question about playing with a disability

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
3 years ago i suffered an injury when a 2 1/4 wood drill bit went through the lower part of my forearm on my right arm. as you can imagine it did quite a bit of damage to my nerves and tendons in that area.

as a result i lost feeling in half of my right hand and my fingers ranging from the pinky to the middle finger. also i can not bend those 3 fingers more than a little past 90 degrees. i just grin and bear those symptoms.

however cold temps causes quite a bit of pain and my hand gets cold as ice. when the temps get around 74 my hand gets uncomfortable. when it gets 70 or below its starts aching like a bad toothache and i start losing control of my fingers.

i do not whine or complain about it or use it as an excuse when i play bad but it affects my performance which affects my team. when my hand feels good i play good...when it feels bad i play bad.

fri night was the last straw and i realize i gotta do some thing about it. we were playing in a side room at my local pool hall. the main room was quite comfortable but the side room was colder than a well diggers ass.

i know it stays cold in there so i wore a thermal long john under my shirt which i do quite often but it was not helping fri night. several other people said it was cool in there but not too uncomfortable. whats comfortable for me is uncormfortable for every one else so i never complain about the temps in the rooms.

i was playing 9 ball my 1st match and my hand ached bad and i wound up losing control of my fingers causing me to lose grip on my cue and dropped the shaft on the cue ball causing a foul. when i sat down a team mate asked me what happened. i told him i just lost control of my cue.

my g/f explained to him my condition. he admitted it was kind of cool and asked the room owner to turn the temp up in there. i managed to win my match but barely pulled it off.

about 45 minutes later i played 8 ball and my hand felt better due to it was warmer in there. i played well enough to win 4-0 in a 4-4 race. by then it was getting too warm for every one else and the temp was turned back down.

now i realize room owners can not adjust maintain temps to accommodate me and making every one else uncormfortable.

so i need to look for a solution. i wear a glove on my hand while i am working and put a pocket warmer in side the glove when temps drop. i tried that method shooting pool and my hand stayed warm but i had a hard time gripping my cue.

any one got any suggestions ?
 
I'm in a situation similar, as far as the cold affecting extremities. I had an accident a few months ago that took about 1/2" off the tip of my middle finger.

And yeah, that finger gets cooooooooooold !!!

I found that runner's gloves have worked the best (for me). They're thin, like the three-fingered pool gloves that Earl or SVB have worn. But it's a different type of material, and the runner's gloves cover your whole hand.

I end up wearing only one glove when I'm waiting for my match, and take it off when I'm shooting.

If the temp in the room gets too cold, I put the glove back on, and now it's basically a five-fingered pool glove.

Mickey --- Feels your pain...
 
I ride my motorcycles year round. When it's cold I use an electric vest or jacket liner that plugs into the bike. Now they are making them that are battery powered and rechargeable. Part of the theory is if your trunk is warm your hands and feet stay warmer too.

Try finding a winter rider in your area and see if just the heated vest would help. Some of the heated jacket liners are quite thin and used with the low setting, I would think work well in a cold pool room. The right one would be thin enough that it would not interfere with your stroke.

Harley has some very lightweight liners with small batteries.
 
I'm in a situation similar, as far as the cold affecting extremities. I had an accident a few months ago that took about 1/2" off the tip of my middle finger.

And yeah, that finger gets cooooooooooold !!!

I found that runner's gloves have worked the best (for me). They're thin, like the three-fingered pool gloves that Earl or SVB have worn. But it's a different type of material, and the runner's gloves cover your whole hand.

I end up wearing only one glove when I'm waiting for my match, and take it off when I'm shooting.

If the temp in the room gets too cold, I put the glove back on, and now it's basically a five-fingered pool glove.

Mickey --- Feels your pain...

i tried an elastic putting a pocket warmer inside an elastic wrap that i use on my hand. it slides over your hand leaving the fingers free and has a velcro strap that wraps around your wrist.

it works pretty good alone when the temp is not too low but when i put a pocket warmer inside i just could not grip the cue perfectly.
 
