Guns for Rehab of injuries and other non-defense uses

[tntwatt]

In 2004 I had a really bad motorcylce wreck. Multiple broken bones, multiple surgeries, etc....

My left fingers were smashed horribly. When I was going to Occupational therapy to relearn how to use them, my therapist wanted me to set some goals. I did, the next visit, I brought my Glock 34 to the table. I made sure my therapist wouldn't freak and then laid the weapon on the table and told her I wanted to break it down to the firing pin and put it back together. She said she didn't know how. I told her I did but just couldn't because my fingers didn't work yet. Well, together, we used that pistol to help me regain about 90% of the use of my left hand. She was extremely impressed since they predicted I would only regain about 50%.

THE POINT...
My Occupational therapist realized that many of the boys and men she deals with are hunters and shooters and military. She has since used firearms to help several others toward normal use of their hands. It seems to me to be a great way for people to see firearms in a different light.

If you are medical in anyway, you might think about suggesting this kind of therapy for your friends and patients. I know it would work for Marines.

Any other suggestions or stories about using firearms in a non-threatening way that doesn't relate to self defense????

 

[mnrivrat]

Great story !

Sorry to hear of your need for the medical usage, but I suspect that this type physical therapy was rather on the unique side. Makes perfect sense to utilize something of interest to the person as a tool for this type of rehab.

I suspect that firearms have been used often for one type of therapy that perhaps is more common. That is as a stress reliever .

Like gulf is to some, the shooting sports and plinking is a great way to relax and unwind. The concentration of trigger control, hitting the target, etc. is a great way to clear the mind of other things.

Thanks for sharing your story - perhaps others can use your creative rehab as well.

 

[tntwatt]

bump

 

[Sato Ord]

Our son has visual/motor coordination issues and we use shooting to help him with this. Works great.

I also take him horseback riding whenever I can, which also helps.

The thing is, equine therapy is too expensive so we had to learn how to do it ourselves, and none of his doctors ever even considered using shooting or pulling a bow to be therapeutic, so we have had to pretty much break new ground there also.

 

[Professor Gun]

What a great OT!

I teach students in our Occupational Therapy Program and our Physical Therapy Program. I am always trying to get across to them at every opportunity that they often need to find what interests the patient and try to integrate that into the patient's therapy if at all possible. This is a great example of that; I will have to use your story in my classes.

One of my friends who is a champion level highpower rifle competitor badly injured his shoulder some years ago, and this interfered with him being able to get into a good prone position for shooting in matches. His physical therapist asked him what his goals were, my friend shared this with the PT. The PT didn't have a clue what was involved in highpower rifle competitions and the prone position, so he had my friend bring in his mat, shooting jacket, spotting scope, and M1A rifle (cleared it with the supervisor ahead of time) so my friend could demonstrate what he needed to do. Then the PT designed a rehab program to help my friend meet this goal.

 

[Tom Fury]

Occupational Terrorists:

I Have developed tx programs for patients who wanted to shoot again, using their firearms in lieu of weights.
I rehabilitated my own shoulder that was injured and stiffened after a car wreck using an M1A for weight in stretching exercises.
Tom Fury, OTR/L

 

[tntwatt]

Thanks for the posts guys. If any of you ever here of any other non-defense uses for firearms or any other stories about rehab, please post them. It's part of a long standing debate I'm have with a friend about the benefits of firearms.