Synthetic Ice?

Good Morning, Campers.  Your diarist has been vacationing "down" on the Jersey shore.  Don't ask me why people say that they're going "down" to the shore when mostly they arrive from the west or in my case the south.  It's sort of like people in Boston saying that they're going "down east" when they travel to coastal Maine.

Be that as it may, although I've done no skating since the last post, I have done some dinghy racing which you can read about here if you're interested.  I've also gotten in a fair share of lazing in a beach chair reading the local paper (the Atlantic City Press) and yesterday's issue had a newsy news article in the C section of the paper entitled "Wildwood proposes synthetic ice skating rink".  I read this article with great interest.  Wildwood is a shore community about an hour south of where I vacation in Brigantine, New Jersey.  Anyway, the city of Wildwood is looking into building a synthetic ice rink which according to the article would be outdoors and open all year long.  You can read the article on-line.

A synthetic ice rink brings a number of questions to mind:  What's the surface made of?  Will they come out and resurface the synthetic ice ever couple hours with a synthetic Zamboni machine? Is synthetic ice slipperier than real ice?  And most importantly will your diarist break synthetic bones if he touches blades or catches an edge?

But seriously folks, has anyone out in the blogosphere experienced skating on such a surface?  What's it like on a nice, hot and sticky afternoon in say, August?!  The thought of all that kinda makes my head swim!

Week 12 report: Physical Therapy isn't a doodle.

After four weeks of PT I can report a little progress.  At the first session my therapist measured my grip strength; undamaged, semi-dominant left hand 90#; recovering, used to be dominant right hand 15#).  Initial wrist extension was left wrist: 55 degrees, right wrist: 10 degrees.  She measured other angles of articulation (flexion, supination, pronation) but I can't recall the numbers. 

I asked her if she thought I'd be able to get back most of the range of motion compared to my left hand.  She thought about this for a minute and replied "Well, if you were actually flexible and had say 80 or 90 degrees of extension before injury you'd probably not get it all back, but since you're about as flexible as a freakin' brick 55 degrees shouldn't be out of the range of possibility."  So there you have it--a silver lining!

I see her once a week and she gives me new torture routines exercises and keeps track of grip strength and range of motion.  Today I'm up to 35# of grip strength and 35 degrees on the extension measurement.  Today's measurements for supination, pronation and flexion  were 35 degrees, 65 degrees and 45 degrees, respectively. 

For those interested in brushing up on their anatomical terms of motion Wikipedia has a nice explanation here. 


Today she also pointed out that the swelling in my right arm has gone down enough so that I have wrinkles again--who knew wrinkles were something to look forward to?  Another silver lining! 

The new exercises for this week include "wall push-ups".  Imagine standing about a foot away from a wall, placing the palms of your hands about at head level and then leaning into and pushing away from the wall.  If that sounds easy it's because you don't have a healing but still tender broken arm!  You can make this exercise increasingly more difficult by moving your palms lower in relation to your body (for example shoulder level rather than head level; chest level rather than shoulder level etc.).  It will probably be several weeks before I can once again do regular push-ups from the floor.
I have a boat race coming up on the 16th of June.  By then I'm hoping to have a bit more grip strength or else holding on to the main sheet during long starboard legs up-wind will be iffy.  Also I'm hoping for light wind!   I'm packing the boat, we shall see.

Bowie Ice Arena will be back on line in July (they melt the ice for two months every year for maintenance)--we'll see about that as well.  Stay tuned.

Week nine: the short cast comes off and a final word on the subject of home made cast sheaths.

I was supposed to get the cast off earlier than this, but my surgeon had a family emergency and so my appointment was put off a week (groan).  So nine weeks to the day of me breaking my arm, the second cast came off and I'm now sporting a removable brace.

Jeremy is the med-tech who fashioned my green cast and it turns out he was also the one who got to cut it off.  Jeremy is an ice hockey player so at least I had another skater working on my behalf.  The tool he's approaching me with is a medical grade version of the Fein multimaster I have in the garage!

He first scribed a line the length of the top of the cast.

And then did the same along the underside.  After several passes on both the top and bottom the saw was through the hard shell of the cast but not through the heavy knit cloth glove which protected my skin from the rough fiberglass surfaces of the cast.

He next popped the cast open by working along the saw cuts with this spreader tool.  Squeezing the handles causes the head of the tool to expand which in turn widens the saw kerf.

Finally a quick bit of work with the scissors on the under lying mesh glove and the cast comes off.

