Saebo Stretch: Day 1 - The Morning After

I woke this morning rather reluctantly, but that was more to do with my 6am start for my pre-work driving lesson, than the neoprene bat strapped to my hand. The splint itself didn't seemingly cause me much discomfort, as I fell asleep with little problem and didn't wake up throughout the night having injured myself with it. Don't get me wrong, it's not the most comfortable or natural sensation, I guess I'd imagine it's like having a plaster cast on. When I unstrapped the Stretch (which has managed to stay fully strapped to my arm through the night) I had about an hour of very achey finger joints (the Metacarpophalangeal joint specifically) and I had quite floppy fingers for a short while. However as soon as I started to go about my daily routine my fingers began to clinch up again and returned to their usual fist-like state. I was hoping that I'd have a more prolonged flexibility in my fingers, but I guess it's pretty early days yet... Will watch this space for further developments..

Saebo Stretch: Day 1

I took delivery of my Saebo Stretch (roughly £200) yesterday, which I am going to start wearing at night to stretch out my fingers and wrist. The idea being, to relax my hand more so that it will be more receptive to the Saebo Flex when that arrives (ETA 2 weeks), although I'll continue to use it at the same time as the Flex.

Initially I'm doing a few days where I wear it for a couple of hours in the evenening to make sure it's comfortable and my fingers aren't going numb! It is pretty tricky trying to get the splint on, as with any orthosis.. I will say that I think the kit is very well put together, the splint is quite soft and is covered in washable neoprene. The end plate where the fingers wrest is interchangable for different grades of flexibility. This is a really clever idea, as previous splints are very rigid throughout. The Stretch actually allows for the fingers to bend if they need to, without making them buckle, which can actually permenantly damage the finger joints. I'm starting out on the most flexible plate, which is necessary right now as periodic spasms can set my fingers into a tight clench. Once I've worn the splint for a while (a few weeks/months) I should hopefully transfer to a less flexible plate which will prevent my fingers bending as much and support them in an flatter position.