91. Hand Problems in EDS with Corinne McLees, OT and Hand Coach

Episodes have been transcribed to improve the accessibility of this information. Our best attempts have been made to ensure accuracy,  however, if you discover a possible error please notify us at info@bendybodies.org. You may notice that the timestamps are not 100% accurate, especially as it gets closer to the end of an episode. We apologize for the inconvenience; however, this is a problem with the recording software. Thank you for understanding.

Linda Bluestein, MD (00:03.234)

Hand pain, weakness, and injuries are super common problems for those with joint hypermobility. So we're tackling this really important topic today. And we actually had over 40 questions submitted by followers of the free Instagram broadcast channel, which I was really excited about. If you wanna submit a question for a future episode, search for hypermobility MD on Instagram and tap on the broadcast channel icon near the bottom of the profile page. And then from there, you can turn on notifications.

And I wanna thank everyone who submitted a question for today. Your guest today is Corrine McLees She has a connective tissue disorder herself and has been an occupational therapist specializing in hands for almost eight years. She is the owner of a hand clinic in Richmond, Virginia and also virtually helps people around the world understand how hypermobility is often their missing hand pain piece, puzzle piece.

and teaches them what to do about it so they can get back to their favorite activities with happier hands. Corinne, hello and welcome to Bendy Bodies.

Corinne (01:05.593)

Thank you so much, Dr. Bluestine. I'm so excited to be on here. I'm an avid listener and it's such an honor to be here with you today.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:13.654)

Oh, wonderful. And I'm so excited to have you here. And I want to welcome back every bendy body. This is the bendy bodies podcast and I'm your host and founder, Dr. Linda Bluestein and the hypermobility MD. This is guaranteed to be a great episode. So be sure to stick around until the very end. So you won't miss any of our special hypermobility hacks. As always, this information is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical advice.

Okay, let's jump in. What is an occupational therapist and how does this differ from a physical therapist? And also, why is this so important for people with EDS and HSD?

Corinne (01:48.965)

This is such a good question, and I have a few different responses. The first is what I will tell you what the difference is not, because I feel like there's an old school way of looking at the difference of occupational and physical therapy, and then there's a more holistic approach. So an old school definition might be like an occupational therapist or an OT looks at your arms and your hands and treats those parts. So we kind of divide the body like top and then the PT would be the bottom.

the trunk, the legs, the feet. Okay, but that is not at all like what, that's not what we do, that's not our difference. I would say that the major difference between occupational and physical therapy is what we emphasize. So like what the purpose or the goal of therapy might be. While OT and PT might have like the exact same interventions, OTs look at everything through the lens of improving your function.

Linda Bluestein, MD (02:48.387)

Mm.

Corinne (02:48.801)

so that you can engage in everyday meaningful activity. So our goals are very activity focused. For example, I know you help a lot of dancers, maybe a goal might be so that your dancer or gymnast could weight bear on a bar with three out of 10 pain or less. Whereas the physical therapist might emphasize more strength or range of motion.

Linda Bluestein, MD (02:56.662)

Mm.

Corinne (03:15.421)

goals and so we might have very similar interventions such as risk strengthening for this one example but the OT's focus would be on the outcome of like that occupation or that everyday activity if that makes sense.

Linda Bluestein, MD (03:30.69)

It does and that's fascinating. I always learn so much when I have these conversations because I've definitely had that old school impression that occupational therapists dealt with the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, and physical therapists didn't and they dealt with pretty much every other part of the body. So that's really, really fascinating and thank you for explaining that.

Corinne (03:38.757)

I'm sorry.

Corinne (03:43.67)

Yeah.

Corinne (03:51.361)

Of course, and you know, I think it's easy to make that distinction because when we think about our everyday activities, we do a lot with our hands, a lot of focused things with our hands, such as cooking or like I help a lot of crafters and knitters. And so like, those are like very classic, like occupational therapy things, because we also really focus on activities that provide meaning and bring us joy. I mean, we do the whole spectrum of activities.

Linda Bluestein, MD (04:08.43)

Mm.

Corinne (04:20.589)

all the activities that you want and need to do. But occupational therapy does tend to focus more on those fine motor and hand things. And also there's a lot of different opinions and explanations out there. So if you are listening and you're an OT or a PT and you have a different way of explaining it, please message me on Instagram because I always love to hear other perspectives.

Linda Bluestein, MD (04:40.618)

Ha ha ha!

Linda Bluestein, MD (04:44.322)

And I love to hear that too. So definitely, yes, and sending you a message and or commenting because we'll be sharing, of course, this episode via some social media posts. And that's also a great place to have a conversation and then other people can see as well like what people are saying. So for sure. So can you tell us what some common reasons are for hand pain with connective tissue disorders like EDS or other conditions involving joint hypermobility like HSD?

Corinne (04:59.481)

That's great.

Corinne (05:10.909)

Yeah, yeah, there are so many reasons why people's hands might hurt with connective tissue disorders. And I kind of want to briefly talk about like hand anatomy in general to help this kind of make sense because hands are so complex. It's not just one joint, like it's not just a shoulder, or it's not just a hip. It is, there's roughly 29 joints in just one hand alone. And so, right, so when we think about how there's a lot of connective tissue that...

Linda Bluestein, MD (05:24.738)

Hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (05:33.56)

Wow.

Corinne (05:38.817)

or surrounds joints, so there's a lot of connective tissue in our hands. In addition to that, hypermobility can affect each of these joints separately. So you might, like each joint, each of the 29 joints in your hand might not be very well supported. And so this can create a lot of hypermobile movement patterns within your hands, as you're engaging in your everyday activities. Where you are like...

hyper extending your finger joints without realizing it. And you're hyper extending like every single one without realizing it over and over again every day. So creating that picture of like, if you look at your hand and you look at all the creases in your hand and you maybe you bend your fingers and you see like all the different joints that are within your hand and within your wrist that have to work together, hypermobility can affect each of those individually. And then it creates this whole picture of like hypermobile.

movement patterns that are not supportive. So because of all of this, it can present itself in a lot of different ways. People might have just like general pain and swelling. Their hand just might feel tired all the time because it fatigues faster, because their joints are in hyper-exhited positions all day, which means that the muscles around that are supposed to be powering these movements have to work a lot harder. It could be that

you might have like a lot of subluxations, feelings of your finger joints getting stuck in like a hyper extended or backwards position and that you have to like overcome a sort of like resistance. You might feel like a popping or locking when you go to make a fist or use your hands and this can often actually mimic trigger finger. I've had several people with hyper ability get diagnosed with trigger finger.

And then we find that it's simply actually like their ligaments subluxing out of place. And so finding like the appropriate hand supports for that. A nerve impingement is another thing that affects us hypermobile humans a lot more than non-hypermobile humans. And this creates like a numbness and tingling sensation in your hands. But just because you're having these symptoms in your hands,

Corinne (07:59.129)

doesn't necessarily mean that the hand alone needs to be treated. So we need to look at all of the possibilities, areas that it could be impinged, starting with our neck. It might be your neck, it might be your shoulder, it could be your elbow, like cubital tunnel syndrome, or your wrist, carpal tunnel syndrome. But nerve impingement is a common one that people complain about, like that sensation in their fingers, that numbness, that falling asleep.

Linda Bluestein, MD (08:04.757)

Mm.

Corinne (08:28.017)

and that tingling sensation. And then I have one more, arthritis is also like a common, there's several studies that have linked to the development of hand osteoarthritis with, especially in that of our CMC joint, so like that joint at the very base of our thumb, where our thumb meets our wrist. A few studies have linked.

Linda Bluestein, MD (08:33.01)

Uh.

Corinne (08:52.137)

joint hypermobility or instability with the development of osteoarthritis specifically in that CMC joint. So all of these reasons and probably so many more are like why people with hypermobility tend to have sore or fatigued hands.

Linda Bluestein, MD (09:09.506)

That's a lot of reasons. And for those that are listening to this episode, Corinne is at times showing us her hands and I would encourage you to watch the YouTube video if you can and I encourage you to keep doing that because it is helpful. You and I were both looking at our hands and I was looking at all the creases when you said that. So that's really helpful. And then there's small fiber neuropathy as well that can influence numbness, tingling in the hands. There's a lot of different things.

Corinne (09:25.525)

Yeah.

Corinne (09:30.93)

Mm-hmm.

That's right.

Linda Bluestein, MD (09:37.65)

So if people have hypermobility in their hands or in various different joints in their hands, we're gonna talk about, I'm sure, a lot of getting into real specifics, but can you give us a little bit of a 10,000 foot overview as to what people can do if they have hypermobility in their hands?

Corinne (09:53.085)

Yes, I love a 10,000 foot overview. So I like to approach it not just with one thing, but with an umbrella of things. And I take a four-fold approach. So number one would be looking at hand support options. And I say this very broadly because it's not just braces or splints. It's like everything from ring splints to kinesio tape to braces. But I kind of categorize all of those as

Linda Bluestein, MD (10:12.109)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (10:18.774)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (10:22.585)

hand supports being that first dimension of support or of things that people can do for their hypermobile hands. The second one is what I call gadgets, AKA assistive devices or tools to make things, your activities more ergonomic for your hands. For example, this might be an electric can opener. Using a like vertical mouse would be an example of what I would call a gadget, which is just like an ergonomic.

Linda Bluestein, MD (10:48.154)

Mm.

