tight currently.
My little finger was at an angle of 90 degrees for the best part of a year, so it may never be able to be completely straightened. Everything about it still hurts - exercises, accidental knocking, etc

12/01/2018 00:20
Stefan_K. 
12/01/2018 00:20
Stefan_K. 

Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

Thanks for teaching me about no 8 wire. Will add it to my humble MacGyver repertoire

You may want to try using the stick on the top side of your finger until the wound has healed more, or pad it with whatever soft material you have to wrap around it.
Good luck!

12/02/2018 11:14
dupynz 
12/02/2018 11:14
dupynz 
Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

Had a good night's sleep with the glove/stick splint and to my layperson's eye, my fingers were as straight in the morning as they have been when I could tolerate the thermoplastic splint. So, I am well pleased

As I had both the little and ring fingers operated on plus the palm nodules cut out, I needed two sticks, and what I used along with the ice-cream stick was the blade of a wooden party/picnic knife. I found a packet of them in the supermarket. The wood is exactly the same thickness and width as the ice cream stick, and I just broke off the knife part and smoothed the rough edge. (So, there's another option for those who are lactose/dairy intolerant!!) The rounded end fitted into my palm. To stop the stick ends hurting my tender palm, I found some polar-fleece off-cuts at home and cut a narrow strip which I first wrapped around my palm and fastened with velcro dots. The glove went on over that and I angled the stick ends to rest on the fleece strip.

I'm hoping my hand therapist will be impressed tomorrow ....but I think she won't be thrilled at my rejecting the splint she made for me!

12/02/2018 11:25
Stefan_K. 
12/02/2018 11:25
Stefan_K. 

Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

What, no ice cream or number 8 wire for the New Zealand MacGyver?
Glad to hear this may work for you. Did you ever not wear a splint and observe the fingers bending again?

12/02/2018 14:15
Prof.Seegenschmiedt 
12/02/2018 14:15
Prof.Seegenschmiedt 

Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

Dear Stephan,

I want to share the positive experience of a 40 year-old patient advanced Dupuytren Disease after open surgery of her little finger using an elastic metal splint. See attached photograph.

The splint consisted of

(1) a bicycle glove with attached velcro tape for fixation
(2) two parts of an elastic measure tape

The patient wears the splint during the day on the dorsal side of the hand-finger joint (MCP-Joint) which allows a permanent soft stretching force on this finger, but allows bending for all hand grip functions.

Using this splint for more than 6 months she has gained more than 30° of stretching function and has now achieved an almost complete stretching (remaining 10° flexion deformity).

................................................................................................................................................
With gratitude for all affected patients & medical colleagues who help to advance patient care ...

Edited 12/02/18 16:16

Attachment
Measure-Tape-Splint.JPG Measure-Tape-Splint.JPG (18x)

Mime-Type: image/jpeg, 422 kB

12/02/2018 14:45
Stefan_K. 
12/02/2018 14:45
Stefan_K. 

Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

Thank you, Professor! Good to know the splint action is not just in my imagination and not all may be lost if I decided to make a pause in wearing mine.

Suppose you recognized your "handwriting" in my profile picture :-)

12/02/2018 18:47
dupynz 
12/02/2018 18:47
dupynz 
Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

Stefan_K.:
What, no ice cream or number 8 wire for the New Zealand MacGyver?
Glad to hear this may work for you. Did you ever not wear a splint and observe the fingers bending again?

Firstly, I meant to say it was the handle not "blade" of the wooden party knife that I used. I do have an ice-cream on a stick in my freezer and intend to eat it today, but as it is wrapped totally, I can only feel the stick, not see it, and have had to guess it is the right width. You can get quite narrow sticks with some ice blocks and ice creams. So when I saw the wooden knives I bought them to be on the safe side. Can't see a place for no. 8 wire in this.... so far, but I thought the fleece palm band was quite resourceful!


I've only been given a splint for about 2 weeks so far as I didn't get one till the stitches were removed. What I do find is that my ring and little finger do not stay as straight as they were first thing. But then, I have to get them bending into a fist with exercises, which is a challenge. "Straight" is a relative word anyway, because my little finger was so bent over for so long it will never be as straight as the pinkie on my other hand.

I'm really chuffed with your invention and grateful you shared it!

12/02/2018 19:20
Stefan_K. 
12/02/2018 19:20
Stefan_K. 

Re: good experience with comfortable, inexpensive, self-made night splint

dupynz:
I'm really chuffed with your invention and grateful you shared it!
And how chuffed you think I am to finally have my first "follower" after more then three years? Must have felt that way when I got my first Facebook friend

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therapist   self-made   dupuytren-online   inexpensive   recurrence   re-introduction   uncomfortable   experience   splinting   contracture   fingers   wearing   thermoplastic   inconveniences   effectiveness   post-procedure   do-it-yourself   comfortable   straight   inconsequential