Early and temporary use of finger prosthetics to aid rehabilitation.

For many, losing a digit is traumatic, and adjusting to such a loss can be challenging. Not only do patients need to adjust from an occupational, social, and functional perspective, the subsequent pain that can follow after an amputation may also be an issue. The author describes an innovative and inexpensive splinting approach to assist these patients as they adjust after a digital amputation. The splint is designed to assist with the compensatory pain that people frequently feel as they learn to reuse their hand and to give people an understanding of what it feels like to have a prosthetic digit.