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cimoreneI've done so much knitting in the last week and a half that my right thumb has given out again. I have hitchhiker's thumb at about 120° on both hands, and when knitting the right needle is held against the flat of my thumb, which results in the pressure of the grip sort of pushing the thumb back into the hitchhiking position, essentially stretching it and pressing it into the stretch, rather than the grip pushing the force through the joint held straight - which is only possible if I improvise a splint to hold the thumb curved in a little bit.
The last joints of all my fingers are somewhat hypermobile and depending on what I'm knitting, this can tire out the final joint in my right forefinger as well. (There are other tasks that can do that too, but few tasks that I do that keep such sustained pressure on these joints.)
I know that finger splints would be of use to me, but did some research into them last year or... somewhere in there... and determined it would be impossible to figure out the right size without one of those sizing sets, and I couldn't find out where I could go for that service by using publicly available internet pages. So I concluded I would probably have to mention it to a GP, who would refer me to whoever does that - presumably a physical therapy practice or maybe just the places that supply them. I was talking to Wax about it today when I was forced to stop knitting prematurely this evening to rest my fingers, and she thought she'd be able to find a lead through an Ehlers-Danlos foundation or association, but so far no dice. (Catalogs and manufacturers of various orthopedics, yes. Information about regional practices, suppliers, etc, no.) It's not really a good time to be visiting multiple offices or making appointments just to ask questions in person, but perhaps it would be possible to find out through phone inquiries or emails I guess? Ugh... I hate making inquiries.
ETA: I have found out that you can order a single oval-8 plastic ring splint, which cost like $43 for a set of 13 in the US, for 40€ apiece. There's a shop in Turku that you can't order from, only buy in person, and they cost 45€ there. There's a similar brand made in Sweden that isn't sold retail in Finland, only through occupational therapists, that apparently cost around 20€ in Sweden at least. I cannot find any sign of occupational therapy in the area that you can get without being referred from a GP.
The last joints of all my fingers are somewhat hypermobile and depending on what I'm knitting, this can tire out the final joint in my right forefinger as well. (There are other tasks that can do that too, but few tasks that I do that keep such sustained pressure on these joints.)
I know that finger splints would be of use to me, but did some research into them last year or... somewhere in there... and determined it would be impossible to figure out the right size without one of those sizing sets, and I couldn't find out where I could go for that service by using publicly available internet pages. So I concluded I would probably have to mention it to a GP, who would refer me to whoever does that - presumably a physical therapy practice or maybe just the places that supply them. I was talking to Wax about it today when I was forced to stop knitting prematurely this evening to rest my fingers, and she thought she'd be able to find a lead through an Ehlers-Danlos foundation or association, but so far no dice. (Catalogs and manufacturers of various orthopedics, yes. Information about regional practices, suppliers, etc, no.) It's not really a good time to be visiting multiple offices or making appointments just to ask questions in person, but perhaps it would be possible to find out through phone inquiries or emails I guess? Ugh... I hate making inquiries.
ETA: I have found out that you can order a single oval-8 plastic ring splint, which cost like $43 for a set of 13 in the US, for 40€ apiece. There's a shop in Turku that you can't order from, only buy in person, and they cost 45€ there. There's a similar brand made in Sweden that isn't sold retail in Finland, only through occupational therapists, that apparently cost around 20€ in Sweden at least. I cannot find any sign of occupational therapy in the area that you can get without being referred from a GP.
