Glad you liked it. Thanks for taking stopping by and leaving the feedback. If it’s helpful, there are other videos here on handwriting and fine motor coordination. Have a great day!

Glad you stopped by 🙂

You’re welcome 😊

Yes, I personally can feel with my fingers. I am just doing my best to provide insight from an occupational therapist’s perspective, having worked with many individuals with fine motor coordination challenges.

@@mountaintherapyservices-oc7714 yeah thanks st first when I saw these I didn't realize you were an ot and weren't coming from the position of having had a stroke

And where you bring the coin with your thumb to the index this so looks so complex

These exercises are definitely on a continuum of easy to hard and some maybe too challenging to begin with. Isolating the fingers from each other is definitely a step up in challenge. Flicking with all fingers together or Trying to move a finger independently of the others with the fingers draped off the table would be a couple examples of simpler exercises to start with. I generally encourage people to see what they can do now and practice those movements a lot, building as part of your daily routine, and then try to increase the challenge as it improves. Hope this helps

@@mountaintherapyservices-oc7714 thanks at first I thought you'd had a stroke but you're offering it advice. Id there any trick to help with individuation or retaining that kind of control? Just keep tryin and hold down the others when needed?

You're welcome 😊 Glad you stopped by and hope it is helpful to you in your journey

Hope you find the practice paying off! Thank you for stopping by.

Glad to hear they’re helpful to you! Thanks for the feedback! Take good care

Hello! I know that must be frustrating for him to not be able to open his fingers. There are different reasons that can contribute such as if he has spasticity which creates imbalance in the muscles, causing the fingers to be flexed/closed, weakness of the extensors/openers, and if he is aware of that side of his body. Without being his actual therapist and being able to do an evaluation, I can’t give specific advice, unfortunately. I hope there is a local therapist who can evaluate and help advise on exercise and activity recommendations. I do have some other videos that may help and if you have other ideas for specific video content, I would consider it for future videos. I wish him well and I thank you be or stopping by and for your question.

Wishing you wellness and happiness!

@@Matt-yp1gc So are you, thanks ❤️

Thanks for the comment. Hope it’s helpful for you! Graph paper comes in different sized squares too. I can’t remember if I mention that in the video. The other longer video I link at the end may have additional helpful ideas. There are certainly many factors that contribute to handwriting. Wishing you well with your goals!

You’re welcome. I hope you are able to find some consistent rest and balance in your sleep cycles soon

I know that is a common challenge to navigate. I’ll put that on my list and hopefully you’ll see that pop up as a new video, when it’s created, if you have subscribed. Thanks for stopping by and for the question!

You’re welcome! Hope with practice and consistency, this can get easier. Oftentimes, stopping, taking a breath/sigh, restarting and not rushing helps also.

Thanks for the question. While left handed writers may sometimes use a different angling of the paper or have different perspective, while writing, I believe this video can be generally used for left or right handed writers. Does that help?

Thanks for visiting and for the feedback. Hope you find other videos helpful as well! Happy new year!

Glad you found it helpful! Thanks for stopping by

Hi and thanks for the question. To best answer your question, a person’s abilities, following a stroke, depend on many factors, which are individual to that person. Therefore, no stroke is the same. Some people do return to writing and some people must rely on their unaffected side for writing. It depends on the motor control, sensation, strength, coordination, perceptual ability, and cognition after a stroke and if the dominant arm/hand was affected. I also have a video specifically about handwriting that gives information and ideas about returning to handwriting that may be helpful. Improve Your Handwriting Legibility After Stroke or Brain Injury with These Exercises and Tips kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZovUYpqviNKFgrc

Hi and thanks for the question. While I cannot give specific advice without being your evaluating therapist, I generally consider the following treatments for my clients: lots of repetitive task practice of the muscles that are able to fire, possibly mirror therapy, possibly neuromuscular electrical stimulation (with assistance of a therapist and if there are no contraindications,) use of mental imagery, using the non-affected hand to assist the affected hand with the movement you desire and to perform tasks, managing spasticity, grasping and releasing exercises with objects of different sizes (even if it's not a strong extension of the fingers and it is more like an "active relaxation" of the fingers that flex,) trying grasp and release from different positions (ie. try releasing the object with your arm down at your side,) trying releasing an object by letting your wrist drop downward/wrist flexion while the palm is oriented towards floor which sometimes lets the fingers open/extend a little easier. I like weightbearing through the hand as a warm up to these activities. and I make sure to not neglect the shoulder. I make sure the shoulder and shoulder blade muscles are getting stronger and that the shoulder blade is moving as it should, making sure the affected arm and hand are supported to prevent subluxation of the shoulder. I think it also helps to have a good support system, a positive attitude and self-talk, and journaling to write the changes you see (even if small) to help you track your progress. I hope this helps and I wish you well in your rehab journey!

