"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain." -Wizard of Oz
I concealed my affected hand behind a mirror while I watched
the reflections of my healthy hand open and close. This tricked my brain: As I
watched the reflection of my healthy hand, I had the sensation that my affected
hand mimicked the movement! But I couldn’t resist peaking behind the mirror,
where I saw the reality of my curled limp hand. For me, that shattered any
benefit of mirror therapy.
What I find more useful is to study my healthy side for
clues on how to use my challenged side. When working with SaeboFlex to grasp balls, I sometimes notice my
movement feels unnatural. I am approaching the ball in a way that makes it
easier to grasp given my disability. I stop and study how my healthy side would
do it. I observe the angle I reach from,
the position of my hand, then try to mimic that with my affected side – because
my objective isn’t to pick up a
therapy ball – but to move my affected side as normally as possible.
I learned from Eric that
symmetry is important. He sees a heavy crease in the skin on my affected side,
while the healthy side has a fine line. He sees the ridge of a curving tendon
on my affected shin, while its mate runs straight. He shows me a mound and
hollow in my affected calf compared with the smooth curve of the healthy muscle
on the other side. He tells me to imagine my skin like a sausage casing and to spread
the meat evenly inside it.
My body is a roadmap showing me where it needs work: level the shoulders, flatten the torso, balance the hips. Today my mirror therapy encourages me to look at both sides.
My body is a roadmap showing me where it needs work: level the shoulders, flatten the torso, balance the hips. Today my mirror therapy encourages me to look at both sides.
