I swim for exercise. Hanni guides me to the pool area, and if I lay towels down on the tile floor and give her a treat, she’s content to sit there while I swim. Onlookers tell me that Hanni’s head pivots back and forth, back and forth, tracking my laps. The only stroke I do is the crawl. One arm or another is extended in front at all times, protecting me from crashing my head into a wall. Tapping the lane marker on every other stroke keeps me swimming straight.
I like to swim. It’s a form of exercise I can do all by myself. I don’t need to tie myself (literally!) to a sighted runner, or pedal behind the lead on a tandem bicycle. Another thing: My friends who work out lifting weights, or running, tend to get hurt. Not me. Swimming is low-impact, safe.
That’s what I thought, at least. But then last month I found out I have a rotator cuff injury. My diagnosis came just days after Flo took a fall and fractured her pelvis. And so, my mom and I are simpatico. Our fates are in the hands of physical terrorists. I mean physical therapists.
Baseball fans know about the rotator cuff – it’s at the shoulder joint, a tender spot for pitchers. Turns out rotator cuff injuries are common in any sport requiring repeated overhead arm movements. Tennis, for example. Weightlifting. And swimming.
I asked my physical therapist if she thought my injury had anything to do with the way I hold Hanni’s harness. “Well, it’d be better if the harness handle were vertical, not horizontal,” she said. “You know, so your thumb would be sticking up.”
“We can’t cock the harness handle 90 degrees,” a trainer from the Seeing Eye told me when I phoned them later that afternoon. “But we can send you an extension that’ll turn your hand 30 degrees — your physical therapist will like that.”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “But will I?” The new handle will take some getting used to, he admitted.
“Are rotator cuff injuries common if you’re using a guide dog?” I asked.
“This week they are. “ He sounded a little bewildered. “You’re the third person this week to call with this same problem.”
My physical therapist would prefer a 90 degree change in the handle, but she’ll settle for 30 degrees. If I use the new handle and keep up with my exercises, she says I may be able to avoid surgery. And if that isn’t motivation enough, I have Flo as a role model. She has been hard at work with her physical therapy for a month now, and last Friday she walked out of the hospital. Flo’s home now…safe & sound.
Hmm… I smell an invention opportunity for Beth! You need to come up with a vertical harness handle. Surely some smart design engineer can puzzle this one out.
Hope your shoulder is feeling better in no time. Listen to that physical therapist! Warm wishes to Flo, too.
Thanks, pal! The harness extension just arrived from the Seeing Eye, Mike is going to help me put it together today. if this works maybe I won’t have to re-invent the wheel. Or the harness! We hope to post some “before and after”photos here. I’ll be able to feel the difference, maybe you all can see the difference. Stay tuned!
Hi,
I am a blind guide animal user, and I saw the reference to your blog on the GDUI-Friends list.
I have a couple of comments: First of all, I use an ergonomic harness handle which does allow the hand to be kept at a more natural and comfortable angle than the standard horizontal position. I don’t know if this is what TSE sent you, and I don’t know if TSE has this handle style as an option. But it has worked well for me for the past 4 years.
Another comment: a few years ago Lucas Franck showed me a device he was developing. It was shaped like a capital letter T, and it attached to the body of the guide harness, in the middle of the back strap, I think. The guide dog handler held onto the cross bar of the T. The device had a mechanism which could be adjusted to hold the hand at any of several angles from horizontal to vertical. I think I remember that Lucas said that they were developing this handle primarily for the benefit of the trainers who handle so many young dogs with lots of pull and who suffer a lot of arm and shoulder injuries in the course of their work. I don’t know if this development was ever brought to practical use, but you might want to ask Lucas about it.
If this message gets to you, then the site worked fine for me with JAWS and no vision.
Best,
Ann
Ann, thanks for the great info, so delighted you were able to access my blog (and leave a comment) using a speech synthesizer with your computer.
. The “T” handle sounds like it’s exactly what I need. I will check with Lucas at Seeing Eye to see if his “invention” ever made it to the assembly line.
In the meantime, where did you get your ergonomic harness?
Thanks –
Beth,
I think I have seen the handle to which you are referring, and have tried it. I have nerve damage in my left elbow and some shoulder damage in the same shoulder. While the injuries are guide-dog related, they are not because of how the handle is held. In my case, it was because I gave a one-handed leash correction (justified, BTW), but with the force of a two-handed correction!!! OUCH!!!! But I do know some other handlers who ahve had shoulder difficulties because of long years of working a dog on the left.
