Headbands and Prosthetics - A Team Effort
I'm a bit obsessed with Jordan's long term comfort and health. We use prosthetics mainly to give her shorter limb a rest. If you hang out with her, you'll quickly see how easily she uses her little arm to do any and all things. It is not a passive short arm. When you step back and think about it, you'll also realize she's using her shoulder like an elbow. And shoulders aren't made to be elbows.After a while, all that overuse is going to lead to repetitive injuries. I don't want to see Jordan in pain. So I have her wear prosthetics to give her shoulder a break. And my other weapon against shoulder overuse: Wide headbands for her hair. I started buying any and all wide hair bands to hold her hair in place. It is also a pretty cool style.Fast forward to this week and we had a perfect storm. Jordan broke her helper arm on the playground. It's not the end of the world... She's broken arms before. Her prosthetist, David Rotter, has said before that a broken arm means she's wearing it. We'd rather have a broken arm than an unused arm. So I'm working on figuring out how to fix it. But add to the broken arm, this was the week where Jordan grew tired of wearing her super cool thick headbands.Yesterday, she went off to school with a fancy bow on a clip in her hair. It pulls her hair back, but it falls out easily. She spent a lot of the day putting it back on and brushing her hair out of her face. At bedtime, Jordan started complaining about pain inside her shoulder. So we had a talk about ways to limit her shoulder movement just to give it a break.I'm hopefully going to get her helper arm fixed as soon as possible to get that daily shoulder break. But I'm also encouraging Jordan to get those headbands back on and be a bit more mindful about how often she moves her shoulder. I think she's now overthinking every movement she makes. But hopefully it will help stop the pain she's feeling.I have a few ideas on ways to help prevent future pain. I need to get Jordan doing a few pilates exercises each morning to strengthen her core. I'd also like to get Jordan back into swim lessons so she can work on equal strength on both sides of her body. I'd appreciate any additional ideas in the comment section on ways to help prevent ongoing pain!