The Mission of FTR
"To coach other afflicted individuals towards the best recovery possible"
I aim to accomplish this goal by providing instructional occupational therapy videos, links to informational pages regarding recovery and therapy protocols, references to occupational therapists, my own personal timeline of recovery, and many additional educational resources to help you learn more. I understand you may fear the possibility of not recovering, but I hope to help you eliminate that frightening possibility. If you remain diligent in your therapy and you give the hand the care it needs, there is no reason you should not make a strong recovery.
I was a 21-year-old college student living in the Boston area with no pre-existing medical conditions. On September 9th, 2013, I fell onto a piece of broken glass at my apartment, which severed four of my flexor tendons and the median nerve in my left hand. As you can imagine, the rehab process was quite strenuous and highly time consuming. I had surgery on September 11th, 2013 at Boston Children’s Hospital and was casted in a bivalve cast to allow for hand swelling for the two weeks following.
I experienced lots of pain, phantom movements and phantom itches because of the damage to the nerve; this is normal. After two weeks of a bivalve cast, I then received a new cast that allowed for me to passively bend my fingers up and down (this is when you use your non-injured hand to bend the fingers. You are not using the damaged tendons actively). I wore the bivalve cast for about 2 weeks, and then had it removed and replaced with a normal cast for an additional 4 weeks. Upon getting my cast off I was still not allowed to move freely. I was instead given a splint to wear for two weeks while I began occupational therapy.
In the Timeline section of the website, I go through my thoughts and experiences as I recovered while providing a general timeline for recovery. It is important that you understand before reading though that my injury and recovery may be different from yours. The possibility of scar tissue, re-ruptures, and other factors can cause differences in the recovery process. That being said, I do hope this site helps ease some of the worry you may have. I know it is easy to be pessimistic about your situation, but it is important to remember that that pessimism will only hold you back. Be optimistic and get exercising!
Best of luck to everyone and thank you for reading,
Andrew
WARNING!
The information provided on this site has not been reviewed by a medical professional. Make sure to consult your doctor or occupational therapist before taking any advice regarding exercises and stretching. While this advice and information apply to a variety of different flexor tendon injuries, each person's injury has a specifically tailored therapy protocol set forth by his or her doctor. This is done on a case-by-case basis to ensure that the patient does not risk re-rupture of the tendons/nerves and is instead receiving the proper care for his or her specific injury. These exercises can be very dangerous if you have not yet been cleared to perform them by a medical professional. We are not medical professionals and do not have the certification or authority to give clearance for anyone to perform any exercises. It is our sincere hope that the information provided here will be helpful for you, but please keep in mind the possible dangers of proceeding with therapy exercises before consulting a medical professional; it is not advised to do so.
How it All Started
Learn the Anatomy
