9.The Hand's Rehab Routine is That Nothing is Routine

Every morning at 06:00hrs, I awake and quickly down a cup of green tea, egg white only omelet and toast. This cuisine is complimented by the ingestion of morning medications. Following that feast, I put on the tennies, sneak outside and take a brisk morning walk[Mike] weather permitting, which is nearly every day in Southern Cal. Returning home, I lay on the living room floor and start to count off 15 sit ups[Michael] followed by 25 push ups[Mr. Murphy this is reality checking in]. Actually it’s not that much of a departure from the truth. I can count to 25, got to keep the mental acuity, whether they’re accompanied by any physical regimen is another matter.
Well it’s almost fall here in San Diego. The leaves don’t change much here during fall, one can gauge the advent of the seasons by the length of pants worn It usually ends up being the misplaced Midwesterners, the Packers or Vikings fans who will try to confuse the seasonal signals by wearing shorts and T shirts through all four; During autumn and winter after they have already acclimated to our seasons and show tail-tale signs of a shiver or two. At that point, I like to taunt them a bit by putting on a sweater & coat & remarking about the chill in the air.
So I stay indoors with my devices and gadgets, attempting to revitalize my left arm and hand. My physical therapist gave me a section of this color coded elastic band, like a green translucent piece of inner tube. These bands come in different colors representing different tensile strengths. One needs to simply and carefully tie one end of the green rubber band around a door knob, close the door, and outside of the room of the closed door, go through a series of routines and exercises designed to strengthen the arm.The next device is this ooze named,’Theraputty’--more like silly putty on steroids. Theraputty also comes in different colors, tan through black, representing different densities and levels of resistance. My occupational therapist instructed me to use the putty as often as I can tolerate to help bring the feeling sensation back to my hand at least at the epidermal level. You can roll it, squeeze it, and knead it through your fingers-actually kind of fun. After the fun & games, it’s time to develop ‘Popeye’ fingers. I do this with a device called ‘Gripmaster’, a spring loaded hand grip machine that comes in varying tensions, with individual springs for each finger. This is not your typical stainless steel pretzel, with handles that you used in high school. It’s pretty high tech, some models & makes have adjustable tensile strength per each finger

The coup d’etat of all my routines involves the guitar itself. What is the worst instrument to be in close proximity when someone is first learning it and practicing on a daily basis? Tuba, Drums? –No, I contend it is the violin. How did the families Bell, Rabin, Menuhin, or Grapelli put up with their young prodigy’s practice regimen? Oh those screechy, scratchy, and slurred notes send chills through my spine with just the thought. While I don’t even begin to claim a remote association of talent level to these artists I will admit that my practice annoys me greatly almost to the point of mild depression. To remedy this, I took an old sock and tied it around the neck. No, not mine, the guitar’s- to muffle the sound while I go through my routine of finger picking patterns in hopes to create new neural pathways and muscular motor memory
check that D string,
Michael