Top 10 difficult things to do with 1 arm

Posted on 29. Jun, 2010 by Johnathan in Everyday Life, Uncategorized

So I made it through the 6 weeks of having a cast and got a pretty good appreciation of having both arms operational. Here’s a small sample of the top 10 everyday activities that were particularly challenging, along with the best solutions I found. Keep in mind each one was the worst when it came time.

showering- try doing this with a hook for an arm that can’t get wet. Fortunately, my shower head maxed out at a trickle, so there was little chance of spray. The biggest difficulty was washing my left arm with only my left arm. Solution: wash in the sink, lather up a leg and rub against it. Rinse in the trickling shower.
dressing myself- button-up jeans were the biggest challenge because it almost requires an opposable thumb. Solution: patience
flossing- good luck doing this with one hand. Solution: Tether a long string of floss under the cap of a heavy container (I used a 5L bottle of water) and put the cap on snugly. Wrap the other end of the floss around a finger on the left hand and pull it tight. Bounce your head up and down to get the floss where it needs to go.
dishes- impossible. Solution: get your sweet, amazing girlfriend to do them. Give her a hard time when applicable.
tying shoes- possible, but if they come undone, it’s a pain. Solution: use clips.
clipping nails- Eesh. Doesn’t seem like much, but before I didn’t appreciate how much hand movement and maneuvering for angles is used for cutting nails. Solution: the easier part is using the gimpy hand. Adjust the clippers’ positioning and use the tips of your fingers to get better leverage. A lot of guess work is needed for clipping the stationary hand, so care and luck are the best methods.
putting in contacts- whew, using one hand for this was pretty entertaining. Solution: patience or glasses. Glasses usually won.
typing- after a bit, numbers, especially with decimals, were the biggest trouble. Solution: procrastination.
reading on the subway on a rainy day- with no concept of personal space, the subways here are a gong show. Try holding an umbrella while juggling a cross-strap bag and a book with one hand. Solution: lower expectations of how much you’ll actually read.
laundry- folding and hanging clothes is just not fun with one hand. Solution: find reasons to buy new clothes.