Corinne (10:50.885)

computer mouse that keeps your wrist in a more neutral position. Oh yes, I love that you have one too. Oh, that's a good gadget. Yeah, so those would be like that second category of gadgets. The third category that I love to teach on is helping people develop a pain flare toolbox specifically for their hands. So this might be heat, if heat feels good, cold, use of tins, massage, compression gloves,

Linda Bluestein, MD (10:56.402)

Yeah, I have one too.

Linda Bluestein, MD (11:10.094)

Hmm.

Corinne (11:20.365)

the pain down, especially when we're in a flare. And then finally, like the fourth sort of dimension that I like to look at is exercises. Of course, like engagement in therapeutic exercises with your hands when done appropriately and not in a way that like encourages hyper extension or joint strain, but instead keeps all of your joints like reined in and aligned.

This can be a very beneficial way to add like a natural support to your joints by strengthening your muscles. So those are my those are my four things, hand supports, gadgets, pain, flair toolbox and exercises.

Linda Bluestein, MD (12:00.57)

Awesome, I love those four things. And I have a lot of hand problems. I've had all kinds of different devices over the years. I use a lot of gadgets. I obviously have this mouse and I've had some surgeries. And so I particularly wanna know this, how we can strengthen our hands without making our things worse. I know this was a question that came up a lot from questions from the followers. And I definitely need to know this as well. My orthopedic.

Corinne (12:22.259)

Mmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (12:30.562)

hand specialist actually told me not to go to therapy and not to do any specific exercises. Maybe he thought I would make things worse, but I would love to know how you work with people to strengthen their hands, because hand grip strength is really important, right?

Corinne (12:46.613)

It is. It is very important and I'm actually shocked that that's what he told you to do. Have you had hand... Right, or not do. Have you had hand therapy before? Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (12:53.274)

Or not do, yeah. I have after, so I had a sub muscular ulnar nerve transposition and I also had a bone grafting surgery in my wrist. And I got CRPS after my bone grafting surgery in my wrist. And I got the impression that maybe he felt like, because my pain was well controlled, that he was worried if I started to do more therapy that maybe I would have more pain. But, so I've had lots of...

Corinne (13:01.817)

Okay.

Linda Bluestein, MD (13:22.55)

I've worked with OTs a lot, but I haven't done it for years.

Corinne (13:27.285)

Yeah, oh well I'm really, I feel honored to be able to like answer your question about this and of course, you know, all our listeners questions as well. So there are, when we're talking about increasing our hand strength, like there are so many different hand exercise tools and gadgets out there like Amazon has a bajillion that they'll try to sell you one. And I just, you know, as an OT specializing in hands, I just keep coming back to TheraPuddy.

Linda Bluestein, MD (13:29.282)

Ha ha ha!

Linda Bluestein, MD (13:47.373)

Bye.

Linda Bluestein, MD (13:57.099)

Mmm.

Corinne (13:57.159)

Have you had any experience working with Therapuddy before? Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (14:01.07)

I have, I have. And are you gonna show us some? Sweet.

Corinne (14:04.925)

Yeah, yeah, and I was thinking I would try to also describe it for those of us that are listening, but I was going to also show. So I love, I love TheraPuddy because it's a great way to begin strengthening your hands, like especially if you're not used to hand exercises. When you do TheraPutty exercises with like the lightest resistance possible, and honestly it's like fun, it's like silly putty, it's like a fun fidget almost.

Linda Bluestein, MD (14:11.574)

Perfect.

Linda Bluestein, MD (14:33.358)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (14:33.881)

But when you begin it with a lower resistance, it's more gentle on your joints. It's a more gentle way to introduce this concept of hand strengthening. TheraPutty often comes in four or five different resistance strengths. You can actually look on Amazon or on Google and find TheraPutty, but I would recommend you get one that has at least three or four or five different strength or resistances to it so that you can slowly upgrade.

Linda Bluestein, MD (15:00.686)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (15:02.685)

over time. And the last reason that I want to talk about why I love TheraPutty for people with hypermobility is because it offers amazing proprioceptive feedback to your finger joints. And oftentimes people with hypermobility have poor proprioception. If you have poor proprioception in your hands, you might find yourself dropping things a lot or like squeezing your steering wheel really hard, like squeezing things too hard, squeezing your writing utensil.

Linda Bluestein, MD (15:15.096)

Hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (15:29.486)

Mm.

Corinne (15:32.421)

too hard, overreaching or underreaching, those are all signs that you have poor proprioception in your hands. TheraPuddy offers really good feedback to your finger joints and it helps to improve that connection from your brain all the way down to your hand so that you are more aware of like what your fingers are doing in space. So that's why I love TheraPuddy for people with high mobility.

A few, these are just a few exercise ideas that you can do with the Thera putty. You might just have it in your hand and oftentimes like I have very long big hands, very long fingers but a lot of yeah a lot of people like I do yeah I think that's my connective tissue as well. My connective tissue issue but yes absolutely what a big word for a silly phenomenon. Love it.

Linda Bluestein, MD (16:12.058)

You do.

Linda Bluestein, MD (16:18.99)

arachnodactyly.

Corinne (16:26.293)

So I don't have an issue when my TheraPutty is like big and like it comes, some of them come in like a lot. Like if it's like a three ounce container of puddy that can feel like a lot if you have small hands. So don't be afraid to like cut it in half if you need to or you know, use two thirds of it. But all my long finger girlies and boys out there, they can use the whole thing. So just having it in your hand.

Linda Bluestein, MD (16:30.495)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (16:37.036)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (16:50.857)

and just slowly squeezing the putty. So we're like driving our fingertips all the way to the middle. You should be able to see like nice indentations in the putty once you've done this. And then do it again. What we're looking for too is that it's, we're not like over flexing, we're not like over squeezing, we're not trying to hyper flex so tightly and make such a tight fist because

Part of what I like to use exercises for with our hands is practicing a more controlled range of motion. So just kind of squeezing within what feels like a therapeutic range rather than really hyper flexing at everything. So that is one idea, is just squeezing it. That will increase your grip strength, your ability to grip items easier. Another option would be to roll it into a log.

Linda Bluestein, MD (17:23.998)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (17:46.985)

And then, yeah, yes, please, yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (17:47.842)

And as you're doing that, can I ask you a follow up question? You were showing that, which was really helpful. So you're holding it like in the palm of your hand, and then you're squeezing with your fingers. Is your thumb not involved in that?

Corinne (17:56.981)

Yep. Yeah. That's a great question. What works for the listener, I want you to do whatever works and feels natural to you. A lot of people leave their thumbs out of that. I leave my thumb completely out of that one because the one I'm about to show you has your thumb included. And my thumb likes to just kind of be out of the way for my finger exercises. But you can include it if it feels natural to you.

Linda Bluestein, MD (18:24.622)

Okay, great.

Corinne (18:25.353)

Yeah, that's a great question. So we've rolled out our putty into a log. Kind of feels like preschool. And then you can pinch it. So I would have it down here on my tabletop surface, but I'm gonna hold it up here for those of you watching. But you would just pinch the log. So I'm taking my index finger and my thumb, and I'm just pinching it. And then I might take my middle finger and my thumb and pinch it, then my ring finger and thumb and pinch it.

Linda Bluestein, MD (18:30.21)

Mm-hmm.

Ha ha ha!

Corinne (18:54.937)

then my pinky and thumb and pinch it. And then we would start over again. Practicing pinching and pinching the log of the Theropedi is a great way to improve your fine motor coordination, which can come into play with things like writing or clasping a bracelet, all those small, all those teeny tiny like finger joints and muscles have to coordinate together very well and have some strength behind them to be able to do our daily activities.

So pinching the Theraputty log is one way to increase the strength there. Once you have your log, you can also, like, the Theraputty sticks to itself, so you can make it into a circle. And then you would put that Theraputty circle or ring around your hand, like around your fingers. And you could do this with a rubber band or a hair tie too. Just put like a rubber band over your fingers and then slowly open up your hand.

Linda Bluestein, MD (19:44.151)

Heh.

Corinne (19:52.897)

And so that would be strengthening the back of your hand, those extensor muscles. Yeah, so I feel like that's sort of a good array of strengthening the different muscles of our hands and in different movement patterns. Another thing too is like people that are hypermobile, I tend to really encourage you to go into it low and slow. And so that might mean like, your therapist may prescribe you like,

Linda Bluestein, MD (19:55.947)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (19:59.54)

Love those.

Corinne (20:22.125)

three sets of 10 repetitions. But when you're starting out, you might just only do eight of them and see how it goes and not like overdo it because our joints are so small and our connective tissue and everything in our hands as hypermobile humans, we're more prone to inflammation. And so just really meeting yourself where you're at with that low level of resistance and just slowly upgrading over time is what I would say.

to do if you're just starting out.

Linda Bluestein, MD (20:55.79)

I think that's really smart and I will definitely be ordering that putty this afternoon. So I love that. Love that.

Corinne (20:59.145)

Yes! Awesome! Yes, keep it at your desk as like a good fiddle or a good cue.

Linda Bluestein, MD (21:06.782)

Yes, yes, that visual reminder will be great as well. And so traditional therapies, I think a lot of people probably are gonna listen to this and say, you know, they've tried some more traditional things and they haven't worked. What are some reasons why some of those traditional therapies might not have worked for people with hand pain and hypermobility?

