Sunday 4 th May

I have been doing a lot of exercises today. My goal is to regain more extension of the wrist towards the forearm. I cannot accept that I will have a stiff wrist for the rest of my life. I want to be able to do push-ups, if I wish to, yoga postures such as the cobra, salutation to the sun, the dog, the cat, etc., grab jars or bottles in my right hand and pour from them without positioning my forearm to allow for a limited extension. Regaining an acceptable degree of wrist extension has become extremely important to me.

The exercises I did today:

- more sitting at the edge of a chair, with forearm on right thigh, and lifting hand upwards; a number of sets during the day plus a few more in the evening after putting my hand in hot water to loosen it up.

- flicking wrist towards the forearm, in different positions: forearm horizontal, vertical, left hand holding right forearm, etc.

- hook fist and finger extension,

- a lot of rice manipulation, does wonders for regaining fine sensitory feelings in my wooden fingers and palm; also grabbing a handful of rice and then flicking the wrist upwards.

Had a reasonably long walk this morning (8-9 km). Did gardening for two hours in the afternoon: digging and putting soil in big bucket (using left hand and right forearm to push the shovel), carrying full buckets and spreading soil and mulch onto garden (with my right hand), watering (10 litre watering can), mainly with left hand but with occasional help from right hand. Was exhausted afterwards, am really out of shape.

Had to use the TENS tonight for about an hour, pain on surface of skin was too accute.

Trying to regain mobility-Saturday 3rd May

I have been asked to do regular exercises:

- hook fist to get my fingers more flexible, especially the middle and little fingers,

- extension and flexion of the wrist,

- grabbing rice in a bow.

Since I do feel better and more in control of my hand, I have also decided to work on the muscles of my arm and try to regain more wrist extension.

I have been doing arm movements: large circles forward and backward, circles with arm flexed and hand on shoulders, arms up and down, arms extended in front of the body and flexed back toward the body.

As for working on the wrist extension, I sit at the edge of a chair with my legs at shoulder width and my right forearm resting along my right thigh and I lift my wrist upwards. I have also used a light jar of fruit (300g) in my hand to add a bit of weight to the movement. I only felt a bit of disconfort, no real pain. Can’t tell whether the wrist extension has improved.

Later this evening had an attack of CRPS pain, not too severe and chose not to use the TENS. The pain lasted for about two hours. Middle finger felt very stiff and ‘woody’.