We know that in Australia being able to swim is a very big part of our summer lifestyle and culture.
Imagine going through the whole of summer not being able to swim, and worse still, imagine being selected for the National Swimming Championships and not being able to compete!
This client suffered a traumatic crush injury to their arm which caused serious fractures, tendon ruptures and a nerve laceration in his right arm. He has required 4 surgeries so far to rehabilitate the arm, and there is a possibility of needing more.
Despite the traumatic injuries, the client was very eager to return to swimming and continue his elite swimming training. As a competitive swimmer, it was very important to the client that he maintain the correct swimming technique whilst training, and he be able to compensate for any imbalance in arm musculature.
Nerve injuries cause an imbalance in the muscles that move and coordinate the arm. For this client’s nerve injury some of the muscles that allow the hand to grip and release were no longer innervated. He was able to make a fist, but had difficulty straightening the fingers and thumb and pulling the wrist back into a push up position. At rest it looks like a dropped wrist.
Our Albany Therapists designed a ‘one-of-a-kind’ dynamic wrist extension splint with hand paddle to help our client achieve his goal of continuing with his swimming training despite his injuries.
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