Tenodesis is actually a super fun word to stay. It makes me feel important, it feels nice coming out of my mouth...but the reality is, my life will be totally okay if I never have to utter the word tenodesis again :)
But this post will be full of all things tenodesis brace related! Here it is - my completed brace...in all its metal bended and welded and sewn and velcroed glory!! Its beautiful really. A work of art. It does actually look really cool, it looks like something out of a Terminator movie. And most importantly, it actually works and functions like it is supposed to. Always lovely to have that feeling of utter pride and ultimate satisfaction when it all comes together like it is supposed to. These braces are actually pretty interesting, the use of gravity to release the object is fun to work with. We spent all day grabbing every pen and water bottle we could, really trying these out and getting a grasp (pun intended) on the functionality of the brace.
Don't I make it look fun?? We had to present each of our braces to the class and show that they actually worked, that they were fairly comfortable (as comfortable as you can imagine a metal hand brace might be) and talk about our trials and tribulations we had while fabricating. We got to work with leather on this project - for the straps - velcro, metal, the blow torch, and barge cement for the foam insert...so lots of different components. There were many tiny pieces and parts, small and big ones. Overall, this is by far the most intricate and complex thing we have done this semester and I would be a huge liar if I said I wasn't thrilled to have it over and done and in the books. It was stressful and time consuming, but as I have said time and time again, it was also a thrilling high at the end to have finished a project and feel really proud of it and see it in action. The real beauty of making orthoses in school is that we each get to be the patient so I am getting a chance to really experience every device and what it would be like to wear it and use it and live with it. I think that is going to be something that really benefits me in the future as a practitioner. I am going to completely and totally understand when my patient comes back to me after a week of wearing this brace and says that he hates it because its bulky and uncomfortable and he is not a fan of wearing a metal thing around his arm. I am also going to completely and totally force him to sit with me for 25 hours while I make the darn thing so he understands that I had to kill myself making it and therefore, he MUST wear it :)
All in all, the project was a great learning experience and worthwhile...and if I have to make one of these in the future (and by 'have', I mean 'when'), I will be ready!!
This was my partner on the project, Christina...she made the brace I am wearing and I made the one she is wearing. We both seem to be pretty happy and satisfied customers.
