Learning to sew again after a finger injury

[sans-seraph]

Greetings, all.  I suffered a fracture in my right index finger back in March.  The bone has almost completely healed now, and the prognosis for recovering my full range of motion is very good.  Does anybody have experience re-learning hand sewing after this kind of injury?  Are there any extra obstacles to learning that aren't present the first time around?  I've been sewing for less than a year, so the level of skill I'm trying to work back up to is fairly low.

[hutch--]

Hi Sans,

Welcome on board. As it seems that the injury has more or less healed, I would concentrate on whatever physio you can find to ensure that you maximise the movement and capacity so that you get as much as possible back. I know this from breaking a knee joint years ago in a motorbike prang, the more work you put into it, the better result you get. If you put in the effort, you will get OK results, if you don't you will get a lot less than you need.

Best of luck with both the full recovery and developing the manual skills for hand sewing.

[spookietoo]

I'm fighting the onset of arthritis in both hands. I am very right handed, so the stiffness in my left hand - which gets much less use - is much more pronounced.

I bought a gizmo at an athletics store ( Dick's or Academy ) which has buttons much like those on a trumpet, operated by springs. I think they make different tensions. Easy to keep on your desk or next to the tv and use whenever to loosen the joints and improve dexterity. I find it more useful than the hand held exercise balls. Also gives you the opportunity to concentrate on certain fingers.

Just a thought...

[Henry Hall]

I recall that Jeffrey D on the other forum had to re-learn after cutting through his hand with a large kitchen knife and severing nerves. Very nasty.

[Schneiderfrei]

Keep all the small joints in your fingers as loose as possible.  I recommend that my patients do it themselves, wiggle each little finger joint and the wrist. Its best if you slide the joint from side as close to the actual join as possible.