Guitarist Hopes To Play Again With The Help of Bionic Hand 72
Dorian Cox, the 27-year-old guitarist of the indie band The Long Blondes, thought his guitar playing days were over after he suffered a stroke. He now has a glimmer of hope thanks to some neurological physiotherapy which includes a cutting-edge piece of medical technology. The SaeboFlex helps patients by supporting their wrists and helping them grasp and release objects. "It's a fantastic service, it's helping tremendously and I think it can work wonders for me and others — it's almost like a gym for my hand. I know things might never be the same again and nobody can give me a definite answer about whether I'll play guitar again but I'm getting back on track with their help," Mr. Cox said. This thing looks really cool, and I'm sure many people will benefit from it, though I can't help but wonder if they make a model that lets you shoot your fist at an enemy.
Re:not a bionic hand at all (Score:4, Informative)
And this uses mechanical parts to assist a human in doing things.
Re:No, you were not! (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, strokes can happen spontaneously overnight. There are lots of people out there who just develop blood clots without any known medical or physiological reason and it often comes on suddenly.
Clots can lead to strokes and PE's
And you can still be in good health (medically speaking) and get a thrombosis.
GrpA
Re:No, you were not! (Score:5, Informative)
That's a lot of BS. A friend of mine had a stroke in is 30s: he kept fit, didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't eat too much, and you how it happened? He was taking a dump, was pushing hard with his mouth closed, and collapsed right there. The hospital doctor I talk to said the extreme change of blood pressure when someone does that is enough to burst a vessel even with the healthiest person.
Incidentally, I who drinks coffee, alcohol and smokes the cigar, never rushes my morning business anymore. I've seen the result, nosiree...
No need for a bionic arm... (Score:5, Informative)
Heh. You don't need a bionic hand for playing guitar.
Keith Xander [fender.co.uk] has been doing it for years with one arm - and well, too!
Hell, there's even a guy who plays guitar with no arms [youtube.com]! Granted, it's mostly Tom Petty songs, but still ;)
Re:No, you were not! (Score:2, Informative)
The bottom line, you shouldn't have to push. Believe it or not, changing the amount of fluids (particularly water) as well as upping your fiber intake should do the trick.
Since I've changed that much of my diet (more water and a glass or two of Konsyl, a pure fiber supplement, every day) the crap literally falls out of me and in massive quantity. At the worst, your breathing and sitting up straight while taking a bowel movement should be enough to work it out of you. Remember to breathe, the displacement of organs that results from breathing causes a massaging type of action to help move things along in your system. Any strain beyond that and there is something wrong.
I really wish there were a manual on this kind of thing, I never realized how bad some of those "common" bathroom habits were for your body. For instance, all those people that sit on the toilet while reading increase the chance of developing hemorrhoids or other blood vessel related complications due to the extended stress it puts on that part of the body.