One thing I wasn’t clear about is how damn tight and stiff my arm has been. I don’t have any before photos or videos, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

When I went to hand therapy back in 2018, my PT would kindly provide 10 minutes of heat before gently stretching and massaging my arm to best prepare me for exercise and movement.

The nerve glides were so painful. When a neurotypical arm is stretched, nerves easily slide through connective tissue that is elastic and past muscles that are malleable.

But my nerves were trapped in an arm marked by tight, dehydrated fascia, and stiff muscles (think, hard-as-rock-avocados 4 days from being served type of muscle stiffness). Thus when I was stretched, it felt like my nerves were being individually pulled through cement.

If while laying on the therapy table, she tried to position my arms out in a T-formation, my left arm would have to be weighted down to stay flat. I could never do a full body stretch with my arms brushing against my ears as I reached my fingers in the opposite direction of my toes.

Instead my arm would end up looking like this. That’s as straight and as flat as I could manage.

The fact that I can move my arm now without painful glides and lay it completely flat on the table behind my head in the video above feels like a freaking miracle.

Thank you Neubie.