Finding your own way

“Fiona has a feisty spirit and never lets anything stand in her way.  She always tries her hardest and is determined to not let anything stop her.”  Anne-Marie describes her 8 year old daughter with well-deserved pride and here at Active Hands we love reading about our customers’ inventiveness and determination.

Fiona is 8 years old and loves gymnastics, ballet and tap.  She was born missing fingers on her right hand but has not allowed this to limit her ambitions.  Fiona has been taking gymnastics classes for 5 years.  Her “bouncy personality” and natural flexibility seemed a great fit with gymnastics training, with the bonus that it offered the chance to strengthen both sides of her body.  This year she began to compete with the YMCA gymnastics team.

Keen to keep in touch with resources and support available for those with limb difference, Anne-Marie uses the Lucky Fin Project website and it was through a post from their founder, Molly Stapleman, that Anne-Marie discovered Active Hands’ Limb Difference gripping aid.

“I love love love the grip.  It’s amazing.  I really liked that the grip was created specifically for someone born with a limb difference.  There is not much that Fiona can’t do, but there are times when she has to figure out her own way to do things.  A perfect example of this is her routine on the gymnastics bar – she is finding her own way of doing her chin up pullover and cast back hip circle – and your grip is the perfect tool.”

Fiona continues to make great progress in gymnastics and her gripping aid has “made a big difference.”  It is the first time she has been able to hang with the full weight of her body from any bar and so the gripping aid is enabling her to strengthen muscles that she couldn’t previously train due to her limb difference.  Anne-Marie explains, “I have seen a big difference in her arm strength in just the few weeks we have been using it.”

Having got to grips with her limb difference aid in training, Fiona is excited to test it out in competition this weekend.  She also has plans to use her gripping aid when kayaking and paddleboarding with her family: and we have a feeling that this determined young lady will go on to find many more adventurous uses for it!

Our specifically designed Limb Difference gripping aid only launched in September last year and so we were especially pleased to hear from Fiona and her mum that it is already making such a difference.  If you have limb difference affecting your hands, check out our gripping aids and range of other products at activehands.com and see what you can achieve.