I think the handle you have been issued is what TSE refers to as their ergo handle. For the few weeks that I used it, I found it difficult to feel lateral movements well, but forward movements were fine. That is not to suggest that you will not benefit from it. But in my case, it just made things worse. I hope it does work out for you.
I have also seen the handle that Ann talked about. I think that its only drawback is that it is somewhat heavey. But those folks who have used it have liked it for the most part.
I would personally prefer more of a 90-degree-style handle, but I already know that lateral movements would be harder for me to feel, so I’ll just have to stick with the way in which I hold the handle now. My only other option may be, at some point, to have a dog that is trained to work on the right.
Best of luck
Vanessa and Griffin
P..S. No trouble using the blog.
Aha! Your experience might provide an answer at my next appointment, when my physical therapist asks why they don’t make vertical harness handles. It’d be difficult to detect the dog’s lateral moves I hadn’t thought of that. Thanks for the insight, and thanks for commenting to my blog.
Beth,
At least one person in my class in 2004 when I received Griffin used the ergo handle, and she did not have trouble with it. But the difference possibly was that she had only been working a dog for about a year or two (the first dog had to be retired when it stopped working traffic safely), whereas, I had been handlign dogs since 1982. having said that, however, each person is different, and another seasoned handler might not find the ergo handle to be a problem at all. So give it a whirl. I know that we all want to find out your feedback.
Vanessa and Griffin
I used the ergo-handle to get to work this morning, and, well…we got here! Actually, things went fine. Hanni must be feeling something different in my pull, though. She starts and stops more with this new handle than she did with the othehr one?
I am confident we’ll both adjust. Thanks for the encouragement –
I don’t have a rotator cuff injury, but I do have shoulder problems from a car accident
I was in back in 1998. I shattered my left shoulder joint and dislocated
it in the process of breaking it. I had to have surgery to fix it, but it left me
with intermittent pain and holding a normal harness handle bothers it
big time.
I use one of the handles you were told about and I like it a lot! It does take some
getting used to, but it was pretty seamless once I got used to the
weird feeling of holding the handle at the new angle. Now, if I try and use a regular
handle, it feels way too strange!
Hope you don’t have to have shoulder surgery, as it’s very tough on your whole body
and you’d be surprised at how many muscle groups attach at the shoulder.
Cait and Seeing Eye Dog Jill
You shattered your shoulder AND dislocated it, too? OUCH. That’s it — from here on out I’ll quit complaining about my silly rotator cuff. Thanks for your encouragement — just got home from work and already getting used to the new harness angle.
Now to do my physical therapy exercises. You know, for that you-know-what injury of mine.
Beth,
I am pleased to hear that the handle is working out. Let me tell you about a modified handle that Lucas F and a retired bio-medical engineer designed for me in the mid-nineties. It had a grip that was generally V-shaped, though one leg of the V (the one on the right side) was shorter. That was the side that I held. The handle was not placed at an angle on the right shaft like I think yours is. It traveled straight back as usual from the body part of the harness. Also, the handle was connected directly to the body part with only the ability to move up and down. In other words, there was no play in the handle. Because of the way I held the handle (pretty low by my side), my hand was in more of a position like it would be if I were carrying a briefcase. That worked out well, and it enabled me to work Ozzie with little discomfort or loss of feeling in my fingers from the nerve damage.
My point here is that I appreciate the fact that The Seeing Eye has made efforts over the years to make equipment modifications, be they very individual and specific (like mine), or somewhat more universal (such as your handle) in order to enable handlers to continue to work their dogs. It shows us just how committed TSE is in maintaining that partnership between dog and handler.
Keep us posted.
Vanessa, Griffin, and the cat who is still guarding my Christmas tree
Yeesh! I know Lucas Frank at the Seeing Eye is a renaissance man, but who knew he was an industrial engineer, too!
Hanni’s new handle looks pretty. Glad to hear my Gramma Minke and Aunt Betha are “all fixed”.
Well, I can’t top Audrey’s comment. Just think you have a pretty lame excuse to avoid a weight lifting program. In fact your reason to avoid weight lifting is the very reason you should give it a try…to build muscle and strengthen bones to help avoid injury.
Hmm. I think I like Audrey’s comment better than Bev’s.
But okay, okay. I’ll try weightlifting. Tomorrow.
Beth,
Writing from work since I will lose my home ISP after jan. 11. But I will return to cyberspace from home at the end of the month. anyway, yes, physical therapy is miserable at times. It did seem to help me, though, so don’t get too discouraged. If it helps you avoid surgery, dig in, grit your teeth, and work hard.
Lucas F has a headful of ideas, and what is neat is that he has actually put some of his ideas into action. His ideas and those of some other instructors have made a huge difference for handler who might not have otherwise been able to continue to work dogs. My handle for Ozzie’s harness looked funny, but it got the job done.