I ride my motorcycles year round. When it's cold I use an electric vest or jacket liner that plugs into the bike. Now they are making them that are battery powered and rechargeable. Part of the theory is if your trunk is warm your hands and feet stay warmer too.

Try finding a winter rider in your area and see if just the heated vest would help. Some of the heated jacket liners are quite thin and used with the low setting, I would think work well in a cold pool room. The right one would be thin enough that it would not interfere with your stroke.

Harley has some very lightweight liners with small batteries.

i never ride my bike when its below 75 so i never thought about winter apparel. i have decent leather gloves and tried a pocket warmer inside but again its just too bulky to grip the handlebars perfectly.

im gonna check out what they have at my local bike shop. it may extend my riding season. :grin:
 
Gary Empey (oldzilla) played high level pool wearing a glove on his stroking hand.
He also won the Joss Grand Finale .....pre Turning Stone.

So find a glove you can live with and get used to playing pool with it.

...and the grip you are forced to use worked well for many great players....
....forefinger and thumb.

I think Gary used a wool glove....wool breathes better than leather.
 
3 years ago i suffered an injury when a 2 1/4 wood drill bit went through the lower part of my forearm on my right arm. as you can imagine it did quite a bit of damage to my nerves and tendons in that area.

as a result i lost feeling in half of my right hand and my fingers ranging from the pinky to the middle finger. also i can not bend those 3 fingers more than a little past 90 degrees. i just grin and bear those symptoms.

however cold temps causes quite a bit of pain and my hand gets cold as ice. when the temps get around 74 my hand gets uncomfortable. when it gets 70 or below its starts aching like a bad toothache and i start losing control of my fingers.

i do not whine or complain about it or use it as an excuse when i play bad but it affects my performance which affects my team. when my hand feels good i play good...when it feels bad i play bad.

fri night was the last straw and i realize i gotta do some thing about it. we were playing in a side room at my local pool hall. the main room was quite comfortable but the side room was colder than a well diggers ass.

i know it stays cold in there so i wore a thermal long john under my shirt which i do quite often but it was not helping fri night. several other people said it was cool in there but not too uncomfortable. whats comfortable for me is uncormfortable for every one else so i never complain about the temps in the rooms.

i was playing 9 ball my 1st match and my hand ached bad and i wound up losing control of my fingers causing me to lose grip on my cue and dropped the shaft on the cue ball causing a foul. when i sat down a team mate asked me what happened. i told him i just lost control of my cue.

my g/f explained to him my condition. he admitted it was kind of cool and asked the room owner to turn the temp up in there. i managed to win my match but barely pulled it off.

about 45 minutes later i played 8 ball and my hand felt better due to it was warmer in there. i played well enough to win 4-0 in a 4-4 race. by then it was getting too warm for every one else and the temp was turned back down.

now i realize room owners can not adjust maintain temps to accommodate me and making every one else uncormfortable.

so i need to look for a solution. i wear a glove on my hand while i am working and put a pocket warmer in side the glove when temps drop. i tried that method shooting pool and my hand stayed warm but i had a hard time gripping my cue.

any one got any suggestions ?



I have severed tendons in my bridge hand, i have days where i really struggle to grip the table and have feeling in my hand, it something that you will learn to deal with, some days are good and others are bad.

Try and stretch your hand before playing, it helps me a little.
 
Doctors know stuff.....

Some of the compression AND HOT GEAR from Under Armour will actually heat up so hot I can barely stand it. I would consider purchasing the warmest shirt that they sell, then take that material and have a seamstress sew me a glove. Give her/him an actual pool glove that fits you to use as a template for your "heat glove".

If you have never tried on compression OR HOT GEAR from Under Armour, go try some on at your local Sporting Goods store. Now I understand how my buddies can go duck hunting with little more than some Under Armour Hot Gear and a jacket and I would need a down coat to stay warm. You might get both a Hot Gear Shirt and an extra to make a couple of pairs of gloves for your hand. Hell, go ahead and make an arm warmer while you are making the glove. You may have to determine which is better for you, compression or other type of hot gear.

