Contractures of the fingers following tbi

[Janner123]

My husband has severe contractures of his fingers after having a severe brain injury. He is in a rehab unit and they are putting soft splints on him but I'm wondering if anyone has had any success with robotic gloves and if so which one.His fingers are so bent I'm not sure if I'd get the glove on . I'm keen to do anything to help but don't want to waste money. I would be glad of any suggestions that would help him open up his hands. He is very confused and isn't able to do much to help himself at the moment

[philbou]

hi

My wife has severe contractures too

I dont think any amount of stretching helps

The ot should normally be doing fes to open the hand

We have the robotic glove and just about every splint on the market they haven't worked for us but it something ive not really concentrated on when doing her rehab so far For us there were bigger things to concentrate on first

The contractures are caused by over stimulation by his brain to his muscles until that settles and calms down you wont know the extent

Splinting normally worn for a few hours a day His brain is continuously telling them to contract 24 hrs a day

Splinting may or may not help it didn't for us

I just do gentle stretches each night it means i can open her hand

And when she yawns there is involuntary movement to open but not enough to go flat

Botox injections helps us more than any splinting

Theres a very good channel on youtube called rehab hq tara tobias

That has been a godsend of help for us

Good luck and blessings for your rehab journey If i can help in anyway please shout

[Janner123 in reply to philbou]

Thanks, he is in level one rehab and the therapists do seem good and are working on his hands, I suppose I was thinking there may be something I could purchase to help that the nhs funds didn't provide for. I massage his hands for 15 mins each when I visit daily which seems to help a little, just to loosen them, but they do contract up again very quickly. I will certainly look at that you tube channel and that is interesting what you say about botox, thanks very much for your help

[philbou in reply to Janner123]

the muscle that controls the fingers are further up your arm than you think

Try it on your own arm feel in the inside of you elbow and towards uour hand And wriggle your fingers

Massaging there will help too a gentle stretching of those muscles help too forget what they are called

[Janner123 in reply to philbou]

Thanks, that's interesting and very true, I hadn't thought of it tbh

[Eltonsilver]

Hi Janner123My husband came out of hospital/rehab exactly a year after he went in with a TBI. He had contracture of his right hand and it was so painful for him. While he was still on the neuro medical ward they put him on gabapentin and that helped the pain. I found once he was able he started to try and straighten them with his other hand.

He has been left with his little finger bent and the next finger slightly bent but he focuses on it all the time, he is a butcher by trade. He does everything with that hand and has plenty of grip but it's still a cause for concern to him.

It's a long process you are following but you will get there x

[Janner123 in reply to Eltonsilver]

Thanks for the encouragement, I won't give up then, my husband also moves the fingers on his bad left arm with the fingers on his not quite so bad right arm

[Silkwood20]

My husband has a splint on one hand and a huge 'sausage' shape thing in the other. I daily work on his fingers, I ask him to relax them and sometimes I feel he is able to. I do exercise his arms to music too. He has kept a fairly good range of movement so far in arms the physio feels, though we are losing the battle on fingers a bit. They used Botox on fingers in first year, I think that helped He is still totally paralysed though (just eye movements and can turn head a little bit ) and it's been 21 months now, I hope all the arm movements might help his chest, he gets lots of chest infections (due to trachiostomy) but he seems to recover well each time. Very best wishes to you both.

[Janner123 in reply to Silkwood20]

Thanks, I will keep up the hand massage and look into botox, all the best to you both too, This is all new to me my husband fell off his bike in August and apart from severe brain damage he also broke his jaw and arm very badly. It seems a long while ago but I'm beginning to realise how actually we've only just begun on a long journey