Continue to keep us posted.
Vanessa, Griffin, and Kitkat
Beth,
Thaks for putting the pics of the before and after handles. While I have used one briefly, I don’t know if I could describe the ergo handle for those who cannot see the pics. perhaps you could give a description. I am sure some would be interested, and it would jog my own memory of th edifferences. I know that there is a bit of a tilt to one of the shafts, and I think the grip is placed more at an angle, but that is as far as my memory carries me.
Vanessa, Griffin, and Kitkat
You’ve got it right, Vanessa: there is a bit of a tilt to one of the shafts, and the grip is placed at a 30 degree angle. Although it really is not that big a difference, I’ve found that if I hold my hadn to the very left of the grip I fell the angle better — my thumb seems to point “up” more. My arm does feel a bit better with this harness grip, but Hanni is having a hard time getting used to the new feel. The difference is so slight I didn’t think it would affect her much, but she is still pulling in fits and starts.
Ah, change is never easy…!
Beth, how about using some treats to bring up her interest in working. For instance, i fyou make it to the end of a block (which could be a goal), praise and treat. If you have done clicker training with her, the arrival at the end of the block could be rewarded with the click, praise, and treats. But if she has not been exposed to the clicker, the praise and treats would work. Initially, praise and treat at the conclusion of every worked block (fits and starts and all). Then over time, reduce the frequency with which you give treats, but of course, keep the praise going. You might feel more comfortable putting in a call to TSE first before acting on my suggestion, which is fine. I’m not a trainer–just a handler like you. But my suggestion is something that you could propose to an instructor to see what he/she thinks.
Which shaft is slightly higher, the left one or the right one, and does the grip angle to the right or left? It frustrates me that I can’t completely picture it yet even though I used one. Logic would possibly suggest that it is the right shaft that is slightly tilted, but from there, my brain is struggling with the direction that the grip takes. Oh, well, so it goes.
My Dad is an engineer, and though visually impaired, I have a better sense of spatial things than does my sighted brother. And having had to take advantage of a harness handle modification, this area keenly interests me. I am always fascinated by changes that can be made to our equipment when physical problems arise–changes that allow us to still work our dogs.
OK, enough rambling from me.
Vanessa, Griffin, and Kitkat
Thanks for the suggestion — a very good one! I’m going to hold off on the treat idea for just a little bit longer, though, see if I can get her going faster simply with praise.
As for the handle, the right shaft is slightly higher, and the grip anglse to the right. I hole the grip with my left hand, so my thumb points a little bit “up” rather than lying flat.
Hope that helps! Your dad is a good influence. Maybe you should take up engineering yourself? You’d be good!
Me, a social worker turned engineer??? Yikes!!!! I hate math, so someone else would ahve to take the things I see in my mind and apply the design’s formulas. I am satisfied that I can balance my checking account.
How’s Flo’s walker adventures going?
Keep us posted about how your hound adjusts to the handle.
Vanessa, Griffin, and Kitkat
Oh, thanks for asking about Flo. She is at home and doing very well. A physical therapist visits twice a week, yesterday the PT had Flo walking up and down a long hallway in her apartment building. Flo loves being mobile!
As for me, PT is coming along, just not quite as quickly as it is for Flo. I met my physical therapist in the pool Wednesday and we worked on altering my stroke. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: change is never easy.
And speaking of, I suppose you’re right. If math is a problem, you oughta stick to social work!
I’mm not even sure if I can respond using this email address since I now know that my subscription has apparently officially ended, but here goes anyway. Glad that Flo is happily stomping the highways and byways of her apartment, and you keep up with the physical terrorist activities and learn that new swimming stroke. It might even tuild up some endurance.
Remember, no pain, no gain.
Vanessa and the “children”
very cool to see flo and hear she is doing well. i feel like i know her after reading your book!
What a nice comment! I hadn’t considered that people who’ve read “long Time, No See” would know who Flo is. You’ll be happy to hear she continues to do well — using her walker to get to the mail room, and to get to the chute to throw the garbage out. She’s working on adding a basket to the walker so she can get to the laundry room and do her own laundry. She is our hero.even got out of the house the other day to get her hair done!
Go, flo!!! This is good news, Beth. Don’t you just love progress??
And how is the ergo handle working for you.
Vanessa, who finally has home email again!!
Vanessa,
The ergo-handle is fine, but thanks to your comment way above (comment #16, I think it was) my physical therapist has been in touch with Lucas Frank at Seeing Eye to see about trying his patented harness. Thanks so much for your comments, we would have never thought to contact Lucas if you hadn’t mentioned it here. Will let you know what, if anything, comes of the custom harness idea. Stay tuned!
