return after hand surgery

[Nick]

I had fairly significant hand surgery on my right thumb on 1 February 2017 and after 8 weeks my sensational physical therapist gave me the ok to return to the erg. Told me to take it very easy for the first couple of weeks and to strictly limit time and effort to avoid a serious re-injury. So 10 minutes and 1000 meters later all feels fine albeit slow beyond belief, but it's marvelous to be back in the saddle. Should mention that I'm indeed fortunate to have had the surgery and rehab at the University of Virginia medical center. UVA has a world class women's crew so the hand surgeon that did my hand is highly experienced with injuries to that part of the body. Of course, the ladies of the UVA crew are fifty years younger than me, so their recovery is light years faster. All I can advise is that patience is critical. It's vital to heed the instructions of the medical and rehab professionals.

[Ripples]

Having suffered a shoulder fracture December 2015, absolutely agree that it's crucial to do the physical therapy. I doubled up on the homework sessions, doing two hours of PT at home in addition to my PT appointments. Also increased my protein intake. Was back on the water by mid-April with the blessing of my orthopedist who told me I could do whatever I wanted, but if it hurt to back off. Did have to back off for a couple of weeks (patience is not one of my qualities) but no harm done. Didn't have my erg then, which is probably a good thing.

Best wishes for getting back to 100%.

[Nick]

Ripples - Thanks for the input. Protein! I've got a session with the PT on Monday and I'll ask about that.

[jag]

How did you injure your hand? I assume it wasn't rowing related??

[Nick]

Jag - Sorry for late response. Basically, the injury was simply a matter of 78 years of wear and tear. Very common injury and very long recovery after the surgery re-built my right thumb joint. Now in physical therapy and literally learning to use my right hand. Rowing has also been resumed but very, very slowly with minimum resistance.

[c2jonw]

Posted this a couple days ago in a similar thread........

"this from my own experience in recovering from hand surgery. It's very easy to modulate the amount of force coming from each arm on the drive. Move the hand of the good shoulder closer to the middle of the handle and move the bad hand to the end of the handle. The most extreme is to put the fingers of the good hand through the ribs in the middle of the handle and put the bad hand out at the end. You'll be pulling with virtually 100% of the force coming from the hand in the middle while the recovering shoulder goes through the range of motion with minimal force being applied. Adjust hand positions as you get better"....... C2JonW

[Nick]

c2jonw - Thanks for the advice. Will definitely give it a try first thing in the morning when I get on the erg. I do occasionally have a shoulder acting up - and the Sports Medicine docs have told me that I can adapt and learn to live with it or get a shoulder replacement. No thanks! Range of motion is fine, strength is ok just the occasional cramp. But I will apply your suggestion and see if it helps. Thanks!