wach:

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Hi Mel,
personally I would not do such painful exercises every hour. Moderate exercises several times a day might make sense and helped me to recover my hand function after surgery. I am just a patient myself but what you are describing sounds to me excessive and wrong. Would it be possible to consult another experienced hand surgeon, maybe from another Hospital or clinic, what he would recommend for PT?

Wolfgang

Melly:

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..., he told me that I need to be pushing as hard at home for ten minutes every hour. i mean, how is that even possible? It goes against the grain to push yourself to excruciating pain. Anyway, my PT had warned me to take pain killers when I saw him because she knows what he's like. I am going once a fortnight or so for PT, sometimes more if she can fit me in. She does push me to pain but not nearly as eye watering hard. So I do feel I am doing everything pretty well correctly and diligently. Soaking my hand in warm water for five minutes, pushing into all exercises for about ten. And this is EVERY HOUR. By late afternoon I just cant bear to do anymore but I do them at least 8 times a day. That's around two hours a day I'm devoting to my hand. Plus all those moments during the day when Im massaging my hand.
...

I’m really interested to find this post, I had a fasiectomy 11 weeks ago I have zig zag scar in my palm and up my two middle fingers, at my 6 week check the surgeon diagnosed Complex regional pain syndrome, my fingers that were bent at a right angle were straightened with surgery but I’ve never seen them straight, the scar took a long time to heal and when the dressings finally came off my fingers were bent not as bad as before but definately not straight...my hand was so swollen, numb and painful Physio was almost impossible...my fingers are now less numb, I no longer need pain killers but have Amitriptyline at night for nerve pain... I have seen the OT every week and have been doing the exercises but maybe not as forcefully as I have read some of you are doing, the surgeon says I still have a chance with a lot of work, of getting them straight, I can tell by the OT’s face she doesn’t agree I am heartened a little by reading that it has taken some of you a long time to make a fist, I can still only manage a C, I’ll persevere... it’s my right hand and I’m right handed, I paint watercolours, well I did! My enjoyment in life was sewing and cooking too, I can’t do anything, hardly hold a pencil, and I can’t grip the steering wheel....Please can anyone cheer me up!!!!

Thank you for your reply spanishbudda, I’ve worn a splint at night since my surgery 11 weeks ago, I also have to apply silicone strips on the scar and bind my fingers with compression bandages...I’d understood when I was given the splint that it would be adjusted as my fingers straightened but that hasn’t happened...The Occupational therapist I see gave me de sensitisation exercises that have helped the numbness and nerve pain, I feel resistance pushing my fingers towards making a fist but think, hope, they are very slowly moving, however trying to straighten my fingers they feel as locked as they were before the surgery...

Hello Sunbeam!
I had a fasciectomy about the same time as you, same fingers, and in my dominant (left) hand. My little finger was at 90 degrees for several months and it will probably never be really straight (my hand therapist reckons) but I do find the thermoplastic splint she made me (which I wear every night) does straighten it out quite considerably. It doesn't stay that way but gradually "heads south" a bit during the day.
I have quite lumpy scar tissue at the base of my little finger which has not reduced, but the scar tissue in my palm looks a bit less so. I wear a silicone strip under the splint at night.
I can almost make a fist.
I'm luckier than you in that I have no swelling!
However, about the 2 month post-op mark just after Christmas, I was having a few days' annual leave over summer (in New Zealand) and did quite a lot of gardening, pruning, and other odd jobs around the house. I used a power drill to drill some tiny holes in the back of some picture frames for the hooks - BIG mistake!! Since that moment the fingers in my left hand have been numb! I've read somewhere that you shouldn't use a vibrating tool after this surgery, but I'd have thought 2 months would be OK.
My hand therapist told me to STOP doing the exercises she had given me and to try and rest the hand (not really possible!) and be careful to keep the wrist straight when keyboarding. I find my hand goes really numb when holding a toothbrush or a pen. My hand therapist made me a new thermoplastic splint which immobilises my wrist as well as my fingers to wear at night but this hasn't helped.
So - for me the numbness in my fingers is my biggest bugbear because my fingers were NOT numb for the first 2 months
One thing we both know - recovery from this surgery is not straightforward, and everyone's therapist gives out different advice from other people's therapists. Who knows if it is the right advice?? My therapist says she will refer me back to the Plastic Surgery Dept if my numbness doesn't go away in the next fortnight.
I hope things improve for you, Sunbeam! You seem to have had a bad time so far.

Edited 01/16/19 13:09

Not to override your OT's advice but want to make sure you have seen these exercises on the BDS website http://dupuytrens-society.org.uk/treatme...-fasciectomy-2/, includes a link to an app if that's something you like.

Edited 01/16/19 14:16