As a hand therapist or occupational therapist, you intend to offer the best treatment and help your patients to improve their pre-existing hand conditions. We respect and appreciate rehab care therapists like you who put their whole efforts into improving their patients’ life by giving them pain-free, healthy hands.
We understand that making a therapeutic hand rehab program is an intricate task because complications are not the same for every patient. Effective hand therapy program consists of different tools and exercises that target different muscles of patients’ hands and fingers and improve their dexterity, grasping ability. However, patients prefer to use minimal tools with versatile features because that is cost-effective and easy to execute.
To make the hand rehab program engaging and patient-friendly, you may add tools like Therapy-putty or occupational therapy putty because patients of all ages love to work with them.
But is it really a versatile option?
The answer is both yes & No!
Sounds much confusing, right!
Don’t worry; we won’t keep you in the dark.
Why yes- because hand exercise with therapy putty does the following things very well.
- strengthen hand muscles,
- helps children to develop a strong grip
- Improve finger strength and flexibility
- Develop motor skills
- Helps elderly patients to regain hand strength after diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
- Restore hand functionality
Why No-
- With Therapy, putty patients may face hygiene issues in the current scenario because it collects dust if used or left out on an unclean surface which is difficult to clean thoroughly. Due to hygienic issue it may not be apt for multiple users
- Though therapy putty provides adequate grip strength but not come up with clinical assessment features.So patient can not receive real-time feedback
- It may not be an ideal option in remote rehabilitative therapy because lack of digital connection
- As Therapy putty is not featured with multi-resistance level, patients need to purchase multiple putty of different resistance; Expense matters here!
- With therapy putty, Patients need to count their grip manually. Manual counts can be erroneous sometimes.
So, what to do?
We have an alternative option for you.
You can replace therapeutic putty with the Squegg device.
The Next question is, what is unique about this? Is it worthwhile to replace therapy putty with Squegg?
Yes, it is worthwhile. Let’s discuss in brief and point out the differences between therapy putty and the Squegg device.
Which product is more hygienic? Therapy putty or Squegg device
We are starting with the Hygienic factor. After the Covid-19 pandemic, hand hygiene has become a vital factor in maintaining good health. But It is hardly possible to maintain proper hygiene while performing grip strengthening exercises with therapy putty. Proper sanitization can not be done on therapy putty, which eventually increases the susceptibility to disease.
Again, Therapy putty is made with silicone Polymers that tend to gather dirt from unclean surfaces and microbes from the air and eventually get clotted over the putty surface, which is difficult to clean.
On the other hand, Squegg digital devices are made up of a rigid silicone surface, which is non-sticky, and prevents dirt accumulation. Even patients can thoroughly clean and sanitize the device after every use. Thus, you can consider Squegg the most hygienic therapy partner and include it in your hand rehab program without compromising the hygiene factor.
Gamified Squegg device VS Therapy putty. Which tool is exciting to work with?
Therapy putty is a primitive tool that has been in use for hand therapy for many years. But sometimes, patients get bored with mundane exercise with putty, and they skip or discontinue it, which eventually prevents them from getting an optimum result out of it.
To resolve this problem, the Squegg device is Integrated with in-app games. Gamification makes this device interesting indeed. It encourages and motivates patients to accomplish their regular grip count targets. Also, the best part is patients can check their grip strength and counts and get progress reports by connecting the device with Squegg’s dedicated mobile application, which is impossible with therapy putty. The real-time feedback from Squegg increases patient-compliance and patient-engagement to hand therapy.
So, what do you think? Which option is better for your patients?
Remote therapy; Therapy putty VS Squegg device: Who wins
Remote therapy and hand rehab treatment is challenging with therapy because it lacks a digital connection. However, remote rehab care has become the most essential part because patients are not always able to come to the clinic.
On the other hand, Squegg supports remote therapy because it is associated with a digital app. With Squegg, therapists can guide their patients remotely and track and monitor their progress real-time. The digital device is made to achieve greater access to care with more privacy.
Here also, Squegg wins!
We have made a clear comparison between the Squegg device and therapy putty. Hope this will help you to make a better choice. Choose and include one of them, or use both and check which is the better option for your hand therapy program.