Baseball Pitcher and the Armtutor–a Winning Combination

On January 30, 2012 Scott Hood, a staff writer for GamecockCentral.com writes about Nolan Belcher, star pitcher for the South Carolina baseball team, remembers the moment when he realized something was wrong with his left arm.
Belcher threw a pitch, just like he had done thousands of times in high school and college previously.
However this time he had a sharp twinge in his elbow. Belcher pitched two more times and then surrendered to the throbbing pain.
He knew his season was over.
A year later, Belcher recalls every detail of the fateful moment.
”I felt a little twinge in my elbow. I knew something wasn’t right. I tried twice more after that. But the pain was unbearable. I had to just walk off the mound. I had an MRI the next day and they said it was 98 percent torn.”
Belcher had Tommy John surgery to replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. All of a sudden, new elbow.
Months of rigorous rehab followed, a long, lonely and “miserable” process that culminated when Belcher took the mound for the first time in a year, throwing two hitless innings in the second scrimmage of preseason camp.
” (Rehab) is a miserable process. I was doing the same thing every day. It’s really tough mentally to go into the training room and try to get better each day.”
Using the ARMTUTOR and HANDTUTOR to improve usage of an injured limb is not a miserable process. In fact it can be somewhat enjoyable. Despite the fact that rehabilitation can be painful and lengthy in time spent, the TUTOR affords the patient a way of restoring movement ability. If Nolan Belcher had been using the HANDTUTOR or ARMTUTOR there would be games for him to use which would in essence provide him with the necessary therapy.
The ARMTUTOR and HANDTUTOR system has been developed to allow for functional rehabilitation of the upper extremity including the shoulder, elbow and wrist. The system consists of an ergonomic wearable glove and arm brace together with dedicated rehabilitation software. The ARMTUTOR and HANDTUTOR system allows the physical and occupational therapist to report on and evaluate the patients functional rehabilitation progress. This allows the OT and PT to prescribe the right customized and motivating intensive exercise practice which is the cornerstone to manual rehabilitation therapy. Intensive repetition of movement is achieved through challenging games set to the patients movement ability. The system provides detailed exercise performance instructions and precise feedback on the patients exercise performance. Controlled exercise of multijoints within the normal movement pattern prevents the development of undesired and compensatory joint movement and ensures better performance of functional tasks.
Telerehabilitation allows the recovering patient to continue his physical therapy at home.See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.