Rubber Bands

For my media project I was given a client named Barbara, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in her 30's and is now 64.  She was recently admitted to the hospital for a significant decline in her level of function.  She will be discharged in 4-5 days and would have to continue with an exercise program.  Barbara is married and lives with her husband and son.  In her spare time, she enjoys sewing and crafts.  She has lost a significant amount of upper and lower body strength due to this flare up.  She also mentioned trouble with memory over the last 6 months.  All of these interfere with her ability to complete her ADLs.  How could I help Barbara with something as simple as rubber bands?

The moment I drew "rubber bands" for the media project my mind started wandering every which way with ideas.  As easy as I thought this would be, it really was not.  Of course, I scrolled through Pinterest, Google, and every OT website on the web looking for ideas but nothing stood out as being original.  Making pictures on a pegboard or putting rubber bands around a can was not creative enough for me.  One day I come across a piece of art that was done with rubber bands and it was like a lightbulb went off in my head.  CRAFTS!  My client loved doing crafts, so this was perfect!  You can wrap rubber bands around just about anything and make something out of it.  The most meaningful thing that I got out of this project was how my mind just one day clicked and ideas all of sudden started coming from every where.  I was starting to question my creativity after weeks of not being able to come up with anything, but once it finally hit me, I learned that I have a lot of creativity than I ever gave myself credit for.  I am interested in working in hand therapy in the future and I knew rubber bands would be something that would help with grip strength, so hopefully I can take this creation and use it sometime during my career.

There are so many things that you can do with rubber bands.  You can wrap them around an object and paint in between the lines.  Or you can wrap them around an object and use that to paint.  For example, I wrapped rubber bands around a wood coaster and used the rubber bands to make black and white stripes.  Then, I wrapped the rubber bands around a wooden block and made my own stamp.  You can make your own design with the rubber bands, paint them, and stamp it on to anything.  I also stamped a coaster,  card, gift tag,  and linen towel.  These are just a few ideas that I gave to my client, but the list goes on and on.  I wanted to be sure and give her a variety of crafts she could do because she mentioned that she gets bored with the same exercises everyday.  Wrapping and stretching the rubber bands around an object will help Barbara with her grip strength.  Her goal is to be able to perform all of her ADL's and iADL's safely and independently.  Increasing her grip strength will help her to grip a brush or tooth brush or gripping a spoon/fork while eating.  Barbara has also mentioned that her memory has declined in the last 6 months.  I would suggest that she keep a journal and log in her journal every time she does a new craft which may help her remember certain things.

This process has really made my brain work, but was so much fun to put together!