Corinne (21:23.161)

Yeah.

Corinne (21:27.809)

Yeah, this is a great question. And I think oftentimes someone comes to a doctor, a generalist doctor that has hand pain. And I know that you know, too, that our medical system, there's just not enough awareness of the signs of hypermobility. I personally feel like there's blatant signs of hypermobility, especially in the hands. If you just even were to look at somebody gripping a writing utensil, you could see it there.

but it's often missed. And again, we have like 29 different joints in our hands that could be causing pain and soreness. And so I personally feel like the catch-all term for hand pain, like if someone comes to the doctor with hand pain, they're usually diagnosed with tendonitis. And this is so common. I had a hunch that it was so common that I polled my Instagram audience on this.

And 88% of question responders reported that they were first diagnosed with tendonitis before they were then realized that they had hypermobility or suspect that they have hypermobility. They were diagnosed with like, yeah, like that oftentimes the dequervain's tendonitis, that thumb tendonitis. And so oftentimes like if then someone is diagnosed with tendonitis, then they go into a hand therapy clinic.

Linda Bluestein, MD (22:34.988)

Wow.

Linda Bluestein, MD (22:41.125)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (22:51.681)

And so all the clinician sees is, okay, this is tendonitis. So what is our general, like what is our protocol for tendonitis? We're gonna ice the area, for four to six weeks or whatever, and we're gonna have them wear just a brace, a brace that keeps their thumb and their wrist completely from moving. So now the person with hypermobility might be in more pain because they are having to, like they're in a brace, they don't like ice maybe, and they're having to overcompensate.

Linda Bluestein, MD (23:05.102)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (23:08.322)

Mmm.

Corinne (23:21.677)

because their thumb and their wrist aren't moving, their fingers are having to move in different ways and hyper extended ways. And so oftentimes like the people that are diagnosed with tendonitis in their hands, they don't get better with that traditional treatment for tendonitis. And so then they're kind of left with those same issues because the root of the issue, which is hypermobility in their hands was never addressed at all or was never even realized.

Linda Bluestein, MD (23:48.15)

Sure, and they have the wrong working diagnosis. Right, yeah.

Corinne (23:51.657)

Yes, absolutely. 100%. Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (23:56.202)

Oh, interesting. What are some helpful low profile braces and hand support options? And one of the followers asked, is it OK to wear compression gloves long term?

Corinne (24:08.249)

Oh, that's a good one. Yes. I love talking about low profile hand supports. And it's totally okay to wear compression gloves long term. Just make sure, especially like if you're using them for nighttime use, which is actually a really amazing way to not sleep with your hands all like in this bent up position, but compression gloves can offer a nice nighttime cue. Just make sure that you that they're not too tight, especially if you're using them over a long period of time.

that they're not leaving, the seams aren't leaving marks on your hands, you know, for hours and hours once you take them off. So compression gloves are one example of a low profile hand support. Some other examples include kinesio tape. I have a really popular kinesio tape tutorial for thumb pain on my Instagram. I've pinned it at the top of my feed. So if you find me, make sure that you check out that tutorial.

Kinesio tape in the thumb is amazing. It's like, it offers fully customizable support and it can also improve the wearer's proprioception so that when they have a tape on, it's not gonna restrict anything. It's, you know, you look at this Kinesio tape and you're like, I don't understand how this is making such a difference for me. But it might be improving your proprioception, your awareness of what your thumb is doing so then you're doing a lot less strenuous, you're engaging.

with your activities with your thumbs in a way less strenuous way, and improving those almost unconscious movement patterns by just simply having kinesio tape on your thumb. So kinesio tape is one example of a low profile support option that I love. In a similar way, if you Google or look up on Amazon, silicone thumb supports, these are...

Linda Bluestein, MD (25:35.936)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (25:55.895)

Mmm.

Corinne (25:57.157)

It's kind of like silicone stretchy material that offers like a targeted compression to your thumb and to your wrists. And again, I suspect this definitely helps to improve your proprioception. You can still fully move your thumb, which is really important, but just offers some good pain relief and support to your thumbs. The Push Metagrip. I don't know, Dr. Bluestien, if you've heard of the Push Metagrip, but it's one of my favorite thumb braces. Okay.

Linda Bluestein, MD (26:24.702)

have not heard of that one and by the way I will have in the show notes I will have a link to that pinned video that you have on Instagram.

Corinne (26:33.769)

Oh, okay, yay, awesome. Perfect. So this is the Push Metagrip for those of you watching. For those of you listening, please look it up. It's a very unique thumb brace in that, when I say the word thumb brace, you're probably picturing this itchy, bulky black brace that has a metal bar that runs from the top of your thumb all the way down into your forearm. And when you think about that picture of a thumb brace, you can't really use your hand.

like at all, like you can't, your thumb is out of the picture and our thumb gives us almost half of our hands functionality. Like we are humans with opposable thumbs and we need to be able to use them, you know? And so I love like the low profile options such as the ones that we're talking about because you can still be supported in your everyday activities. And you might, like you might use a wrist brace or a thumb brace when it's really flared up or when you're sleeping or resting, but having these like more functional,

Linda Bluestein, MD (27:11.514)

Mm. Right.

Corinne (27:34.069)

hand support options is great. So the Push Metagrip is made by Brace Lab and it's considered a brace. There's actually a metal bar that runs around the thumb but as you can see or listeners if you're if you're looking this up it leaves my thumb fully mobile so it really is the way that it's positioned and the way that it works is that it really offers a good squeeze to this bone right that the first bone of my thumb that connects my thumb to my wrist.

that provides better alignment of my CMC joint or that joint that again, where my thumb meets my wrist. And once we have this established a stable base of support for our thumb, oftentimes like it really helps a lot of the pain, especially like my kayakers love this, my sporty people, people who paint or crochet or knit, like this is a really, you can cook in this brace. So the Push Metagrip.

Linda Bluestein, MD (28:23.787)

Mm. Yeah.

Corinne (28:34.029)

It's just a really good one that you can still get really high quality support. I would say this is more supportive than kinesio tape, but you can still really use your hand. And I also want to show you the wristable. I don't it's another. Yes, go ahead. Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (28:50.942)

Before you go on to that, I have to ask, so because I feel like this question comes up all the time about overusing, overusing bracing. Is there a downside? Is there a downside to, because I'm thinking I have bad CMC arthritis, bilateral, you can see I have like no thenar eminence. I'm showing Karine my hands right now. My hands are really bad, but anyway, is there a downside to wearing that on a really regular basis?

Corinne (28:56.173)

Yeah.

Oh, that's such a good question. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

Corinne (29:10.519)

Yeah.

Corinne (29:18.713)

Such a good question. So I will say that there is a downside to wearing your traditional run of the mill brace that has a metal bar in it all the time because that will weaken our muscles and the muscles in our wrists and in our hand. But the Push Metagrip is designed in a way that actually you can see your muscles of your thenar eminence are actually contracting better with this thing on because it's more aligned. And so like with these types of supports,

Linda Bluestein, MD (29:42.722)

Mm-hmm. Right.

Corinne (29:48.733)

I don't personally feel like you can really overdo it, especially when you're using it in an intentional way for certain pain levels or certain activities. But I have had people start wearing the Push MetaGrip that end up almost more fatigued in that thenar area because those muscles are being recruited because they're not normally recruited, but this Push MetaGrip brace actually helps to recruit all of the right muscles around your thumb. So.

You should definitely look into it.

Linda Bluestein, MD (30:19.646)

I definitely will. I've got my little shopping list. We'll have links for all of this so that everyone can find all of these things that you're mentioning. So thank you so much. This is great. Okay. Now I'm ready for the next one. I just had to ask that.

Corinne (30:27.257)

Amazing. Oh my gosh, of course. Yeah. Okay, perfect. Yeah, that's such a good question. I know you, I think that you help a lot of gymnasts and dancers, is that right? Okay, so this is called the wristable. If you, it's Brace Lab makes the wristable, but I might just show you a picture because it can be quite annoying to get on, but if you are watching the video or if you're looking this up.

Linda Bluestein, MD (30:38.786)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (30:56.533)

It really helps people to weight bear better, but the targeted support that it has for your wrist, it doesn't block any functional motion. So BraceLab actually tested the wristable, that's W-R-I-S-T-A-B-L-E. They tested this wrist support out on gymnasts to see if they could still do all of the things that they needed to do and they...

Linda Bluestein, MD (30:59.585)

Mmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (31:18.638)

Mm.

Corinne (31:24.089)

did, like they didn't have any complaints about it, but they were just a lot more supported, especially in that weight bearing position. And they were still allowed functional, full functional range of motion, just better wrist stability. And this is a relatively new brace that BraceLab just came out with, which is really cool.

Linda Bluestein, MD (31:43.722)

That's fantastic. I've never heard of that one.

Corinne (31:46.101)

Yeah, it's a good one. And then we already talked about compression gloves. So those are pretty much all of those, yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (31:51.37)

Are there any great, are there any particular things that people should look for when they're looking for compression gloves? Cause I know there's ones that are fingerless, there's ones with fingers, probably all different. They have copper infused or not yet.

