Brady Donner

Intermountain Health Neuro Outpatient Clinic

Description of the clients served and the work that is carried out there, in your own words.

In this setting, patients who have disabilities that are primarily related to the nervous system are

seen such as CVA, spinal cord injury, concussion, traumatic brain injury, Guillen Barre, and

Parkinson Disease. The clinic has occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech language

pathologists, and psychologists. The therapy that is performed there addresses fine motor and

gross motor skills, cognition, neuromuscular reeducation, vision, and others.

How your project supports the work of the agency

I created a glove for a client who had a brachial plexus injury. The patient’s soft tissue has begun

to shorten, leaving him in extension. In order to prevent further shortening and encourage

flexibility in the hand joints, the glove was created to be worn at night and bend the hand into

flexion.

A thorough description or picture or copy of the project itself, must use at least 2 resources

for evidence.

I created a glove that would allow the patient to have a low-load prolonged stretch to prevent soft

tissue shortening in his hand. He had a severe brachial plexus injury that has left his hand in

extension for an extended period of time, which has caused him to lose some of the flexibility in

his hand. The glove that I designed and created can be worn at night to give a prolonged stretch

which has been shown by research to help in maintaining joint mobility (Harvey & Herbert,

2002) (Nuismer, Ekes, & Holm, 1997).

After you complete the project, what went well and what could be done even better next

time?
I feel kind of attached to this project because I really put a lot of thought into what I wanted the

glove to do, and the best way I could get it to work right. I think that the clasp I used to hold it in

place works pretty well and I really like the Velcro strap I put around the wrist, which prevented

the glove from sliding up the patient’s hand. I would change the mechanism I used to put the

hand into flexion. I am concerned that the glove is too lose, but it was difficult for me to know

exactly how tight to make the flexion without being able to try it on the patient. The way I would

solve that problem is place a loop near the PIP joint and use an adjustable Velcro strap in place

of the clasp I used. I think this would hold better and be more versatile.

Patient wearing glove

References:

Harvey, L.A., Herbert, R.D. (2002). Muscle stretch for treatment and prevention of contractures

in people with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord. 40(1), 1-9. doi:10.1038/sj.sc.310124
Nuismer, B., Ekes, A., Holm, M. (1997). The use of low-load prolonged stretch devices in

rehabilitation programs in the Pacific Northwest. The American Journal of Occupational

Therapy. 51, 538-543. doi:10.5014/ajot.51.7.538