[nabs-l] Cane grip and hand, wrist, forearm pain

[sarah.jevnikar at utoronto.ca]

Hi Jim,
Oh the belly poke ... bad times for sure. I find sliding the cane  
rather than tapping it helps to aleviate this problem, but it's not  
infalible either. Sometimes having the cane at a less steep angle can  
help, or maybe getting a bigger tip that won't stick in so many cracks.

As for the grip, I believe the recommended grip is that of a fist  
around the cane with your pointer finger lying along the flat side.  
The flat side should be pointing skyward, so to speak. for arm pain,  
you might consider using more wrist action; moving the cane back and  
forth by bending your wrist from left to right rather than moving your  
entire forearm.
HTH,
Sarah
Quoting Jim Reed <jim275_2 at yahoo.com>:

> Hey all,
> The pain in my hand/wrist is not going away, and Now it seems to be   
> spreading to my forearm, and even my bicep. Last night, I was ready   
> to call it quits after just three blocks. The hand/wrist pain is not  
>  so bad that I can't or won't use my cane, but it certainly makes it  
>  uncomfortable to do so. A majority of the pain I experience is in  
> my  hand, mostly in the meaty section just below the thumb, and just  
>  above the wrist. My cane has one side of the handle that is   
> flattened, and I've tried three different grips, and nothing works   
> to alleviate the pain. Grip 1: make a fist with the cane inside the   
> fist, with the thumb along the flat side,  on top of the cane. Grip   
> 2: Index finger pointed out, resting along the flat part of the cane  
>  and is on the top of the cane. Grip 3: make fist with cane in the   
> middle of the fist, with thumb along the flat part of the handle, on  
>  top of the cane, while my pointer finger is extended and running   
> along the side of the cane
>
> Additionally, I've been working on trying to keep my cane hand   
> extending out in front of me, in the middle of my body, and I feel   
> that that may be contributing to the forearm/bicep pain. Also, I   
> find my cane hand drifting towards the side of my body (where it   
> would normally be if I wasn't using a cane). One problem I have had   
> with keeping my cane in front of me is that when the cane gets stuck  
>  in a crack or something in the sidewalk, I end up taking a poke to   
> the gut. I don't really mind the poke to the gut, what worries me is  
>  that I will break the cane; with the speed that comes with being 6   
> foot four and having long legs, and with mass, energy, and momentum   
>  that comes with being 340 pounds, I have put some pretty severe   
> bends into my cane via a gut poke, and I am afraid that once I move   
> away from a strong aluminum cane, I will snap or otherwise destroy   
> every cane I touch. Literally, my cane bent like I was in the   
> process of doing a pole vault. After
>  the bend, my cane had enough stored energy that the tip of it   
> jumped 3 feet in the air without me doing anything. The unstopable   
> force meets the immovable object. I pity that cane.
>
> I walked to my campus for the first time last night, and it went   
> flawlessly. Prior to having this cane, I never even would have   
> considered walking to class after dark. The route was just too dark,  
>  for too long.
>
> Any suggestions on the grip and location of the cane would be appreciated
>
> Jim
>
> "From compromise and things half done,
> Keep me with stern and stubborn pride,
> And when at last the fight is won,
> ... Keep me still unsatisfied." --Louis Untermeyer
>
>
>
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