Corinne (31:59.321)

Oh yeah, yeah. Yes, configurations. Right, right. Yeah, that's a good question. I want, if you're thinking about getting compression gloves, I want you to think about what you're gonna be using them for. For example, I have a pair of compression gloves that I use for driving and they have grips on them so that I can grip the steering wheel lighter. And so the grips on the steering wheel on my compression gloves really help.

improve my driving ability, but the texture of them is not that comfortable. So like if you're looking for a pair of gloves to sleep in, you're going to want to look for something soft, cottony, probably something that doesn't have grips on them. And maybe, you know, if you like the idea of your full finger being confined, then you might go for the full finger compression gloves that enclose your fingertips. If you're looking for more daytime use, you're going to definitely want compression gloves that have your fingertips free so that you can still engage in our world.

Linda Bluestein, MD (32:58.546)

Okay, great. And I hate to say this, but while you were answering that question, you like disappeared very briefly, which I was like, ah, would you mind if I, if I ask you the compression glove question again, and you answer it again, just in case for that, I'll keep that first version if it came out, but just in case, and I'm looking at our percentages and they look like they're like, well, mine's, while I'm pausing here, mine says 99% also, so we should be okay, but

Corinne (33:08.182)

Oh no? Okay.

Corinne (33:12.183)

Yeah.

Corinne (33:16.245)

Yeah, absolutely.

Corinne (33:23.253)

Mine says 99%. Okay.

Linda Bluestein, MD (33:27.702)

but just in case.

Corinne (33:27.977)

Okay, I will say you've been looking blurry to me. Do I look blurry at all or... okay.

Linda Bluestein, MD (33:32.994)

You don't and oftentimes the video is blurry while we're recording, but it's supposed to be a much higher quality and it usually is. So yeah. Yeah. No, I'm glad that you said that. But so yeah, so I'll say mistake, even though that was not a mistake. And I'm going to throw the compression glove question at you again, if I can remember. Oh, I...

Corinne (33:37.829)

Got it.

Okay, I'm like talking to a blurb right now, which is totally fine. Yeah.

Corinne (33:50.286)

Okay.

Linda Bluestein, MD (33:56.958)

So what particular things should people be looking for with compression gloves? Because I know there's so many different options. There's they have full fingers, fingerless, copper infused, whatever. So what should people look for?

Corinne (34:07.529)

Yeah, this is a great question. So I would encourage you if you're looking for compression gloves to think about what you need to use them for. For example, when I drive, I like to wear compression gloves and I actually like to get the ones that have the grips in the palm so that when I grip my steering wheel, my hands aren't sliding off of it, but I have a good grip on them. But the texture of these gloves, like you want to consider the texture and the fabric too.

Linda Bluestein, MD (34:21.356)

Mm.

Corinne (34:31.317)

I would never wear these gloves to sleep in because I really don't like the texture. So for sleeping, you would wanna look for something softer, something with 100% cotton that feels good on your hand. If you're trying to consider whether you want the full finger or the open fingertip gloves, you probably don't want the full finger for daytime use, but that can be a great way to, a great thing to have for nighttime use. If you like the idea of your fingers enclosed, some people really don't at all.

I would say the open fingertip ones are more popular. And then it's funny that you mentioned that thing about copper because there's like no scientific evidence to support that copper or some are infused with magnets. I've seen magnets in compression gloves near the wrist and the thumb. There's no scientific evidence that supports that this helps, but some people swear by it. And so like, if you think that would work for you or if you've had a good experience with copper or magnets in the past.

Linda Bluestein, MD (35:08.066)

Ha ha ha!

Corinne (35:29.549)

then you might want to look for compression gloves that have those things in them.

Linda Bluestein, MD (35:33.978)

Okay, that makes sense. And I want to move on to ring splints. I noticed that you're wearing a number of ring splints yourself. Yay. And I actually was prescribed a ring splint for this finger, my index finger on my right hand. And I wish I had worn it more. As you can see, it's now pretty arthritic. I don't know if the ring splint would have helped that or not. But anyway, so I would love to know your thoughts on ring splints. And also, if you have any thoughts on getting them covered by insurance.

Corinne (35:39.037)

Yes. Yeah.

Corinne (35:53.026)

Mm.

Corinne (36:02.565)

Hmm. That's a good question. Yeah, so I, like I'm a fan of ring splints if they work for you. If, like if you, if you, if you're not someone that's averse to like the feeling of metal or if you don't have a metal allergy and you feel like you could benefit from them, like I absolutely love that for you. In my opinion, especially with this population, this hypermobile population, I don't really feel like we can wear

Linda Bluestein, MD (36:02.832)

One person did ask that question specifically.

Corinne (36:31.377)

overwear our ring splints too much because most designs of ring splints, I mean I can't say this for all because there's so many different, there's so many different makers out there, but most designs like most traditional ring splint designs do not prevent any sort of functional range of motion. Like you can still open and close your hand and move your hand and move your fingers, you can wear them for any activity that you can possibly think of, but the ring splint itself is

that hyperextension or that subluxation. It's bringing your joints into better alignment, into more stability. They're basically doing what your connective tissue is failing to do in all of those joints of your hand. So I love ring splints. There's also, I feel a time each day where they all have to come off because my sensations are like overwhelmed and I'm like, get all of these off my hand right now. I never would recommend sleeping in them.

Linda Bluestein, MD (37:12.33)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (37:29.065)

or using them for like heavy sports or something. Like if you wouldn't wear jewelry to the thing that you're doing, then ring splints are not meant to be there as well. You mentioned the question about insurance coverage. Are you, you're in the US, right? Dr. Blucine? Yes, okay. So in the US, pretty much the only way that I know that you might be able to get them covered by insurance is through...

Linda Bluestein, MD (37:44.715)

Yes.

Corinne (37:55.177)

Silver Ring Splints. So Silver Ring Splints is a US-based carrier of ring splints. I don't know, is that the kind that you got?

Linda Bluestein, MD (38:03.279)

I did and it actually was covered by my insurance, so I was very fortunate.

Corinne (38:06.885)

Wow, that's amazing because it really depends on your insurance plan. It depends honestly on sometimes how the therapist bills for it or is able to bill for it. I think the therapist, they definitely have to be like have a measuring kit for silver ring splints. But more than that, I think they have to be a DME provider in the US. And so like the place that I worked at last...

Linda Bluestein, MD (38:17.75)

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (38:26.688)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (38:31.319)

Mm. Okay.

Corinne (38:34.241)

Like I couldn't bill L codes to insurances, which would be the code for the ring splints. So even though we would measure them and order them for our patients, like I never was able to have my clients get their ring splints covered. But if you're wondering, you can always call your insurance company and see. And if they're not covered by insurance, there's a lot of makers on Etsy that make ring splints that make it.

Linda Bluestein, MD (38:39.106)

Mmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (38:50.396)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (39:00.877)

They make it a little bit cheaper, I would say, than silver ring splints. And they make it very clear on their checkout pages on how exactly to measure yourself for the ring splints. Yeah, and a lot of them, like Eva Bell Jewelry in particular has a really good policy on returns or exchanges. Like if you get your ring splints that you've measured for yourself and they're just not fitting right, I think there's like a 30 day policy where you can send them back and have them resized.

Linda Bluestein, MD (39:11.192)

That's what I was wondering. Yeah.

Corinne (39:30.521)

For free. Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (39:30.718)

Okay, that's great, that's great. And then what about plastic ring splints? Because people make those as well, right?

Corinne (39:38.474)

Mm-hmm. Yes, oval eight ring splints or oval eight splints. They're like the beige, like beige pink plastic ring splints that you can find on Amazon. Those are probably your local hand therapy place, too. But those are a great, I would say, way to like try out ring splints. If you really like are curious if ring splints would be right for you or if they would feel right for you instead of, you know, spending.

over $100 on a ring splint, you could get a pack of oval eight plastic splints for like, I don't know, you could probably get three for like 20 bucks that sort of have different sizes that you could try out. And then it's also great for people with like metal allergies or just like irritation from metal. But yeah, those are good. They tend to slip off a lot more. Like I have a lot of my people lose these, but not really lose their metal ring splints.

Linda Bluestein, MD (40:26.103)

Mm. Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (40:33.714)

or that's really, really good to know. And what about, I imagine you work with people who are children that are in school and needing to write and use their hands to hold books and things like that. And you probably have worked with elderly people and everything in between. So in terms of hand exercises for people that are hypermobile, how does your advice differ based on people's age?

Corinne (40:45.334)

Mm.

Corinne (41:01.429)

Yeah, that's a really good question. And I would say, honestly, what we talked about with the Theropuddy in particular is, no matter what age you are, if you're starting low and slow, I mean, I actually don't work with too many children. So I would say if you're trying to get your child to engage in their hand muscles, they would probably love to play with Theropuddy. It would probably be less repetitions and...

exact technique and more like, you know, put some fun like beads in the putty and then try to have them take it out and make it a game. So aside from like making it more playful for children, I would say no matter what age you are, as long as you're like really slowing down the exercises and making sure that you're not straining or hyperextending or like popping or subluxing your finger joints as you do them and you're not like powering through the exercises, then

Linda Bluestein, MD (41:34.827)

Mm.

Corinne (41:56.521)

Like generally, I usually recommend starting with maybe just eight to 10 repetitions and trying to work your way up to those like that ideal two to three sets of eight to 12 reps. Where once you've done that, your hand might feel fatigued, but it's not so fatigued or sore that you're unable to use your hand for the rest of the day. But older adults really, they have a really good experience with TheraPutty too, especially because it offers that wide.

wide range of different assistances.

