Man from the South
The daily occupations for the soldier would definitely look very different had he lost the bet and had his pinky finger been cut off. He may have thought that the pinky finger was insignificant, and that's why he eventually agreed to the bet. Little did he know that the pinky finger is very important for grip strength and many daily tasks and occupations. He would have difficulty trying to pick up dumbbells with his left hand because of weakness in the grip strength. I chose this occupation for the soldier because I assume he has worked out at some point in his lifetime. He would have needed to go through physical and occupational therapy just to be able to get used to using the other fingers in different ways. I would say his best strategy for working out and gaining better finger and grip strength would be to practice hand exercises everyday. He could even use therapy putty to do this. In order to lift a bar for bench-press or whatever it may be, he is going to need to strengthen his overall grip in the left hand and in the four other fingers.
For the wife, she may have a little bit more difficulty considering she was only left with one finger and a thumb. It doesn't specify which finger she was left with, but regardless she would need therapy as well. There are plenty of occupations that would be affected in her scenario, but for her I will focus on tasks related to getting ready for the day. This could affect brushing her teeth, putting in contacts, doing her makeup, flossing, etc. She would need some adaptive tools to help her do these things. She could use her other hand to the best of her ability to do some of these tasks, but I believe at the end of the day some sort of tool to help her out would be much needed. One example would be an easy hold silicone adaptive aid for people with limited hand mobility. This would help her two fingers from sliding off of her toothbrush while holding it. It would assist with her grip strength as well. This is just one example of many that would help her to get ready for her day.
For the wife, she may have a little bit more difficulty considering she was only left with one finger and a thumb. It doesn't specify which finger she was left with, but regardless she would need therapy as well. There are plenty of occupations that would be affected in her scenario, but for her I will focus on tasks related to getting ready for the day. This could affect brushing her teeth, putting in contacts, doing her makeup, flossing, etc. She would need some adaptive tools to help her do these things. She could use her other hand to the best of her ability to do some of these tasks, but I believe at the end of the day some sort of tool to help her out would be much needed. One example would be an easy hold silicone adaptive aid for people with limited hand mobility. This would help her two fingers from sliding off of her toothbrush while holding it. It would assist with her grip strength as well. This is just one example of many that would help her to get ready for her day.
Great ideas Allison, As you said, getting ready for the day is an important occupation that we all engage in! So having only two fingers on one hand would make getting ready challenging. The easy hold silicone adaptive aid is an awesome idea! I am sure that it could also be used in different aspects in her life too, maybe for cooking, hanging up clothes, or even turning a doorknob!
ReplyDeleteHey Allison, you made a lot of really good points about this article. I agree that the pinky can be critical for gripping, which is involved in a lot of occupations, especially for a soldier. I also liked the use of therapy putty as an intervention as I've actually seen this used on hand patients before. Also, ADLs would be difficult for the woman but I'm sure there are some adaptive tools out there for an OT to help her use.
ReplyDelete