I assume that you have talked to a doctor about your condition.


Good luck.

JoeyA
 
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Gary Empey (oldzilla) played high level pool wearing a glove on his stroking hand.
He also won the Joss Grand Finale .....pre Turning Stone.

So find a glove you can live with and get used to playing pool with it.

...and the grip you are forced to use worked well for many great players....
....forefinger and thumb.

I think Gary used a wool glove....wool breathes better than leather.

thanks for the advise.:thumbup:
 
I have severed tendons in my bridge hand, i have days where i really struggle to grip the table and have feeling in my hand, it something that you will learn to deal with, some days are good and others are bad.

Try and stretch your hand before playing, it helps me a little.

one thing that helps me for a little while is going to the restroom just before my match starts. i run my hand under hot water ...it helps for about 15 minutes or so.
 
Some of the compression AND HOT GEAR from Under Armour will actually heat up so hot I can barely stand it. I would consider purchasing the warmest shirt that they sell, then take that material and have a seamstress sew me a glove. Give her/him an actual pool glove that fits you to use as a template for your "heat glove".

If you have never tried on compression OR HOT GEAR from Under Armour, go try some on at your local Sporting Goods store. Now I understand how my buddies can go duck hunting with little more than some Under Armour Hot Gear and a jacket and I would need a down coat to stay warm. You might get both a Hot Gear Shirt and an extra to make a couple of pairs of gloves for your hand. Hell, go ahead and make an arm warmer while you are making the glove. You may have to determine which is better for you, compression or other type of hot gear.

I assume that you have talked to a doctor about your condition.


Good luck.

JoeyA

thats an idea worth looking into joey...thanks.

as for the doctor...i will share my experience. when i was injured i was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. they stabilized me there and sent me to another hospital that had a neuro surgeon. once there they cleaned up the wound and temporarily stitched it until the could operate a few days later. i supposedly had the best neuro surgeon in town.

i arm was put in a cast from my elbow to my finger tips for 3 months . they did not want the tendons to move until they healed. since i was single i had to learn to do every thing for my self left handed.

once the cast was removed i had weekly appointments at the hospital for check ups. every week a new doctor saw me ..he had to go through my charts and ask me what happened. the 4th week a new doctor asked why i was not in rehab...i told him no one has scheduled it.

i relayed this info to the ins company and told them iwas not happy. they sent me to the surgeon who operated on me and he had his own rehab facility...again supposedly the best in town.

after a year went by he released me from his care and told me i was never going to improve from that point on. he did advise me to always protect my hand since i have no feeling in most of it. he said i could cut it or injure it and never no since it had no feelings. he also said since any cuts or bruises were likely to not heal very well due to the nerve damage. he also advised not to let it get too hot or cold. heat does not bother it but cold does.

after being released a few months i went back to him due to being in a lot of pain. when he walked into the exam room he said....what are you doing here ? i said i was in a lot of pain. he said i was just going to have to live with it since it would never get
better.he told me to take ibuprofen it the pain got too much. his actions pissed me off and i never went back.

number 1 ... i never take any medication for any thing unless i absolutely have to. too many side effects in just about any pill you take. if i have a head ache i will lay down and take a nap and its usually gone when i wake up.

they did prescribe a 30 day supply of darvocet after the operation. it lasted me 2 1/2 months as i took it only when i banged my arm or some thing. let me tell you... i could get addicted to that stuff. best sleep i ever had in my life was when i took 2 although i was only supposed to take 1. 1 just did not do the trick.

as for the ibuprofen... i tried it a couple of times and it just does not take the pain away or even dull it so i never tried it again.

oh yea ...when it released me he asked what i thought i could safely lift. the ego in me told him 40 pounds so that is what he put in my release. some days 20 pounds kill me.
 
This is going to sound kind of strange, but if it were me, I would buy a case where my fully assembled cue can go into the case, bumper down, with the shaft sticking out... and take a heated blanket with me.