Linda Bluestein, MD (42:29.53)

Okay and what are some things that people should avoid doing?

Corinne (42:33.601)

That's a great question. So, you know, oftentimes I feel like we are using, we have a life long lifetime of using our bodies and our hands in ways that feel normal to us, but that don't really serve us or serve our joints. And so I feel like most of the work is bringing way more awareness into maybe the less than ideal ways that you're using your hands throughout the day and trying to shift that. So,

Like I typically recommend like try not to like try to avoid hyper extended finger or thumb or wrist positions as much as you can and this you know you might not think that you're like regularly hyper extending your hand joints or your finger joints or your thumb joints but if you are hyper mobile I can guarantee you probably are and so you might need to like really start slowing down during your day especially when you like

do something with your hand, like when you lock or unlock your door, or maybe you can look at how you're gripping your writing utensil, or how you're carrying a heavy tray in the kitchen. Just like slow down and like look at your hands more, and like pay attention to your hands. Maybe you set like a reminder on your phone, you know, twice a day that's like, hey, like what are my hands doing right now? And just start to like cultivate this awareness of what your fingers are doing so that you're not, you can begin to shift how you're using your hands and that

so that they're not in this un-ergonomic, super-strained position over and over again each day. We use our hands so much it's often unconscious. And so really a lot of the work is like bringing more awareness to how you're using your hands to help you if you are, if you feel like this might be you but you're like I have, I'm having a hard time understanding where I would even start with this or having accountability with this.

Linda Bluestein, MD (44:10.257)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (44:26.085)

You should check out my free master class, which I believe will be in the link of the show below. And so it's a free, you know, hour, hour and a half long master class that you can attend. And you'll really just, I've got really clear pictures and you'll have a better understanding of what activities you might be straining your fingers in and how to like shift out of that.

Linda Bluestein, MD (44:31.23)

Yes, yes. Yep.

Linda Bluestein, MD (44:49.132)

Mm-hmm.

That's great. Yeah, I look forward to sharing that with people. And I think that there's no such thing as paying attention to your hands too soon. Like, yeah. Yeah, they're so, so important for us. Okay. What about tips for traveling? So if we're traveling, especially if we're traveling by ourselves, you know, and I feel like this is really challenging and you have hand problems,

Corinne (45:00.725)

Exactly. I 100% right. A lot of the work is preventative.

Yeah.

Corinne (45:16.377)

Hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (45:21.29)

What are some tips that you have for people for that?

Corinne (45:23.777)

Yeah, are you picturing like an airport situation? Yeah. Yes. Yes, absolutely. Definitely like wear your hand supports. Like don't just pack them in your suitcase, but actually like have them on, especially like important for your thumb and or your wrist. If you have like discomfort there and you're having a hard time managing your luggage, wearing a good...

Linda Bluestein, MD (45:27.086)

Yeah, and you know picking up luggage and you know all of the things that you have to do. Yeah.

Corinne (45:52.985)

hand support in the airport is a great way to navigate this. Also, I would avoid like, I would look for the luggage that has the four wheels on it that you can like very easily push instead of like the clunky kind that you have that has the two wheels that kind of like is always getting unbalanced. So make sure you have like good luggage that you can roll. And I mean, traveling alone is incredibly difficult. I would always say.

Linda Bluestein, MD (46:04.548)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (46:13.295)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (46:22.981)

to not be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Like if you need help loading your carry-on bag up into the top most part, like just ask for help, especially if you know that it's gonna cause a flare.

Linda Bluestein, MD (46:40.738)

So I got one of those spinner suitcases and my son, he kept saying, mom, you have to get a spinner suitcase. You just have to. And I, yes, yes. And all four wheels spin in every direction. They're amazing. And I got one at Costco, which is one of my absolute favorite stores. And it was life changing because I do travel a lot by myself and it really makes a huge difference because I can have it next to me. So it's a lot easier on my shoulder.

Corinne (46:48.353)

Is that what they're called? Yes.

Corinne (46:53.421)

That's amazing.

Corinne (47:09.953)

Hmm

Linda Bluestein, MD (47:10.046)

it's easier on my elbow, my wrist, my entire upper extremity. I have it next to me and it's literally, it's completely effortless. And I can do it with my non-dominant hand, whereas if I'm pulling something behind me, that strains my shoulder, my elbow, my wrist. So yeah, I'm glad that you mentioned the spinner suitcase because I didn't even think about that before, but I think that is a really good one.

Corinne (47:17.784)

Yeah.

Corinne (47:32.117)

I'm so glad I don't travel that much so I didn't know the name for it. I was like the luggage four-wheeled kind but a spinner suitcase that's amazing. Okay I love that.

Linda Bluestein, MD (47:37.662)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome. Okay, and you also had a post recently where you said, "'Our current medical system isn't set up "'for people in chronic pain.'" Which I totally agree, by the way. Can you elaborate what you were thinking with that, and in particular, what people can do if they feel like things are not working for them, if they can really relate to that comment?

Corinne (47:51.003)

Mm. Mm-hmm. Ha ha.

Corinne (48:02.613)

Yeah, yeah, I'm glad that we're on the same page about that. I know you are too. I mean, I think there's multiple reasons why it's not set up for people in chronic pain. One is that, like we've talked about, there's just simply not enough awareness of medical professionals, of the complexities of hypermobility in our current medical system. So, I think you call it a walking diagnosis is different than what is actually at the root of the issues. Like our-

Linda Bluestein, MD (48:29.803)

Oh yes, a work a working diagnosis. Yes, yes.

Corinne (48:31.109)

Working, yes. Okay, yes, working. Not walking diagnoses. A working diagnosis. Oh my god. This is why you're the doctor. Okay. The working, yes. Thank you. Yeah. And so that would be like, that would be, I would say one reason. I mean, as a theory, another reason would be just the way that our insurances are set up. They do not want to reimburse for

Linda Bluestein, MD (48:37.65)

I love it. I love it. No, I love it. At first I was like, wait, a walking? Yes, working diagnosis. Yes.

Corinne (48:59.397)

chronic conditions they want to see, especially like in therapy, they want to unfortunately see people get better within a really predictable reason, what they would call reasonable amount of time, which it's like, that's not even, they can't determine that for us. And, and so they might stop reimbursing or not approve any more visits for therapy. And so then people feel like they're left in the dark.

Linda Bluestein, MD (49:08.816)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (49:12.416)

Right.

Linda Bluestein, MD (49:15.959)

Right.

Linda Bluestein, MD (49:22.666)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (49:28.117)

And so I think if you're here, then you know that there is like an amazing, like online presence of, of wonderful educators that are trying to just help you online. And so like, you kind of have to be your own advocate and do like, do a lot of your own work. And, you know, things like coaching programs or, you know, things that are outside of like the traditional medical system, that's not necessarily insurance reimbursable.

Those are things that I feel typically can help us more than maybe like that structured, like you get eight visits for the year and then you're done. And so it really is like more of a long game than that.

Linda Bluestein, MD (50:13.47)

Yeah, I totally agree. And the insurance situation is so incredibly frustrating because you're right, they expect you to, you have to get enough better, but in some ways not too much better. So it's like this silly, it's ridiculous. It's such a huge problem. They have way too much control.

Corinne (50:18.786)

because...

Corinne (50:26.229)

Right, yes. Yeah.

Corinne (50:34.201)

They do, I know, it's icky. Writing my notes for people, for insurance, like you said, it's like, oh, they're improving in this way, but they're not improving in this way, but they're still improving enough to get therapy. It's like mind games. Like, why can't we just, yeah, yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (50:37.022)

It. Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (50:51.018)

Yeah, it is. It's, yeah, yeah. So people end up working basically for the insurance company and not for the patient and not doing what's right for the patient because yeah, it's a huge problem. Okay, so I wanna move on to the questions from followers and people who submitted these questions on the broadcast channel. So I was really excited that we got so many questions. And some of these we might've already covered a little bit but I think it doesn't hurt to go into them again because they're really important. So the first question is,

Corinne (51:12.131)

Yay!

Linda Bluestein, MD (51:20.246)

Why does it hurt to write?

Corinne (51:22.585)

Hmm that's a good question. Like why does it hurt or like how to sort of also address the hand pain if it is hurting?

Linda Bluestein, MD (51:31.382)

So I think maybe what the person was thinking, at least if I tried to read into their mind, is why do so many people get hand pain with handwriting?

Corinne (51:35.275)

Yeah.

Corinne (51:38.757)

from writing. Yeah, so like I think we've talked about this before, but most of us hypermobile people are characterized by like a classic sort of hyper extended death grip where our top most finger joints, I don't know how you are writing, I love that pen. That's an amazing pen. The pen again. Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (51:52.365)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (51:58.52)

I'm showing a pen. I don't even know what this is called, but I'll put a link to this. Is that what it is?

Corinne (52:03.573)

Well, yeah, I think that's one of the, that's like the generic term for it. Yes, the pen again, or it's like a Y pen. Yeah, a Y pen. Yep. We're often characterized by this like hyper-extended grip, and when our fingertip joints are hyper-extending on our writing utensil, we actually lose a lot of force on our writing utensil itself, so we have to push almost harder. Like, our muscles and our joints have to work a lot harder to write.

Linda Bluestein, MD (52:08.342)

Yeah, I'll put a link to that. A Y pen, yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (52:29.302)

Mm.

