Man of the South

Although many people think of the pinky fingers as useless, they are much needed for grip strength. I can think of 2 activities of daily living that would greatly be affected with the loss of one pinky, and even more affected with the loss of 3 fingers. The first one would be dressing yourself. Although the soldier would have a hard time dressing himself with only 4 fingers, I can only imagine the trouble that the man’s wife would have. There will always be buttons, zippers, and many other objects to manipulate when you are trying to dress yourself.

The main activity that I will focus on is brushing your teeth. I can’t imagine trying to brush my teeth with only my thumb and my index finger. One modification that could be made would be to use an electric toothbrush to really be able to focus on your grip on the toothbrush rather than the actual brushing motion. Another modification that could be added to the wife’s toothbrush would be the use of Velcro. Since she does only have 2 fingers, I think the easiest way to modify her toothbrush would be to have a custom glove made for her with Velcro on the palmar side. Also, have Velcro attached to the toothbrush so whenever she grabs the toothbrush with the glove, it automatically sticks. This would be a good way for her to gain her independence after the traumatic experience of loosing her fingers.