Week 4 3

The physio department got a wax bath this week. The PT used it for the first time yesterday on a patient with arthritis who has been complaining of pain in the previous days due to her arthritis.
When this patient put her hand in the wax bath she complained that it was too hot. SHe displayed a very overt reaction in response to the temperature. The patient tolerated only 4 layers of wax before the PT wrapped it up and allowed it to cool. The patient displayed animated reaction to pain in her hands, which appeared to disappear as soon as she was distracted by drinking her cup of tea or in conversation. Her pain reaction only appeared when she was asked how her hand felt or if she was left doing nothing. After the wax was removed she complained loudly that her hand was hurting and was holding it in a protected position. Her hand didnt have any abnormal redness.
She told the PTA that she thought that the wax bath helped her hand and that it wasnt that hot and she would like to try it again.
Today I took the patient for the wax bath, I was feeling a bit unsure because the PT doesnt work today, only the PTAs and I was feeling unconfortable on whether to stop if she complained of teh pain she had yesterday, even though the PT let her do a few more dips yesterday after complaining of the pain. I set up the wax bath, washed her hand and rubed lanolin into them. I then explained again what to do and she did it. Today she didnt complain of pain like yesterday, which may have been because there was a room full of people. She only complained of heat on initial contact but insisted she was ok to keep going. This may have been because today she had got the hang of just dipping her hand n the wax, rather than leaving it in there.
After removing teh wax I made sure that her hand was ok and that she had movement. I told her to continue with the exercises that I had prescribed her the day before.
i was happy with the way today went, I got to use the wax bath twice with patients who are both finding it beneficial.