Fitness for someone with hand damage.
January 19, 2016 6:59 AM Subscribe
I destroyed a finger in a way that is permanent & painful (details inside). I think even partnered dance might be impossible because the way my hand would be held might hurt. While I'm looking for non-partnered dance classes that fit my schedule (way harder than I thought!), are there any other fitness activities I could learn that would result in a skill akin to dance, rock climbing, or martial arts?
- Ring finger of dominant hand; complete destruction of proximal interphalangeal joint
- Cannot bend easily/without pain
- Even the lightest pressure from 'above' the knuckle (as when someone loosely holds your hand in partnered dance, which I know from experience) can be painful. Pressure from 'below' the knuckle is fine.
- Can't bear much weight on that hand
- Definitely cannot do the 'crimp' position for bouldering and the like
- I think a course where I learn a skill is 100% more likely to get me fit than just grabbing a personal trainer and getting to work
I'm a bit reluctant to suggest something that does not directly answer your question but wanted to know if you'd ever tried encasing your injured hand in something rigid that would protect the joint and allow someone to hold your thus protected hand?
This might allow you to do partnered dancing.
posted by sciencegeek at 7:09 AM on January 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
This might allow you to do partnered dancing.
posted by sciencegeek at 7:09 AM on January 19, 2016 [6 favorites]
Would the pressure from water be too painful? Swimming is a skill and one that's wonderful for getting fit, but it's not normally thought of as demanding on one's hands.
posted by peppermind at 7:26 AM on January 19, 2016
posted by peppermind at 7:26 AM on January 19, 2016
What about slacklining or trampoline?
posted by mal de coucou at 7:39 AM on January 19, 2016
posted by mal de coucou at 7:39 AM on January 19, 2016
I don't know if you'd call this a skill, but it is dancey and (to me) highly enjoyable: Zumba! :) I'm even starting to grow out of my two left feet (which if you've been doing partnered dance likely isn't an issue, but). Different instructors have different styles too - my gym has some folks that are much more Latin in style, more hip hop, etc, so if you have a gym you like, it pays to go to everyone's class and see whose style you like.
posted by joycehealy at 7:41 AM on January 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by joycehealy at 7:41 AM on January 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Jimmy Fallon ring avulsion Fallon mentions his doctor in this You Tube clip. Chu's office might be able to offer some useful advice. I hope it's helpful.
posted by effluvia at 7:50 AM on January 19, 2016
posted by effluvia at 7:50 AM on January 19, 2016
Surfing, snowboarding, stand up paddle boarding, speed skating, luge, soccer (with splint, though you might still wind up with some kind of impact), running; in track and field, high jump, long jump (again some risk of impact), probably others.
You can do resistance training with resistance bands or a cable machine, by using a cuff attachment above the point of pain, or by slipping your wrists inside the handle attachments. (That's what I do with a bad wrist/forearm).
posted by cotton dress sock at 7:52 AM on January 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
You can do resistance training with resistance bands or a cable machine, by using a cuff attachment above the point of pain, or by slipping your wrists inside the handle attachments. (That's what I do with a bad wrist/forearm).
posted by cotton dress sock at 7:52 AM on January 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Belly dance?
posted by runincircles at 8:12 AM on January 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by runincircles at 8:12 AM on January 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
When you're looking for non-partnered dance forms, there's the kind of stuff you'd find at the average dance studio - tap, ballet, jazz, modern - and then you may find club dance and hip hop at other venues. Also look for folk associations - bhangra, Irish or Scottish step dance forms, American clogging, African or Afro-Carribean, samba (some styles are solo, some partnered) etc. Just saying that there may be more dance classes out there if you expand the search.
posted by aimedwander at 8:15 AM on January 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by aimedwander at 8:15 AM on January 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
Keep climbing. Everyone always talks about how climbing with an open hand makes you a lot stronger. Tape it up to remind yourself not to use that finger. It'll take patience but you can keep doing something you enjoy doing.
posted by blueberrypuffin at 8:42 AM on January 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by blueberrypuffin at 8:42 AM on January 19, 2016 [2 favorites]
Zumba might be good. It's challenging even if you've danced before and there isn't any partnered work or bodyweight exercises that might put pressure on your hand.
posted by purple_bird at 10:35 AM on January 19, 2016
posted by purple_bird at 10:35 AM on January 19, 2016
How about Taekwondo? It's a martial art, but the focus of TKD is really kicking, which doesn't involved your hands at all, and blocking, which you do with your forearms. You would have to modify some things, but it would be stuff like doing punching drills with one hand open. I think if you found a good teacher that wouldn't be a problem, because like I said, the focus in Taekwondo is really on teaching you how to do more and more elaborate and beautiful but fairly impractical kicks, which doesn't involve your hands at all. So it's lots of fun from the point of view of perfecting your fine-motor control, but it's not as focused on practical self-defense as some other ones, which typically involves more grabbing and grappling.
A typical TKD class goes like this: warm-up and stretching, kicking drills without a partner (where you're just standing in lines and practicing kicks), practicing forms (which are patterns of kicks, turns, punches and blocks without an opponent), sometime some self-defense stuff like how to get out of a choke-hold, and then sparring, which is practice-fighting with a partner. The place where you'd need to be the most careful would be self-defense, where you would have to learn how to do some things with your non-dominant hand probably, and sparring, and we usually wore pads sort of like shin guards for our hands/forearms and feet/shins that would keep your fingers together and help keep your finger from being bent.
posted by colfax at 11:48 AM on January 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
A typical TKD class goes like this: warm-up and stretching, kicking drills without a partner (where you're just standing in lines and practicing kicks), practicing forms (which are patterns of kicks, turns, punches and blocks without an opponent), sometime some self-defense stuff like how to get out of a choke-hold, and then sparring, which is practice-fighting with a partner. The place where you'd need to be the most careful would be self-defense, where you would have to learn how to do some things with your non-dominant hand probably, and sparring, and we usually wore pads sort of like shin guards for our hands/forearms and feet/shins that would keep your fingers together and help keep your finger from being bent.
posted by colfax at 11:48 AM on January 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
I agree that martial arts could work for you if you found the right school, style, and instructor. One thing you might want to look for is a school with many adult students. It's quite common for adults to have to modify techniques to work with their bodies, and it would be helpful to have instructors who are used to this. For instance, one modification that might work for you is that you would wear a sparring glove all the time when you train. Or instead of doing pushups, you would do sit ups. And then there may be some techniques (i.e., self defense, board breaking) that you would do with your good hand only.
posted by oceano at 5:17 PM on January 23, 2016
posted by oceano at 5:17 PM on January 23, 2016
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posted by pantarei70 at 7:04 AM on January 19, 2016 [1 favorite]