The Pitcher's Cast

[230RN]

Sprained my left hand pretty good last weekend.  Could not use that hand for anything most of the week and kept banging it and making it worse, especially during sleep.

I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this, but I found that wrapping my hand around a baseball and sticking my hand with the ball in a large sock worked very well to stabilize things and was very comfortable, comparatively.

I decided to name it "The Pitcher's Cast."

Of course a tennis ball would work, too, but I don't know what  I could call that and I don't have any tennis balls.

It's still swollen as you can see.

Terry

[MillCreek]

We call that the 'position of function' for casting and splinting the hand.

[lee n. field]

We call that the 'position of function' for casting and splinting the hand.

Hmm.

Makes me think of Les Paul's broken elbow

[230RN]

^ My crystal ball came up with this:

In January 1948, Paul shattered his right arm and elbow in a near-fatal automobile accident on an icy Route 66 west of Davenport, Oklahoma. Mary Ford was driving the Buick convertible, which plunged off the side of a railroad overpass and dropped twenty feet into a ravine; they were returning from Wisconsin to Los Angeles after visiting family.[25] Doctors at Oklahoma City's Wesley Presbyterian Hospital told Paul that they could not rebuild his elbow. Their other option was amputation. Paul was flown to Los Angeles, where his arm was set at an angle—just under 90 degrees—that allowed him to cradle and pick the guitar. It took him nearly a year and a half to recover.

[Doggy Daddy]

I decided to name it "The Pitcher's Cast."
Terry

It disturbs me to ponder how "The Catcher's Cast" might be arranged.

[230RN]

It disturbs me to ponder how you managed to think that up. Talk about the Al Bundy hand-in-the-pants meme.

          

Ponder, ponder, ponder.

Anyhow, much improved.  I can turn the hot water faucets on and off with my left hand today, but there's still some fragility if I don't watch what I do.  

Prior experience indicates that as you start feeling better, you start getting more careless about the injury.

There's still some swelling on the back of my hand.

I tried some old, old, old DMSO I had left over from when I had animals, and it didn't do any good.  Some stuff called "Sportscreme," trolamine salicylate 10%, seemed to work best without stinking up the whole apartment building, as with the old Bengay.  

Terry, 230RN

[grampster]

Errmmm, what sort of ummm, activity, were you engaged in at the time of injury?  Inquiring, if not nosy, minds would like to know.

[zxcvbob]

Anyhow, much improved.  I can turn the hot water faucets on and off with my left hand today, but there's still some fragility if I don't watch what I do.  

Prior experience indicates that as you start feeling better, you start getting more careless about the injury.

There's still some swelling on the back of my hand.

I tried some old, old, old DMSO I had left over from when I had animals, and it didn't do any good.  Some stuff called "Sportscreme," trolamine salicylate 10%, seemed to work best without stinking up the whole apartment building, as with the old Bengay.  

Terry, 230RN

 

Be careful with salicylates, especially methyl salicylate, a.k.a. oil of wintergreen or birch bark essential oil.  If you start getting ringing in your ears (more than usual) back way off.  It is possible to overdose on topical salicylates.  Just 5 ml of methyl salicylate is equivalent to 5 aspirin tablets and it is readily absorbed.

[230RN]

Oh, I'm familiar with aspirin derivative effects... including nosebleeds, the ear ringing you mention, dulling of thinking, and eyeball floaters.  I take half an adult aspirin about every other day anyhow.

It's kind of hard to describe how this happened.  I was putting on a pair of tight sneakers over thick socks and could not find my shoehorn, and the back of the shoe got folded under, so I got mad and tried to force things too much with my fingers. The strain didn't really bother me for a while, but then I carried a heavy bag of trash out with my left hand and that seemed to exceed the threshold of wisdom.