You’re welcome! Great question. In collaborative neurological rehab settings, like where I have worked, oftentimes the occupational therapist will be the professional with greater focus on the upper extremity, including the shoulder. In some settings, or depending on the training of the therapists on the team, it may be a physical therapist, as they are also trained in physical rehabilitation of the shoulder. Either way, I would recommend finding a neurological trained/experienced occupational or physical therapist to guide rehabilitation of the shoulder, after a stroke. He or she can evaluate and treat the muscle imbalance, tightness, and scapular (shoulder blade) weakness and instability that is often experienced after a stroke. We really need that stability to support functional movement patterns of the rest of the arm and hand. Hope they helps! I wish your mom a successful recovery.

Glad you’re finding them helpful! I would love to know what type of content you would like to see? I do plan to create more in near future.

You’re welcome!

So glad you find them helpful! Thanks for stopping by and taking time to leave a comment

Thank you for sharing your experience. I’m sure you encourage many people with your perseverance and the positive changes you’re noticing. 🙂Wishing you well with your rehab journey!

Thanks for the feedback and glad you found value!

hello! thanks for the question. It's very individualized reasons for why someone may be unable to participate, as you mention. There are a lot of factors to consider. When I'm evaluating, I consider cognitive status when choosing my therapeutic activities (ie. Can my client follow directions or do I need to facilitate more automatic activities or hand over hand?) If the person has visual neglect/inattention, I need to address that in order to have more attention to the affected side. I check if the person has contractures vs. spasticity and I adjust my treatment plan accordingly. Remembering the importance of proximal shoulder/scapular stability, strength and movement is key also. I also try to find activities that are meaningful and familiar to help engage the client best. Hope this is helpful.

@Mountain Therapy Services- Occupational Therapy Thank you for getting back to me. My nephew has a brain injury . He has been slowly becoming more and more alert but has been without physical and occupational therapy for months. I have been doing my best to provide it myself. We are in Washington NC, and am wondering if you know of someone in my area or surrounding areas (Greenville NC, New Bern NC,etc.) you can refer me to. Thank you for the information you provided.

@@kimbailey3232 I know a therapist in that area. I also provide telehealth for North Carolina residents. Email me at [email protected] and I can give that therapists info

@@mountaintherapyservices-oc7714 I will definitely be in touch Thank you

Thank you for watching and for sharing. I hope you find this helpful for getting the hand more involved in activities and I wish you well in your recovery!

That’s great that tremors have reduced and handwriting legibility is improving overall! Unfortunately, I am unable to give specific recommendations without evaluating as your therapist. There are many factors to consider for why this happens and what increases or decreases the symptoms. Some people find that sensory retraining, mirror therapy, relaxation and visualization exercises, medications, and others can help but it depends on individual factors. I hope you can find an occupational therapist local to you to who can help you determine what works best for you as I cannot give specific advice. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us

@@mountaintherapyservices-oc7714 ok thanks for your time mam.. I will try to do something definitely.. Thnks for this much help 🥺

@@krsnadasi540 you're welcome! I wish you well!

Hello and thanks for watching and for your question. I couldn’t give specific advice without evaluating but handwriting legibility can vary a great deal on the positioning of your body in your seat and in relation to the table, your stability of your shoulder, elbow, and forearm. When writing on a different part of the paper (ie upper right,) the demand on the arm and wrist/hand may change which may have an effect on tone and stability, which can affect the mobility for handwriting. Varying the angle of the paper, positioning of the body, and ensuring stability of the arm and hand may improve your handwriting. I hope this helps! Best wishes in your journey!

Thanks a lot mam i will try working upon it.. Take care❤

You’re welcome!

Thank you so much for watching and for the feedback! I’m glad you found it helpful!

You're welcome and thanks for checking out my video. Practice makes progress! Best wishes on your journey!

Thanks so much Cal for tuning in and for the feedback. I love receiving ideas on video content and how I can help more. As summer is drawing to an end soon, I’ll have more time to get back to it. I wish you well in your recovery and hope I can provide more helpful info for you in the near future!