Here's my new friend.  Black is always in fashion.  This brace has a thin, removable steel strip running the length of the lower side.  Yes, my arm is emaciated and was covered with scaly dead skin.  Sorry, no pix of that.  Interestingly, my wrist and hand are still somewhat swollen after nine weeks.  I have perhaps a tenth of the movement and flexibility of my opposite hand at this point and movement is still painful.  My surgeon gave me a prescription for several weeks of physical therapy and after getting the new brace I stopped at their part of the office to schedule my first session.

I noticed that they have a picture of Edvard Munch's "the Scream" hanging on the wall.  Clearly the PT techs enjoy their work. (Ve haf vays to make you flexible, old man.)

Lastly, the blurry photo above  is a belated final comment on the subject of shielding a cast while showering.  We needed to help the in-laws and this entailed spending  a few nights with them.  Earlier in the day I reminded myself to pack my store-bought cast sheath but of course I forgot to do so in the heat of packing.  The next morning I discovered my omission and figured I'd have to drop back and use plastic wrap as I did at the beginning of this adventure.  However my mother-in-law is an industrious and inventive woman and instead of giving me plastic wrap and packing tape, rooted around in the kitchen cupboards and produced the two gallon size zip lock bag and rubber bands which you see on my arm in the photo above.  This bag (10 inches by 18 inches) completely covered my cast and worked just as well as the purpose made product.  The rubber bands do a good job of sealing the open end of the bag and eliminate the tedium of one-handed manipulation of tape.  Keep this trick in mind if (a). you are as forgetful as I am, or (b). your local druggist doesn't  stock cast sheaths.  The only drawback of the two gallon bag is that it doesn't provide the mitten-like thumb of the sheath and is a tad more awkward in use but that's a small disadvantage which is completely out weighed by not having to make an early morning trip to the drugstore before showering!

Nope, not yet; the report from week 7.

I was in an overly optimistic mood this morning as I drove over for my appointment and hopeful of getting my cast replaced by a removable brace.  But although he was pleased with my progress my bone man said I need another two weeks in the green monster.  So, no sneaking over to the rink to squeeze one last public session before the ice goes away for two months.  I'll be glad to get rid of the cast before hot weather truly arrives.  This coming week features 70 and 80 degree days, which it a tad warm for early May.  So far I've been spared the dreaded impossible-to-scratch-inside-of-the-cast itchiness that everyone gleefully keeps telling me is part of the program.  One thing I am noticing is that my right arm now noticeably stinks--be sure to sit up wind if we meet!

Ah, come on.  You're over reacting!

Beer consumption and bone mass

While trolling through literature on PubMed relating to bone metabolism I found an entry with an eye catching title--one which will cause some of my readers to roll their eyes while others will say "Yeah baby! Finally some goods news for a change!"  Anyway, here's the abstract of the article (I love the last phase of the conclusion):

Effect of beer drinking on ultrasound bone mass in women.

Pedrera-Zamorano JD, Lavado-Garcia JM, Roncero-Martin R, Calderon-Garcia JF, Rodriguez-Dominguez T, Canal-Macias ML.

Source

Department of Nursing, University of Extremadura, Caceres, Spain. jpedrera@unex.es

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To study the effect of beer consumption on bone mass in a group of healthy women, by using phalangeal bone ultrasound to evaluate the amplitude-dependent speed of sound.

METHODS:

This was a cross-sectional study of 1697 healthy women (mean age 48.4 y, body mass index (BMI) 19.0-32.0 kg/m(2)), recruited in a clinical convenience sample and screened for the existence of disease and/or medication that would affect calcium metabolism. Of this total, 710 were premenopausal, 176 were perimenopausal, and 811 were postmenopausal. The women recruited completed a questionnaire that contained detailed sections on current cigarette, alcohol, caffeine, and nutrient consumption. In terms of current alcohol intake, the subjects were classified as moderate drinkers, light drinkers, and nondrinkers. Drinkers were also analyzed according to the kind of alcohol consumed: wine or beer.

RESULTS:

Quantitative bone ultrasound values were greater in the beer drinkers compared with the no beer and/or wine drinkers. Taking the amplitude-dependent speed of sound as a dependent variable, and age, BMI, gonadal status, intake of beer and wine, and number of cigarettes per day as independent variables, we found age (beta = -1.52), BMI (beta = -3.86), gonadal status (beta = -27.47), and beer intake (beta = 1.06) to be significant.

CONCLUSION:

The greater bone density found in women beer drinkers might be a result of the phytoestrogen content of this alcoholic drink; this requires further investigation.

