hi my husband had a stroke 8 years ago. He has tried everything for spasticity in his hand but now the muscles have shortened so much that he has a permanently clenched fist. I can just about open it for nail cutting but sometimes it is too painful to open. He is booked to have surgery for the muscles to be lengthened which should ‘open’ the fist but won’t make it work obviously. Question is does anyone know whether he will still be able to ‘hold’ things like the rowing machine handles at the gym, I take him each day, he loves it and he is really worried that the surgery will do more damage than good when it comes to the equipment that he uses. We’ve asked the surgeon but he’s quite vague. Thank you
Hi Sooboo
How did your husband's surgery go? If it has been done yet.
As each stroke is so unique, it would be difficult to say whether your husband will be able to hold things, such as the rowing machine handles as each person's recovery is very different, but I really hope it has worked for him.
Take care
Vicki
I know this is a very tardy reply but I got a special brace fromTALAR in the UK for my brother who has a fist hand ... it is put on the arm and hand ,has seperate divisions for each finger and has to be tightly fitted on to stop his hand clenching . A hassle to put on but do-able. After a few hours his hand does clench a little but I decided he would not have surgery and we would try to avoid the tendons shrinking ... it has worked for that at Least. See the photo for details and go onto internet.
