Man from the South
In this story the wife only has a thumb and a finger on her hand. Luckily, she still has a thumb as that is very important, functionally, because of it's relationship to the other digits. Let's assume that the other finger she has left is her third metacarpal otherwise known as the middle finger. The loss of her second metacarpal also known as the index finger accounts for 20% of hand dysfunction and affects many occupations as stated in our notes. In other words, while she was losing fingers in the bets with her husband we can only imagine how hard it was to adapt and adjust in her daily life.
An occupation that would be affected by the losses of her fingers would be getting dressed. This would be difficult for her because many clothes include zippers like the dress that was in the room when they walked in. When you zip up a dress, bottoms, or tops you use your thumb and index finger in a tip pinch (pulp to pulp, 2 jaw chuck, pencil grip, etc). Since she is missing her index finger she'll have to learn a new way of getting dressed and/or modifications to regain her independence. One way she can do that would be to participate in therapy and exercises to gain strength in her third or middle finger so she can zip up her clothes independently. An adaptive equipment she could use is a "button hook/zipper pull combination" tool. This tool allows you to attach the aid onto the zipper and in order to go up or down all the wife has to do is pull the hook in the desired direction as you can see in the picture below. To use this aid, the wife can just put her thumb in the hole and pull down instead of using a precision grip like in this picture. This allows for the wife to still have the freedom to wear the clothes she wants and to be independent in doing so.
Image retrieved from: https://sites.duke.edu/ptot/outpatient-services/patient-resources/dressing/
An occupation that would be affected by the losses of her fingers would be getting dressed. This would be difficult for her because many clothes include zippers like the dress that was in the room when they walked in. When you zip up a dress, bottoms, or tops you use your thumb and index finger in a tip pinch (pulp to pulp, 2 jaw chuck, pencil grip, etc). Since she is missing her index finger she'll have to learn a new way of getting dressed and/or modifications to regain her independence. One way she can do that would be to participate in therapy and exercises to gain strength in her third or middle finger so she can zip up her clothes independently. An adaptive equipment she could use is a "button hook/zipper pull combination" tool. This tool allows you to attach the aid onto the zipper and in order to go up or down all the wife has to do is pull the hook in the desired direction as you can see in the picture below. To use this aid, the wife can just put her thumb in the hole and pull down instead of using a precision grip like in this picture. This allows for the wife to still have the freedom to wear the clothes she wants and to be independent in doing so.
Image retrieved from: https://sites.duke.edu/ptot/outpatient-services/patient-resources/dressing/
I agree with you! Dressing without all of your fingers would be very difficult, however, the adaptive hook you chose would be a encourager in performance and help the wife to perform the occupation more easily.
ReplyDeleteDressing is an occupation that I might have looked past in thinking about daily tasks for this individual. Great idea! Your reference to the types of grip that would be necessary for dressing really helped me visualize the task. I loved the modification that you chose. The use of the large hoop that is attached to the zipper allows for easier control.
ReplyDeleteDressing for the wife would definitely need modification if you only had two fingers. I love the "button hook/zipper pull combination" idea. So creative and would be so helpful. You're going to be such a great therapist someday!
ReplyDeleteVery thoughtful post! I enjoyed reading about your creative solution to zipping!
ReplyDelete