Thank you so much bright moon for sharing your story and for the feedback on my channel. As my summer break comes to an end soon, I plan to make more videos. Please stay tuned and I wish you well in your rehabilitation journey!

Hi Erica! Thanks for the message and question. The product links should be listed under the description of the video (you may have to click the title to find the description, depending on which platform you are using to view this.) You may have to click “more,” to continue reading. There you will find the links for where you can find similar products mentioned in the video. Let me know if you have any trouble.

Hi Brian, thanks for the question and for watching! There are other brands of similar splints, however, the links for the type I am using in the video are listed in the video description above. You probably have to click "show more" to see all of the information. Let me know if I can help further :)

I’m happy to hear it was helpful to you! I’d love to hear how your writing progresses as you put in the practice! Thanks for the feedback!

Hi there! Not sure how I missed your comment but thanks for sharing feedback and hope you find it helpful!

Hi! thanks for your message. Glad you liked the video. I find that a lot of people who have returning finger flexion but no extension can continue to work on grasping with the hand but benefit from it being part of a functional task that also has the demand of releasing the object after grabbing it. If you can't actively open the fingers to extend them and release yet, the maybe you can "actively relax" the hand, maybe with arm at your side to drop it or dropping onto a table, in the least resistive way. Using mental imagery is great with this technique. If unable to release the object, then using the unaffected hand is still ok to do. Keep the activity meaningful and the task specific with actual familiar objects during this phase. Mirror therapy is often a good option to also fit in your routine, at this stage and maybe a therapist who can personally evaluate you could help you determine if electrical stimulation is safe for you and guide you through that as a tool also. As you can actively release, then you can build on that by trying to lift a finger off the table while hand is flat and then continue to build from there. Look for more videos in near future on this topic of progressing the finger extensors. Keeping the hand stretched and practicing weight bearing is also important. Find times of day where it may be easier and stick with those times. Hope this helps!

​@@mountaintherapyservices-oc7714 Thank you for your reply. It is very informative. I am currently using estim to help finger extension. I had transient involuntary finger full extension a couple of times at night recently. I can flex my fingers when I try hard, but it is not very strong enough to grab things tightly. Also, fingers are very stiff when closing like this (it is like the finger clench when I am stressful). This flexion is not like that is induced by estim. Fingers are very loose after estim flexion treatment and can be open easily with estim finger extension treatment. I am not sure if I can say that I had normal finger flexion back.

Keep up your hard work! I feel like it’s helpful to write specific goals (and then break them down into smaller manageable parts or movements), keep consistent practice, keep tasks specific and meaningful, have a keen eye for changes, even small, and document and celebrate them!

@@mountaintherapyservices-oc7714 Thank you so much.

@@huasss6505 you’re so welcome!

You’re welcome! I’m glad it was helpful. Thanks for your feedback

You’re welcome!

Carol, I"m not an OT, as you know, but logic says work on straightening those fingers just below the joint that doesn't move, like Shauna mentions in this video, so as not to hyperextend. Shauna, this in the need I"m talking bout in terms of national/international telehealth services.

Thanks for the feedback! I think it’s awesome you’re doing what you can to further your recovery, despite limited access to stroke related therapy services where you are. It would be good to figure out if the reason is due to contracture (the finger joints are stuck or fixed) or if just more significant spasticity (still stretchable but very resistive to stretch, noted especially with a quick stretch.) Try the same approach/stretches in the video , moving slowly and not quickly, and during a time of day you feel spasticity is less. See if you notice improvement. As long as you’re not having pain, keep practicing. Physicians hopefully (hopefully a rehab or neuro oriented physician) can help offer solutions for spasticity and help assess spasticity vs contracture. Hope that helps

Thanks for watching and for the feedback. Are you referring to the last couple minutes of the video? If so, I apologize. I was a little off on my aim at the end. Rest assured, there’s nothing really to see other than I’m Just leaning over onto my hand while talking.

@@mountaintherapyservices-oc7714 Ray is a good guy. He's giving feedback, not being critical. Great video! I post my comment here once I write it on Stroke Buddies. Dr. Tara Tobias has nothing on you!

@@StrokeBuddies definitely took it positively and as helpful feedback, so no worries! Thanks for the compliment. Dr Tobias has an amazing channel and is wealth of information