Corinne (52:32.873)

when most of our force is actually going to hyper extend our fingertip joints. And so that's when we see a lot of like hand fatigue. I think another reason, another common reason for pain with handwriting is that maybe we're only using our hand and the rest of our, like the rest of our arm is like glued to our side and we're like just using our fingers and instead we can maybe like try to loosen everything up a little bit in our shoulder and in our elbow.

and kind of make it more of like a flowy fluid movement. Another common reason I see for hand pain, especially like if you're getting pain or fatigue in the pinky side of your hand, like the meat of your palm and that pinky part of your hand, at least what I've noticed for me and for my clients is that oftentimes when we write, our pinky is actually almost forced in like a super hyper flexed, almost bent, like in half posture. And so,

Linda Bluestein, MD (53:02.394)

Mmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (53:13.826)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (53:29.794)

Mmm.

Corinne (53:31.773)

that can be a reason too why handwriting is so strenuous on this side of our hand. But there's a lot of things that we can do about it and I'd be happy to get into it if you would like.

Linda Bluestein, MD (53:43.432)

Mm-hmm. OK. And that's the follow-up question. How can people avoid aggravating their thumbs and causing hand pain while either holding a book to read or writing?

Corinne (53:52.261)

Hmm, oh, okay, awesome. I would love to maybe address writing first since that's on my mind and then we can definitely talk about books too. So like for some, I would just say, let's talk like hand pain in general with writing. You showed us the Y pen, which is amazing because it changes the way that you grip the writing utensil entirely. If you don't have a Y pen, you could try out this concept by just switching

Linda Bluestein, MD (53:58.388)

Okay. Yep.

Corinne (54:21.577)

where the eraser is. So you would put it in between your index and middle finger. So if you're listening, please watch, come back and watch this. It's a very simple shift that you can make where it's almost like your index and middle finger are surrounding the writing utensil and it forces a more like bent forward posture of your fingertip joints and it puts your thumb in a better position

Linda Bluestein, MD (54:26.794)

Mmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (54:42.922)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (54:51.277)

feel natural and easy, but it's worth it, especially if you have to write a lot. So just changing the way that you are writing. Another way that you can sort of modify your writing utensil. I don't think I have any with me right now, but have you seen the foam tubing stuff, like that cushiony stuff? Oh, yes, you have one. Amazing.

Linda Bluestein, MD (54:53.75)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (55:14.134)

should have had all of these out and ready to go before we started. But as you were saying that I was like, wait, maybe I have one in my drawer. And I have these hand friendly scissors too. I love these things. Anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to digress from the right. Yeah, yeah.

Corinne (55:17.813)

Yeah! Wait. Yes! It's amazing, yeah.

Yes, the spring-loaded scissors, so good. Yeah, those are some good gadgets. I love that. Yeah, so just looking for a writing utensil that's either already wider, so there's a pen called the Big Fat Arthritis Pen. It's chunky, like it is a nice fat pen. Or modifying your current writing utensil like you've done, Dr. Bluestein, with the foam tubing.

Linda Bluestein, MD (55:44.266)

Mmm.

Corinne (55:53.497)

that you could find at Lowe's or on Amazon if you just type in foam tubing. Yeah, there's lots of different grip options, but just trying to modify the writing utensil itself. And then of course, wearing ring splints, especially where you are hyper extending is another really great way to just more balance that force on your writing utensil so that you're not having to death grip it so much.

Linda Bluestein, MD (56:21.177)

Yeah, no, that makes sense. It always. Sorry. Yes, yes, yes.

Corinne (56:22.153)

Yeah, so and then the books too, right? Was the other question about books? Yes, okay. So you could wear a thumb support while you are reading, whether it's the push meta grip like we talked about or your favorite kinesio tape tutorial or a thumb brace. You can also try a book stand. They make book stands that prop up that hold the pages for you.

Linda Bluestein, MD (56:44.856)

Mm.

Corinne (56:49.817)

There's also this thing called a book page holder. I don't know if you've ever seen this Dr. Bluestein, but it's almost like a ring that you would put on your thumb, but then it has wings on the sides of it so that when you are holding the book it kind of disperses the force of your thumb onto the pages more broadly. But it's called a book page holder. So if you wanted to try that as like a ring while you

Linda Bluestein, MD (56:55.298)

Mm-mm.

Corinne (57:17.761)

read that would be another way to reduce thumb pain.

Linda Bluestein, MD (57:21.51)

Okay, I love all of those. And is there anything differently the that you would do for or suggest for someone whose issue is more cramping in their hands?

Corinne (57:32.141)

Mmm, yeah, I think, I feel like with like cramping or maybe fatigue, I think those things that we talked about and like really focusing on the ergonomics of how you're holding your utensil, how you're using, trying to engage more of your whole arm, rather than just your, your fingers. I think cramping is common when we are having such a tight grip on our writing utensil. So if we can widen the writing utensil, wear some ring splints.

Linda Bluestein, MD (57:44.354)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (57:58.657)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (58:03.105)

and maybe even change like how we're gripping it entirely with that grip that I showed you or by using that Y pen. Those are all things that could help with that too. Absolutely, yep.

Linda Bluestein, MD (58:13.502)

and maybe taking breaks if you can. Yeah, okay. And someone asked about clay therapy and I'm not sure if that's different from putty therapy, but they asked how effective is clay therapy.

Corinne (58:21.301)

Okay, yeah. I think it sounds like they're referring to the TheraPutty. Yeah. So I would say it's as effective. It can be effective, especially when you're using it in the ways that we've talked about. A lot of people with hypermobility who don't have like a hand therapist that maybe specializes in hypermobility, they're just given like, you know, a thick wad of clay or putty.

Linda Bluestein, MD (58:28.238)

Okay.

Linda Bluestein, MD (58:38.309)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (58:49.301)

and told to squeeze it and they don't really know if they're overdoing it or how to squeeze it or how to not over squeeze it or use it in a therapeutic way. And so if you've ever used TheraPuddy or clay and it hasn't helped your hand, I feel like if you try the tips that we've talked about, then you might have better results.

Linda Bluestein, MD (58:53.614)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (59:11.25)

All right. And what about people who have hands that go to sleep, go numb in their sleep? Excuse me. Do you have thoughts about sleeping positions and or people who have problems with numbness developing while they're sleeping?

Corinne (59:17.917)

Mm-hmm. Hmm.

Corinne (59:24.481)

Yeah, yes, that's, I would say, pretty common in people with hypermobility, especially when we're sleeping. So I would first want you to determine if your numbness is on one side of your hand or another side, or if it's like all throughout your hand and your fingertips. If it's on like the pinky side of your hand and into the ring finger, then you very likely have

Linda Bluestein, MD (59:41.724)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (59:53.045)

elbow is in a bent up position, but our ulnar nerve is the nerve that runs kind of through our funny bone. And like when you think about how it feels when you hit your funny bone, that sensation that goes through your hand, especially that pinky side of your hand, um, cubital tunnel syndrome is like that, but it like doesn't go away. And so if you're sleeping and you're noticing that numbness and tingling in your pinky and your ring finger, I would really encourage you to try to sleep in a more elbow extended posture.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:00:11.381)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (01:00:21.613)

which it can be really hard without like an external support there to help you with that because the natural position for sleeping is in like that flexed posture. But you could try like a soft elbow brace that keeps your elbows in a relatively more extended position. You could also if you don't want to buy a new brace and you want to try out just wrapping a towel, folding up a towel and wrapping a towel around your elbow. And then maybe

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:00:46.001)

Mm.

Corinne (01:00:50.273)

you know, putting duct tape around it or some sort of tie to try to keep your elbows more straight at night. Those would be some things that I would recommend that you do. If your numbness and tingling is more on the other side of your hand, so if it's in your thumb, index, middle finger, then we would be looking more at carpal tunnel syndrome probably. Again, this is all just educational purposes. Obviously, please seek medical care.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:01:16.126)

Right, for sure.

Corinne (01:01:19.469)

But if you're having that distribution more on that side of your hand, where it's your thumb, index, and middle finger, then wearing a wrist brace at night, and this would be like the time where I would say, buy the metal bar wrist brace. Like buy a wrist brace that really supports that wrist and keeps it neutral, that doesn't allow you to bend your wrists. Because when we sleep with bent wrists, that puts a lot of compression over our carpal tunnel.

And so if you're having, if you wake up and you feel like your hand's falling asleep and you need to shake it out, and if it's mostly on that, you know, that one side of your hand, it's probably carpal tunnel syndrome. And finding a good wrist brace and sleeping in it every single night would be definitely incredibly helpful.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:02:05.386)

Okay, those are super great tips. Awesome. Okay. What about we've talked about this a little bit, I think, but do you have anything else to add about thumbs that go out of socket?

Corinne (01:02:19.737)

Hmm. Yeah, I mean, so actually, this is perfect timing because I just got my thumb ring splint in the mail today. But it literally, yeah, it literally, like I was trying to pop my thumb out of socket because as a nervous tick growing up, I would pop my thumbs out of socket intentionally. And wearing, wearing a support such as this, a ring splint,

or the push meta grip, something that's rigid that will help hold it in place can be really helpful. There are also a number of like exercises like targeted exercises for specifically the muscles surrounding your CMC joint that could help as well. So if you ask your therapist for CMC exercises or maybe you look them up.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:02:50.017)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (01:03:15.653)

I think I have a number of them on my Instagram feed too, trying to build the muscles around your thumb so that there's more natural joint support could be helpful too.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:03:26.75)

Okay, and we had some very specific questions about some specific conditions. So whatever you can offer, I think I might start with the one about, is there a link between carpal tunnel and joint hypermobility?