Wrap the blanket around your case, and crank her on up. Between shots put your cue in your toasty case, and everytime you pull your cue out to use it, the whole cue will be nice and toasty :D
 
Hmm...interesting problem. I would get one of those chemical hand warmers and keep it in a pocket or if that gets too warm a pouch you could wear on your belt. Hold that with your cold hand between turns at the table and even grab it between shots when you're studying what to do. Hopefully that would keep the hand warm enough to be comfortable without the discomfort of wearing a glove all the time.
 
Thank you for sharing your experience.

Might you share how the injury happened?
Who knows, you might prevent someone else from having such an accident.

JoeyA

thats an idea worth looking into joey...thanks.

as for the doctor...i will share my experience. when i was injured i was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. they stabilized me there and sent me to another hospital that had a neuro surgeon. once there they cleaned up the wound and temporarily stitched it until the could operate a few days later. i supposedly had the best neuro surgeon in town.

i arm was put in a cast from my elbow to my finger tips for 3 months . they did not want the tendons to move until they healed. since i was single i had to learn to do every thing for my self left handed.

once the cast was removed i had weekly appointments at the hospital for check ups. every week a new doctor saw me ..he had to go through my charts and ask me what happened. the 4th week a new doctor asked why i was not in rehab...i told him no one has scheduled it.

i relayed this info to the ins company and told them iwas not happy. they sent me to the surgeon who operated on me and he had his own rehab facility...again supposedly the best in town.

after a year went by he released me from his care and told me i was never going to improve from that point on. he did advise me to always protect my hand since i have no feeling in most of it. he said i could cut it or injure it and never no since it had no feelings. he also said since any cuts or bruises were likely to not heal very well due to the nerve damage. he also advised not to let it get too hot or cold. heat does not bother it but cold does.

after being released a few months i went back to him due to being in a lot of pain. when he walked into the exam room he said....what are you doing here ? i said i was in a lot of pain. he said i was just going to have to live with it since it would never get
better.he told me to take ibuprofen it the pain got too much. his actions pissed me off and i never went back.

number 1 ... i never take any medication for any thing unless i absolutely have to. too many side effects in just about any pill you take. if i have a head ache i will lay down and take a nap and its usually gone when i wake up.

they did prescribe a 30 day supply of darvocet after the operation. it lasted me 2 1/2 months as i took it only when i banged my arm or some thing. let me tell you... i could get addicted to that stuff. best sleep i ever had in my life was when i took 2 although i was only supposed to take 1. 1 just did not do the trick.

as for the ibuprofen... i tried it a couple of times and it just does not take the pain away or even dull it so i never tried it again.

oh yea ...when it released me he asked what i thought i could safely lift. the ego in me told him 40 pounds so that is what he put in my release. some days 20 pounds kill me.
 
Thank you for sharing your experience.

Might you share how the injury happened?
Who knows, you might prevent someone else from having such an accident.

JoeyA

i don't mind sharing at all. hope i don't make it too long for some readers.

a coworker and i were installing 2'' pvc vent pipe in a new building under construction. for some reason he and i were the only 2 working there that day besides the job site supervisor who was in his office in the construction trailer.

i was standing on a step ladder drilling holes in the 2x6 rafters in the ceiling using a right angle drill with a 2 1/2 inch forstner bit. after working all the way across one room i reached the wall separating the next room. i was in a corner in an awkward position on the ladder.

this drill takes 2 hands to operate and has been known to lock when hitting a nail or even a knot and will break fingers or a wrist. being in an awkward position i did what i have done a hundred times before. i rested my right arm on top of the beam to stabilize my self holding the top handle with my right hand and using my left hand on the lower handle where the trigger was.

a cold front was coming through and i had borrowed a sweat shirt from my coworker. it was baggy on me. i did not realize it was so baggy that the sleeve was hanging over the other side far enough to be in the way of the drill bit when it came through the beam.

