Getting a Grip

shawnamawna (65)in #life • 6 years ago

Healing is a slow and steady process with plenty of regression to go with progress. I know this intimately. Throughout my life I have experienced one injury after another of variable sizes, but mostly big. A scraped knee for me as a nine-year-old looked nothing like my daughter's scraped knee. No, when I tripped and fell I skid across glass and gravel that not only took the full first layer of skin off, it became embedded in the remaining tissue so my knee spit out shards and small stones for three feverish weeks. I recall waking at night screaming from the pain. Mornings I would sit on the closed toiled while my mother went over the mottled, yellow skin with tweezers.

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I have no desire to compete when it comes to injury. I share this to illustrate what I mean when I say I don't get hurt a little bit. When I get hurt, I get hurt a lot.

And that's precisely what happened when I didn't quite throw that barbell while failing a lift last year. Instead, all the weight rolled into one palm and backward off my fingertips. There was an audible pop, apparently my tendon tearing. It took three months for the hole in my tendon to close. Now I am strengthening my forearms and working on my grip. Because, even at six months down the road, I get about halfway through my day before my left thumb and middle finger stop closing. That bit of my grip goes lax. It, as my friends laughed earlier, "ran out of spoons."

This affects my ability to write, to type and to complete any fine motor task. Because I am a left-handed writer, it can be quite frustrating. Outside of writing there are my goals of toes to bar and pull-ups without assistance. To do those, my hand has to stay strong and closed. Even typing right now has my wrist aching. My arm is tired and wants to rest. I will let it, but I will also push. To consistently challenge in meaningful ways means to improve.

It's possible I will never again have the level of dexterity I once did. I hope that's not the case. Until then I will keep chipping away at my strength goals. Squeeze toys, keychain curls, hanging from the cage--I will do them all. I am seeing the benefit. Yesterday my handwriting was almost back to usual. Today I was able to keep my grip while in a hollow hold (the first pull-up position).

Getting a Grip

What baby steps are you taking toward your goals?

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