Corinne (01:03:32.077)

Yeah.

Corinne (01:03:39.421)

Yeah, that's a good question. So I don't know like any statistics on it, but I can tell you that I believe that there is definitely a greater incidence of people with carpal tunnel syndrome when they have hypermobility because probably of a number of things because of our sleeping position because our wrists can hyperflex a lot more than the average population. And maybe because of like some surrounding inflammation.

So I have definitely seen that more in the hypermobile population.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:04:12.082)

Okay, and we just talked about cubital tunnel a little bit, and you mentioned about wrapping the towel or getting a soft elbow support. Is there anything else that people can do if they have cubital tunnel?

Corinne (01:04:24.957)

Yeah, great question. Aside from sleeping with straight elbows, try to avoid leaning on your elbows. So if you're like someone that sits at your desk and you like to lean on your elbow, that pressure over that like funny bone area is what is causing those symptoms. And so avoiding any sort of like prolonged elbows flex position or avoiding leaning on your elbows, watch arm

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:04:33.538)

Mm.

Corinne (01:04:54.613)

So become more mindful of that. Ulnar nerve glides. So gliding, engaging in exercises that glide that nerve through the cubital tunnel is a great way to also decrease symptoms. And then they make elbow pads that protect your elbow. So like if you are an elbow leaner and you're like having a hard time quitting that, you could put on a heel bow elbow pad.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:05:16.641)

I'm sorry.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:05:21.166)

Oh my gosh, I love that. Heel bow. Okay, I'm gonna have to look up all these links. I'll find them. Okay. No, no, this is great. This is great. I love being able to offer, you know, it's great that you're sharing so many really super specific things for people. They're gonna love this. So that's really great. Okay, heel bow, got it. When you talked about leaning on the elbow, and then I saw what you mean about like actually having the elbow like on a table or something.

Corinne (01:05:23.669)

Yep. I'm sorry.

Corinne (01:05:33.258)

I'm so glad.

Corinne (01:05:37.147)

Oh yay.

Corinne (01:05:41.221)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (01:05:48.258)

Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:05:48.274)

Oftentimes if I'm giving a talk in a dance studio, all the kids are sitting on the floor and I'll see people leaning back on their elbows and their elbows will be so incredibly hyper-extended and I just like, you know, it's cringy. And of course I have to call them out on it, you know? But yeah.

Corinne (01:05:51.781)

Mmm.

Corinne (01:06:01.393)

Yeah, yes you do because it's like that lack of trunk support, you know, that we rely on our extremities to prop us up.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:06:10.822)

Exactly, and even if it doesn't hurt now, it just makes me think, oh, what's that going to feel like later? Okay, we talked about decuera veins very briefly, but could you tell us again what is decuera veins and is it more common in people with joint hypermobility? And then lastly, what can people do if they have recurrent decuera veins?

Corinne (01:06:14.286)

Yes.

Yeah.

Corinne (01:06:30.989)

Hmm, such a good question. So this was like, DeQuervains tendonitis is also commonly called mommy thumb, because a lot of new moms are diagnosed with thumb tendonitis. We have like quite the intersection of like tendons and nerves that run in, it's called the anatomical snuff box. But when you lift your thumb up, and you see that little hole right there, like when you're lifting that thumb up and you see that it's literally a snuff box.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:06:42.253)

Mm.

Corinne (01:07:00.901)

That is the space that is inflamed or has tendonitis with dequere veins tendonitis. This is a lot more common in people with hypermobility and you know, a lot of the traditional treatments for it don't necessarily work too well when we're looking at an entire hypermobile hand and wrist complex. A lot of the traditional treatments

for tendonitis in the thumb area include wearing like a metal bar thumb brace or a customized, a custom-made thumb brace that completely shuts down your thumb and your wrist for like six weeks or so. And so that's like I guess the typical intervention but when it's recurrent and chronic and it keeps coming back,

What's going to be more helpful to you is doing all the other stuff that we've talked about today, right? Like our low profile thumb support options, especially making sure that like your thumb is in an aligned place where it's not like popping out of socket a lot and that, you know, you're using kinesio tape or silicone thumb supports or the push meta grip, like nice low profile ways to support your thumb, especially through like harder or heavier tasks.

Another big thing with this tendonitis in particular is it's called mommy thumb because of how we have to lift up our children, right? Like we scoop them up under their armpits with our thumbs, with all of the pressure on our thumb joints of their entire weight. And so if you have a kid, try and pick them up differently, like with maybe like more of like your elbow and shoulder joints, or if you have to pick them up in that way, really shift out of it

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:08:27.736)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:08:45.742)

Mm.

Corinne (01:08:48.981)

and prop them with your hip and your elbow. So trying to not really engage in that lifting position with a lot of strain placed on your thumbs.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:09:02.35)

Okay, and before I ask you the next question, I should have grabbed, there's a, for the TFCC, I have a little wrist thing that somebody sent to me. Do you have anything to show for this? Because otherwise I can grab mine really quick.

Corinne (01:09:17.301)

I actually don't have anything. Yeah, okay. Yeah, perfect, yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:09:18.986)

Okay, let me grab, is that okay?

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:09:47.694)

Okay, so it's called the Wrist Widget. Okay.

Corinne (01:09:50.673)

Oh yes, yes! Have you used this?

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:09:54.978)

have a little bit, but I'll ask you the question and then I can show it. So, okay, let me just get myself like, okay. Thank you for letting me do that because this has been incredible show and tell. I love it.

Corinne (01:09:58.446)

Okay.

Corinne (01:10:02.361)

Perfect. Okay, yeah, you're good. Yes. Oh my gosh, of course. I'm so glad you have it.

I love it too.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:10:15.198)

Okay, so another question that somebody asked was about torn triangular fibrocartilage complex or TFCC. And they wanted to know what can you do if you have a torn TFCC.

Corinne (01:10:30.333)

Yeah, this is very common. I would say I don't know the stats, but subjectively, I see torn TFCCs a lot in hypermobile people. The TFCC is a piece of connective tissue or a group of connective tissues that help to stabilize especially this ulnar side of our wrist or like the pinky side of our wrist. And so if it's torn, I mean, oftentimes,

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:10:35.49)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (01:10:58.041)

people jump to surgery, but it's helpful to try more conservative measures first to see if they help. Because recurrence rate is, I would say, not fairly common, but it can happen even after you've had the surgery, especially if this is more of like a chronic tear. And I feel like a lot of us have sort of like a chronic TFCC issue. So I would say the first thing you could do is work on...

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:11:13.939)

Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:11:20.587)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (01:11:25.717)

like wrist stability exercises, maybe like some wrist isometrics. Are you familiar? I don't know if you've ever seen this before, but there's this like kids game called the true balance. It's like a gravity puzzle. Um, but like the true balance game is like, and it's, it's for kids, but I give it to my people with persistent wrist pain and TFCC tears a lot of the time, because it acts as like a way to.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:11:39.922)

Mm-mm. No.

Corinne (01:11:54.849)

stabilize your wrist and to practice that stability and engage the muscles surrounding it. So exercises would definitely be one thing. The other thing, there's a very specific wrist support that was actually invented by an occupational therapist, I think a certified hand therapist called the Wrist Widget. And I know, do you have one? Yes, that's amazing.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:12:16.73)

Yeah, I have one. I do. Yes. This is this is what it looks like.

Corinne (01:12:24.129)

So do you have like TFCC tear or how did you, okay.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:12:27.594)

I don't, I don't. We just connected on, probably on Instagram actually. And yeah, let's see. I'm trying to remember how this goes on. But anyway, it has these Velcro straps and the hole goes in here, right?

Corinne (01:12:33.535)

Oh nice!

Corinne (01:12:41.546)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (01:12:44.993)

Yeah, it kind of hugs that ulnar head, that bone on the back of your hand towards the pinky side of your wrist. Yes.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:12:50.879)

Yeah, like this, I think.

And then the Velcro would go down like that. So.

Corinne (01:12:57.013)

Yeah, so that provides like very targeted support for it. Yeah, yeah, so it does feel good, right? It's like, it's kind of similar concept as the wristable almost, that Bracelab wrist support, where it's squeezing you in a very like specific way, like right here around and then on the bottom,

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:13:01.142)

Feels good. Maybe I should leave that on. It feels really good.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:13:16.856)

Yeah.

And there's the picture.

Corinne (01:13:26.973)

it works either it heals it like it works really well for them and they never like have issues again or it doesn't really like work for their specific situation because everybody's different right and but there's no way to know until you try um and i love i love the design of it it's absolutely genius

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:13:37.246)

Right, right, totally. Right.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:13:45.086)

And I love these conservative things that people can try because you can't undo surgery. And surgery has potential complications. And of course, as you pointed out, there are failures and things like that. And if it's a chronic problem, that's very different than going into a surgery for something that was a more sudden or more acute injury kind of a thing. And so I think it's really important to be considering what is the likelihood of a really successful outcome from any given surgery because...

Corinne (01:13:50.245)

Exactly.

Corinne (01:14:04.386)

Yeah.

