Per a request in another thread, I'll go over briefly how I recovered and increased my hand strength after injuries. In a nut shell, I broke my strong hand twice including a boxer's fracture and breaking the bones that keep your thumb bone attached to the rest of your bones so that my thumb was laid down against my forearm, have pins and plates in it, and some crookedness especially the pinky. My support hand is effected by nerve damage and I lost all sensation in my last two fingers and most of the sensation in my first two fingers. My thumb was never effected.
Step 1: Stop being a dumbass. This was tough for me. Instead of fixing the problem, I tried to find work arounds. I didn't go to the doctor, I didn't do followup, I didn't do physical therapy. I finally was motivated to not be a dumbass when I lost so much feeling in my left hand I could burn myself and not know it except by smell and it was effecting my recoil control dramatically. So, stop being a dumbass and get to a physical therapist.
Step 2: Do what your PT says to do. Don't be a dumbass and try too much too fast. You will have set backs if you are a dumbass. When they tell you "if it hurts, stop" they don't mean "if it hurts, push through it."
So, for the actual grip strengthening I used two tools.
This thing: http://www.fitnessmart.com/fitstore2/products/68200.htm starting at Barbie weights and moving up.
And this thing: http://www.ironmind-store.com/IronMi...ctinfo/1425-G/
The calibrated grip strength horse shoe shaped thing works pretty much like a traditional grip strength exerciser. I wrapped the handles in guaze tape, because once you got past 50 lbs or so it was kind of hard on the web between your thumb and pointer finger. I see they have a nicer version with better grips.
The green egg I use without my thumb. I squeeze my fingers against my palm, but with the egg in the way. I feel this simulates how you hold a pistol's grip pretty well. I squish it as I watch TV or read. I will then turn it long ways and squish it with my last two fingers or my first two fingers for extra challenge. If my elbow starts to feel sore, I stop. I then make a teepee shape with my fingers, hold them together with the other hand, and try to open my teepee against the pressure of my other hand. I'll slowly let the teepee win. You can do the same thing with rubber bands, but using your other hand for resistance let's you easily control how much.
Getting the nerves working again required a lot of stretching and really had to be done by a competent PT. I tried one of those at home stretcher things and it was junk. A real PT knows where and how to stretch you and knows which nerves are aggravated based on where you are numb, tingly, etc. I'm got all the feeling back in all my fingers but the pointer and if I wasn't such a dumbass and waited too long, I probably would have gotten that feeling back too.
Really, the keys for me where to use the horse shoe thing for maximum weight and short reps and the egg thing for holding a compressed grip for a significant time, etc. Do not over do it and cause repetitive motion injuries, don't get disgusted with your Barbie Doll weights and try to use Burly Manly Man weights before your PT oks it, no matter if you used to be fine with Burly Manly Man weights. Accept you aren't as young as you used to be and you take longer to recuperate. Don't be a dumbass. You're paying a PT because they know more about it than you. Don't try to outsmart them. It's way better to do several short sessions over the day than one or two heavy sessions. Squish the egg while you're going other stuff.
The end result was over about 4 months of PT I went from less than 60 lbs of grip strength in either hand to 120 lb in both hands. My support hand is actually slightly stronger than my dominant hand now, although it's evening out. My dumbassery is also much improved, although not completely eliminated.
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Originally Posted by dove
