Custom Hand Brace
Hand troubles prevail. I saw a hand specialist today. And it sounds like I’ve strained a ligament and mucked up a joint rather than a tendon. I seem to be doing mostly the right things so far but the doctor was concerned about me wrapping my thumb so close to my hand. I tried on another brace, but wasn’t convinced that it would keep the right spot in line. They had someone there who could do custom work, and if I could have seen her today I would have done it, but it would have been more missed work hours to make up and likely sleep deprivation if I tried to catch her in the morning. So I just made myself a spacer out of some paraffin wax to keep my thumb better positioned when I wrap it down with gauze.
This was actually pretty difficult when I was trying to mold the wax directly on to my hand. But then I remembered having a stone copy just sitting in a box from my anaplastology years. And voila!
I molded the wax into the stone crevice and then pulled it off and tweaked it to fit in the way I wanted. I still have some wax sculpting tools, so that worked out well. A torch would have been handy, but I had to make do with a candle.
So now, when I wrap my hand up, my thumb is no longer crammed against the rest of my hand. The wax acts as a spacer and provides the more natural hand position that the $130 brace I tried on at the clinic today was meant to offer. Only it fits better.
I think this is going to work!