Men have a problem: when they demonstrate their physical strength, they are insulted as “macho”. Except at the breakfast table. “Can you open the jam jar for me?” my wife has always liked to ask me. “Naturally! Child’s play!” How true: Now my son opens the glasses. Because since a finger operation on my right hand, I’ve been waiting longer and longer for the casual “plop!”. Ambitious, I therefore threw myself into typical rehabilitation measures: I squeezed washcloths, tennis balls. Until it pulled in the elbow. No wonder, say the manufacturers of the “Xtensor”, a glove-like finger expander: Such unequal loads on the extensor and flexor muscles lead to wrist and elbow pain. Unfortunately, we all grab far too often in everyday life – and stretch too seldom. computer work, texting, Telephoning, shopping, golfing – all grasping movements. The scary-looking glove trains the neglected extensor muscles and is intended to alleviate the symptoms.
Götz Poggensee, deputy editor-in-chief, trained his hands.
Supposedly it can do even more: After finger operations (like mine) or as a result of arthritis, the “Xtensor” is supposed to increase the range of motion of the finger joints. I start the training with the first level of difficulty, tie the rubber loops around my fingers and off we go. 2 minutes daily – two sets of 15 repetitions (“Don’t overdo it,” advises inventor Scott Kippleman from New York). The glove pinches, but the joints are pleasantly warm.
Is that the increased production of synovial fluid? It pulls in various extensor muscles of the lower arm – up to the elbow. On the third day I increase to level two. Suddenly there’s a “plop!” But not on the jam lid – a loop has torn. Luckily, there’s an included replacement. Two days later the second tears. I patch them with a rubber band from my desk drawer. Unfortunately, my little finger has nothing from the training. The pull angle is too small for him, the joint does not stretch. The loops keep slipping out of the holders. I increase my level of difficulty to three and have the feeling that my ring finger, which is still a bit crooked since the operation on the flexor tendon, can now be stretched a little better. But the joy doesn’t last long. It “pops” again – the third rubber has torn. And now I’ve had enough. I forcefully throw the “Xtensor” into the trash can. No elbow pain at all.
Conclusion: The mobility of my injured finger joint has improved slightly. But the constant slipping of the elastics from the holders and tearing is annoying. A five-year guarantee doesn’t change that. From now on I only train with ordinary rubber bands.