the drill bit caught the shirt sleeve pulling my arm over the other side into the drill bit. i tried pulling my arm back out but the sleeve was wrapped around the bit i tried pulling the drill back out but it would not budge. i was calling for help at the same time.

my coworker came out of another room and asked ..whats going on . i told him what happened. he climbed up the opposite side of the ladder trying to pull my arm free. he could not tear the sleeve free from the bit. he jumps down and grabs the razor knife, climbs back up and cuts the sleeve free. at the time he asked if i was cut and i said yea.

he jumps down and heads out the door , yelling over his shoulder he was getting the 1st aid kit out of the construction office. i did not have a chance to tell him a 1st aid kit was not gonna help .

i climbed down off the ladder , sitting on the bottom step. blood was running down off my arm onto the floor. i was getting weak and light headed. i thought to my self... i am gonna bleed to death if some thing don't happen quick. i laid down on the floor on my right side with my arm out at an angle. i took my left hand and put it on my arm just above the cut putting as much pressure as i could trying to stem the flow of blood.

my coworker comes running back in with the 1st aid kit. i look up at him and say i don't think thats gonna help much. he pulls up my sleeve and then he starts gagging. i thought...damn its must be worse than i thought. bout that time the superintendent comes in to see whats going on. he looks at my arm and says he is going to call an ambulance.

mean while my coworker has his head out the window gagging ...retching ... and puking his guts out all at the same time. i thought ...damn .. a lot of help he is.

fortunately the fire dept was only 2 blocks away and paramedics were there in what seemed like a couple of minutes after the superintendant had walked out. they were there damn near the same time he came running back in.

1 paramedic cut my sleeve off at the elbow and started working on my arm. the other one checked my pulse and my eyes. she started putting an iv in me. i asked ..whats that for. she said ....you have lost a lot of blood. i thought ...no shit ..its all over the floor.

here is an indication of how much damage was done. 2 months after starting rehab the did whats called a grip test. testing how strong each hand is.

you squeeze it as hard as you can and it has a gauge on it just like an air compressor.

she checked my right hand and then my left for comparison. after wards she asked me if i was left handed. i replied no i am right handed . she replied ...wow!.

i said..whats up with the wow. she says your right hand registers 22 and your left hand registers 95. she said your primary hand is always stronger than your off hand and with this drastic difference i thought your left hand may have been your primary hand. she said that it indicated my primary hand had lost a lot of strength.

after a year since the injury and undergoing 9 months of therapy the doctor released me with the last grip test registering 36 in the right hand and 95 in the left. he said it would never get better.

the moral of the story is be extremely cautious with lose clothing around anything that moves. you would not believe some of the dangerous jobs i have had and this is the only injury i have ever suffered and am now 60 years old.
 
I need to look for a solution. i wear a glove on my hand while i am working and put a pocket warmer in side the glove when temps drop. i tried that method shooting pool and my hand stayed warm but i had a hard time gripping my cue.

any one got any suggestions ?
------------------------------------------------
Lorider,

As a pool player for many decades myself, but more immediately pertinent to your above request for a suggestion, I was a toolmaker for 30 years and have on occasion put my trade to good local-vicinity use within our sport, namely by creating prosthetic solutions for arthritic players who increasingly found great difficulty making a normal bridge with their non-shooting arm.

In your case you have the twin difficulties of a very cold-sensitive shooting hand plus extreme difficulty in having that hand always adequately gripping your cue.

What immediately strikes me is that using one of the many heated gloves you've read about on this thread solves the cold problem adequately, and now you need to have a skilled seamstress (or similarly skilled trade person) incorporate some Velcro stripping to the outside of the self-heating glove in an enveloping manner that precludes any slippage when you do form a finger-grip around the cue (to whatever moderate degree your injured hand is capable). The Velcro would obviously be openable/closable whenever you'd wish during any given playing session.

I'm fairly certain that a very functional glove + Velcro stripping design can be quickly and skillfully arrived at in your locality, and you can play then as confidently as circumstances will permit, with almost all of the fear of cue slippage removed from your mind.

Arnaldo
 
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