ARM EXERCISER

(Keywords: Arm exerciser, shoulder exerciser, tennis elbow exercises, carpal tunnel exercises)

Enabling your patients to exercise their arms at home, after frozen shoulder treatments for example has never been easier. Make this arm exerciser for them for only $5, or let them make it themselves. Simple.

ROTATOR CUFF SYNDROME

After successful chiropractic treatment of a rotator cuff injury it is vital to go through a series of exercises to strengthen and generally rehab the strained muscle. Fail to go through rotator cuff strengthening and the chances are high that the pain will again the next time you play tennis, use a heavy drill, paint the ceiling...

In our clinic we used to start with a series of simple isometric exercises, followed a couple weeks later with this commercially available arm exerciser. It retails for around $15.

The only problem is that it's made with a cheap and nasty pulley which gets red hot when you are arm exercising. Then the nylon rope starts to fray....

There's a simple solution: make your own. You will need

Two metres of nylon rope
A moderately good pulley
Two pieces of broomstick, each roughly 14cm long
A short piece of cord

Maximum cost $5.

GO FOR IT!

Using a hand held saw, or machine tool, cut two lengths of wood about 14cm long. Using a drill press, drill a hole in the centre just large enought to take your nylon cord.

Thread the cord through the first handle, over the pulley, and through the other handle. Make small knots on the ends of the cord.
Thread your other piece of cord through the hook on the pulley, about 6" long. Knot the end.

Done! What could be easier than making a shoulder exerciser? Now go to rotator cuff strengthening for more info on how to use it. I'll try and summons the energy to put a video onto YouTube.

Meantime, hook the short length of cord in the door jam, about the height of the handle with the knot on the far side of the door. It can also be placed at the top of the door to change the angle of attack. Apply the appropriate exercises according to the injury and desired effect.

TENNIS ELBOW EXERCISES

Tennis elbow exercises are difficult to describe, and I need to take some photographs, and perhaps do another YouTube film.

Meantime, stretch the arm out straight in front of you, flex the wrist and fingers. Now grasp the middle finger of your naughty arm, with the other hand and stretch pull that middle finger towards you. Not out of the socket! In a bad case of tennis elbow you'll feel a painful stretch reaching up towards the elbow.

CARPAL TUNNEL EXERCISES

I must confess I don't have a great deal of faith in these exercises, but they are reputed to help, and in a difficult case anything that helps, even it's just 5% we'll gratefully accept! CARPAL TUNNEL EXERCISES ...

CTS is a pinched Median nerve, usually in two places. In the inter scalene triangle ... perhaps, or in the forearm between the two bellies of the Pronator Teres muscle in the forearm and / or in the carpal tunnel.

Remember, CTS never causes tingling in the pinkie.

Careful... Underlying many cases of arm pain is a slipped disc in neck and injudicious cervical manipulation can certainly increase the bulge. In every case where there is pain in the arm, and slipped disc arm pain must be ruled out, I like to do both the Upper Limb Tension Test, and Adson's Test, though I do the latter in a modified way to make it more specific.

Adson's test

Personally, I find that Adsons Test done in the classical manner is positive in many normal patients. However, it is the most useful test to confirm a suspected Thoracic Outlet Syndrome that may be causing pain and tingling in the arms and hands ...

USEFUL LINKS

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Physical Therapists providing a "Chiropractic adjustment?"

With many insurance companies now only paying for Physical Therapists to provide a "Chiropractic Adjustment", in the face of powerful research proving that inclusion of Chiropractors to provide the Chiropractic Adjustment would save them a good deal of money, one has to conclude that political Medicine has gone off on another tack to contain Chiropractic.

And it's being successful, with some Chiropractors quitting. In recessionary times, the going is tough when the insurance won't pay.

Is the time approaching for a new Wilk vs AMA and the Insurance Companies?

ARM EXERCISER

ROTATOR CUFF SYNDROME

Adson's test

Physical Therapists providing a "Chiropractic adjustment?"

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