Corinne (01:14:14.457)

Hmm. Yeah, I absolutely agree. Yeah, I'm so glad that we're on the same page about that 100%.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:14:15.438)

It's a big, big deal, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, awesome. The last specific question on a condition was about trigger finger. Can you explain what trigger finger is? And then the question was, how effective are steroid injections for trigger finger? And of course, this is in the context of, you know, EDS or HSD.

Corinne (01:14:29.227)

Okay.

Yeah.

Corinne (01:14:41.193)

Yeah, yeah. So trigger finger is we have a lot of like connective tissue in our hands as we've talked about and sometimes when there's a lot of inflammation or we're doing a lot of like the same task over and over again like a lot of heavy gripping maybe for work or something else, we can get almost like a palpable like a knot of fascia.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:15:08.023)

Mm.

Corinne (01:15:10.873)

right where our tendon, so we have a bunch of tendons that go through our hand and up to our fingertips and each tendon has to be able to move and glide smoothly to allow our hand to open and close. So when we have this knot of tissue surrounding one of those tendons, if you can picture like a thread that has kind of frayed a lot and you're trying to get

it through the eye of a needle. That's sort of what is happening. Like the eye, it's just like, it's just going to catch. And so what happens is when we make a fist, the tendon will go through it, but then as we try to open it, it will lock and catch because of that accumulation of tissue surrounding that tendon. And then you might have to, you might just, you might be able to pop it back up on your own.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:15:41.55)

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:15:47.639)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:15:57.102)

Hmm.

Corinne (01:16:06.113)

like once it's locked down, like you might be able to straighten your finger up and it's like, oh, that was weird. I don't know why my finger just popped like that. But you might not be able to, you might have to physically lift up your finger to get it through. And so, especially when it's like a chronic condition, this can become rather painful. The question was about like a steroid injection. So they would put like a steroid injection into the area.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:16:18.702)

Mm.

Corinne (01:16:32.649)

that has all of that tissue sort of knotted up around that tendon. And I want, don't take my word for this, I've done a lot of research on trigger finger, but I want to say that in the general population, when combined with like splinting for four to six weeks, so they would, you would splint your finger, you would get a trigger finger splint that keeps whatever finger it is, we'll use my middle finger as an example, but it would keep it, keep just that first MCP joint from

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:16:40.752)

Huh.

Corinne (01:17:01.977)

bending, but the rest of your finger can still bend. So it's still a fairly functional hand. But when the corticosteroid injection is combined with a splint worn for four to six weeks, in especially more acute cases, I want to say that it's over a 50% rate where they would get better. Now, in the hypermobile population, of course, that's probably a different story. And I don't really have any stats on that because we need a lot more research on that.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:17:06.338)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:17:22.349)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:17:30.582)

Yeah, we probably don't have any stats on that.

Corinne (01:17:32.053)

We probably don't have any stats. Yeah, I should go make some. Go conduct a research study. But I also want to say too, I think a lot of people with hypermobility think that they have trigger finger or they might even get diagnosed with trigger finger by just a generalist, primary care physician that just looks at their hand and they're like, oh, that popped its trigger finger. When in reality, it is more like of a subluxation where we have hyperextended at one of our joints.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:17:57.615)

Mmm.

Corinne (01:18:01.205)

and then we have to almost overcome that those ligaments going out of place and it pops on the way back down. So I would, you know, I really wanna make sure that if you think you have trigger finger that you have like the correct diagnosis because traditional treatments for trigger finger, if you don't, if it's instead of subluxation, they're not gonna work.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:18:06.99)

Mm-hmm. Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:18:22.642)

And so if I understand you correctly, trigger finger normally pops when you straighten your finger and otherwise if it pops when you're bending your finger, it could be because you overextended and now when you go to flex it, so maybe they pop at different times.

Corinne (01:18:35.113)

Yeah, yeah, that's a really good like distinction to make. Yeah, I like that as like a broad distinction.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:18:44.742)

And as a corollary to this, and I know that this is a much more niche question, so some people might say, you know, but I'm curious to ask if for rock climbers, it's my understanding that they can get a lot of pulley type injuries in their in their fingers. Do you think that kind of brace that you talked about for trigger finger if you had a pulley injury that you could wear one of those while your injury is healing maybe and maybe that would accelerate the healing process?

Corinne (01:18:59.443)

Mm-hmm.

Corinne (01:19:12.917)

Oh, yeah, I think that's a great idea. Yeah, I think that's definitely worth a shot.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:19:19.886)

Do you know what those braces are called for trigger finger? Just google it. Okay.

Corinne (01:19:22.941)

If you just look up trigger finger splint, I think the Amazon brand is Vive. Vive has a trigger finger splint, but a lot of them are just black and they just kind of go into the palm and then come up and just kind of block that MCP flexion at the finger. But you still, again, have mostly a functional hand.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:19:37.591)

Okay.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:19:44.882)

Okay, great. And did we miss any questions? Or did you have any final thoughts, any burning things that you just were like dying to get out there? And then after that, we're going to get into the hypermobility hack and where people can find you. But I wanted to first see if you've shared so much wonderful information. This has been so fantastic. But was there anything else that I didn't ask you that you wanted me to ask?

Corinne (01:19:58.271)

Awesome, yeah.

Corinne (01:20:02.751)

Thank you.

Corinne (01:20:09.094)

No, I don't think so. I think we've covered so much today.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:20:13.334)

Yeah, we definitely did. And can you tell us some of your favorite hypermobility hacks or a hypermobility hack? I mean, you've already given us like a whole episode full of hacks, but

Corinne (01:20:22.065)

Yeah, I mean, I would really... So I can give you one for the hands. I just want to reiterate and hit the ball home on as your big takeaway from this episode. And then I also wanted to share a few of my own personal hypermobility or dysautonomia hacks, if that's okay. Three quick ones. Okay, awesome. So sort of our home run, big takeaway from this is...

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:20:39.328)

Of course.

Corinne (01:20:46.421)

when you become more aware of how hypermobility is affecting your hand movement patterns every single day and then you make small changes in how you're using your hands in more ergonomic ways, like that alone could serve you so well. Like yes, all the gadgets are fun, all the braces are fun, all the things, all the things we've shown and talked about today, I love our show and tell, they're great, but you could start right now like without spending money and just really becoming

your fingers are bending backwards and during which tasks and really get curious with yourself about how that could be affecting your hand pain. That's my big takeaway or my big, I guess, hack for hypermobility in your hands. And then three quick like personal favorite hypermobility dysautonomia hacks that I have learned about myself over the past year. Swimming is an incredibly accessible form of exercise for me with my pot symptoms.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:21:24.558)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:21:28.494)

Okay, great, great.

Corinne (01:21:45.985)

I love it. It's amazing. So is abdominal compression. I tried compression socks, but I feel like abdominal compression really helps me personally more than compression socks. Yeah. And then my last one. Oh, go ahead.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:21:46.514)

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:21:58.151)

Oh.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:22:02.758)

Well, I was going to ask when you say abdominal compression, do you have any, is there a certain brand that you like or a style that you're talking about? Like almost like a corset, right?

Corinne (01:22:11.413)

I mean, yes, that level as well. Like I have like a postpartum like abdominal binder that I use when I was postpartum for really like symptomatic days. I mean, even just like compressive, like yoga pants that have like a compressive like seam on them, like a waistband is helpful for me. And I like those more so than socks. Yeah. My last...

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:22:18.861)

Mm-hmm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:22:28.886)

Mm.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:22:32.091)

Mm-hmm. Okay, great.

Okay.

Corinne (01:22:40.205)

hack that I have, my last personal hack, because I've been on my own sort of personal journey of understanding and discovering my own health issues. So I've really just over the past year, really prioritized 30 minutes of movement each day, however that looks, even if it's just a walk. And that is so important to me.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:23:02.926)

That's amazing. I think those are really great tips. I love all of those. And you mentioned about your free master class, which is gonna be fantastic. And I definitely will share the link to that so everyone can see that. And I will share the link to your Instagram account as well because that's really fantastic. Are there other places that people can find you online?

Corinne (01:23:08.005)

Thank you.

Corinne (01:23:13.369)

Thank you. Awesome.

Corinne (01:23:25.901)

Um, so I have a website. It's just handcoachcorin.com, where you can find my masterclass. You can find free guides. Like I have a few free hand support guides if you want links and ideas for ways to support your hands. And I'm also on Facebook, handcoachcorin, and TikTok too. Yeah, just it's all the same handcoachcorin. Yeah.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:23:48.902)

Okay, okay. Okay, fantastic. Well, I'm so grateful to you, Corinne, for coming on the Bendy Bodies podcast today. And I just want to remind everybody that they've been listening to the Bendy Bodies with the Hypermobility MD podcast. And your guest today was occupational therapist and hand specialist Corinne McLees. And Corinne, this has been such an incredible episode, such an incredible conversation. I'm so grateful to you for sharing your knowledge with us.

Corinne (01:24:18.189)

Thank you so much. This has meant so much to me that you would want me on your podcast to have the space here. I feel like I've been fangirling over you and your podcast, but to just be able to be here and be a part of the amazing, free wealth of knowledge that you share, it means so much to me. So I really appreciate your time.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:24:26.745)

Aww.

Linda Bluestein, MD (01:24:37.054)

Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, people are going to be loving this and I'm sure, just so grateful for the information and thank you. Thank you again and thank you to all the listeners and we'll see you next time on the Bendy Bodys podcast.