Pinky Power
In the story "Man From the South", we see a bet take into place between a soldier and an old man. The old man bets that if the soldier can light his lighter ten times in a row he can have his green cadillac, but if the soldier lost then the old man would chop off his little finger on his left hand.
The soldier thinks that his pinky has little purpose, but every finger has significant purpose. The pinky side of your hand is known as the ulnar side. The ulnar side of your hand provides more mobility than the other side of your hand, resulting in greater grip. If the soldier lost his pinky he would loose about half of his grip strength. This would cause great impacts to his daily occupations. The soldier would not be able to hold his firearm, put on his uniform, brush his teeth, or tie his combat boots.
While the soldier is working to strengthen the other fingers, he could modify his activities using a gripping aid to ensure a firm grip on the objets. This modification addresses occupational performance and role competence outcomes from the OTPF-4.
The old man's wife only has two digits left on her hand. Her grip strength is significantly weaker with the loss of 3 digits, which means her daily occupations are challenging. Activities such as driving, cooking, dressing, and bathing are just some examples. I would recommend she focus on increasing the strength in her other hand, so she can work on coordination due to her injured hand. She could also get a prosthetic for her fingers so she could grab and pinch items.
Emily, I loved reading your blog post! A gripping aid would definitely help him in completing his daily activities since they can be used on virtually any tool. In terms of the wife, I agree that increasing strength in the opposite hand might allow her to improve coordination, especially if the hand with only two digits was her dominant hand. Great job!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of making this story relatable to the real world and the understanding of why the little finger, and all fingers, are important for daily activities! I agree that a gripping aid would help the soldier complete his occupations and strengthening the other fingers would help both him and the man's wife in the future. It is definitely important for a soldier to have role competence so he can fulfill his role as a protector. Great job on this.
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