Those interested in reading the entire paper can find it at this link:

 http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0899900709001361/1-s2.0-S0899900709001361-main.pdf?_tid=a47deb9348cfcece996f040900a2957b&acdnat=1335447956_e3b919782e18e22893c7cddbe6cd7de5

Enjoy!  (Remember to skate and drink responsibly...)

Reflections at week five.

No x-rays to share this week, just a few comments for others who may have broken an arm since I did and are reading these posts in an attempt to gauge the healing process.  Keep in mind that while my progress can probably be extrapolated to a general population, it is still somewhat unique to me.  To review my particulars: I'm male, Caucasian, 65 and am in relatively good health.  Your gender, age, genetic make up, plus the presence of diseases, such as type two diabetes for example, may influence your rate of repair.  As they say by way of disclaimer in automobile ads "your mileage may vary".

So, let's get to it: although my arm is still tender when I attempt certain tasks such as twisting jar lids, I've noticed that other things like tying my shoes are becoming much less painful.  Also, my elbow joint has returned to full range of motion without stiffness.  I no longer bother with an arm sling.  My shorty cast limits how much I can flex my fingers either up or down or side to side and that's probably a good thing since some of those motions are still stingy.

I find myself increasingly wondering if I can pull on and lace up my skates yet.  While I'm tempted to say no, I may have to test that little assumption this weekend.  Bowie Ice Arena melts the ice for annual maintenance at the end of this month.  The rink will be off line until July.  I next see my doctor on the morning of the 30th. The last public session is that afternoon.  Will I be out of the short cast and into a removable brace in time for one last skate before the compressors are switched off?  We shall see...

The report from week four.

This past Tuesday was four weeks to the day when I broke my arm.  Four weeks of not being able to move my elbow.  Four weeks of awkward, restless sleeping.  The original prediction was that a guy my age might be able to move to a short cast by the six week mark, but not to get my hopes up as it might be longer.  However I'm fairly active and for the most part I've avoided taking NSAIDs for pain (opinions are divided over whether or not that class of pain relievers inhibits bone metabolism but I decided to not take a chance and just toughed it out) so hope springs eternal. After four weeks of lugging around a heavy cast which continually made my neck ache due to the constantly sagging arm sling, I was ready for a change.  I drove over for my appointment knowing that at the very least , my old long, plaster splint would be removed for the x-ray and that I'd get a chance to wash my shriveled, smelly arm.

In the x-ray on the far right one can see the shadowy area towards the distal end (end closest to the wrist) of the radius bone where the fracture is mending.  The radius is no longer displaced in an upward direction.

My orthopedic surgeon was pleased enough with my progress that he ordered a short fiberglass cast which allows me to flex my elbow for the first time in a month. Sprung from my plaster prison in four weeks--not bad for a geezer! After attempting to sleep with an awkwardly immobilized arm this was a big deal!

Slim,trim, sleek and racy:  my new fiberglass short cast.  I was sorely tempted to choose the girly ROAR fluorescent pink color scheme--there didn't seem to be a sexy, black carbon fiber option.  In the end I settled for the classic British Racing Green look.  Unlike my former plaster cast, which was covered with soft "ace" bandaging, this cast is made of water activated "pre-preg" fiberglass. I was impressed with how quick it set up once the tech had dropped the roll into a basin of water--he had to work quickly--this stuff could be useful around boats... You can see one end of the wrap towards my elbow.  This is just one of several a hard, abrasive, raised edges which make pulling sleeves on and off a chore.  The rough edges also gnaw at my skin here and there and I need to be mindful around the good furniture so as not to scratch the wood .  I'm thinking about getting out my orbital sander and seeing if I can knock those ridges down a touch.

So, what else can I report at the four week mark?  For one thing, my right hand fingers are still swollen and tasks such as twisting the tops off of jars and beer bottles, tying shoes, etc. are still painfully challenging.  And I now know how the tin man felt after being left out in the rain--my right elbow was initially very stiff and achy after being being locked down for a month. Having the freedom to move that joint does improve sleeping and I also can once more use scissors to trim my fingernails (just in time).  I'm still writing and shaving with my left hand. And although the ability to flex my right elbow now permits exercise in the form of right-handed "Budweiser curls", the geometry of the cast at my hand makes grasping and aiming the bottle so that the contents are delivered to my mouth and not down the front of my shirt, a bit of an adventure.  I'm sticking with cheap twist-off beers until better control is achieved--this is a real quality of life issue...

How long will I be in the shorty cast? Good question.  I assume at some point in early May I'll be healed enough to get this one sawed off and have my arm in a removable brace.  At that point I'll start physical therapy to regain strength in my withered arm.