Well, I’m glad my comments about the custom-made handle was useful. And if anyone can come up with something, Lucas can. that man was truly born in the right century!!!
Vanessa, Griffin, and Kitkat
So, Beth,
Any updates on inspirations from Lucas about a modified handle or his weird looking prototype? Curious minds (or at least this one mind) await a report.
Vanessa, and the sleeping lab and the cat (ace guardian of the stairs)
Vanessa,
Your comment is well-timed! My physical therapist has been in touch with Lucas and I just phoned him yesterday to leave a message. There’s a chance he might come out and fit me for one of his patented harness handles — stay tuned!
Hey, Beth,
This is exciting news. Yes, do keep me posted, and give him my regards.
And how is Flo? I’m guessing that she is your mother? I know you said she was making huge strides literally and figuratively in your last update, and I am anxious to know how things have progressed.
Vanessa, Griffin, and Kitkat
What a nice comment! Sorry for not explaining who Flo is — people who’ve read “long Time, No See” (RC56482) all tell me they feel like they know her, sometimes I think *everyone* knows Flo. . You’ll be happy to hear she continues to do
well — using her walker to get to the mail room, and to get to the chute to throw the garbage out. She figured out a way to add a basket to the walker so she
can get to the laundry room and do her own laundry. She is our hero.even gets out of the house now and then to get her hair done! She does her PT at home on her own every day and is still the great role model she’s always been to me. She’s 92, I’m still in my 40s and often I feel like we’ve traded ages!
Beth, it has been awhile since I last checked in, so what is the news with the patented handle from our friend, Lucas? And how is Flo? Based on her age (go, Flo), I am guessing that she is your grandmother? I’m enjoying keeping track of all of the progress–yours and Flo’s.
Vanessa and the fuzzy children (Griffin and Kitkat)
P.S. I should probably introduce Kitkat. he is the long-haired cat that I adopted last year. He’s a little stinker, and he and Griffin get along pretty well.
No new harness handle from Lucaas yet — he’s a busy man!
And thanks for the compliment, but I’m not as young as you think. Flo is actually my mother. You’re not the first to think she is my grandma, though — she was 43 years old when I was born. And gee, maybe having kids when you’re 40+ keeps you young? She’s doing grrrrrreat!
Hey, Beth,
Yes, LF is a busy man, so I’m not surprised that not much progress has been made yet. Great news about your mom, Flo, though. I’m so proud of her. I jsut love the idea of her having a basket rigged on the walker so she can do *her* laundry herself. Love that independent spirit!!!
Vanessa and the fuzzy guys (the smaller fuzzy terror is sleeping on the couch right now)
I’ll pass your compliments on to Flo — they are high compliments coming from you, as I have a feeling you have that independent spirit yourself, Vanessa!
[…] Flo fell in her apartment in December. She went through rehab at the hospital, then had a physical therapist come to the house for a while. Since then, she’s been rehabbing on her own, going through the exercises prescribed by the physical therapist every day, and adding a bit more on her own. One day she would take a couple steps with her walker, the next she’d head down to get her mail by herself. The she figured out how to get down the hall with a walker to do her laundry, how to take the garbage out, how to get outside on her own when my sistr Cheryl came by to help her run errands. The week before we all met in Louisville to celebrate her birthday, Flo renewed her drivers license. […]
Beth,
What is the latest on you, the handle, and Flo? I have not posted to the blog in a while–just guess I got busy. But I always look forward to updates.
Vanessa and the fuzzy guys
Rumor has it (ie, news via my physical therapist) that Lucas wil hand-deliver a new custom-made harness to me in Chcago soon For news on Flo, see my April post entitled: “Flo: Dancing with the Stars.”
Thanks for your continued interest — it makes me feel good!.
SOG knives…
Interesting ideas… I wonder how the Hollywood media would portray this?…
[…] Seals, Harness, Seeing Eye, AER, physical therapy, rotator cuff injury You might remember my blog about seeing a physical therapist — I’d asked her if she thought my rotator cuff injury had anything to do with the way I […]
[…] the toilet when she stays in a hotel room, the athlete who bounces back from serious injuries – broken pelvis, for example – in record time. Now’s your chance to meet Wonder Woman in person. Flo, my mom, is coming to […]
Good post but I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this
topic? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more.
Cheers!
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[…] in that post is the nine-year-old daughter of a health professional I saw eight years ago after I hurt my rotator cuff. This girl was only two years old then, but she remembers visiting her mom’s clinic once when I […]
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