Jason Little
United States
Eden Prairie
Minnesota
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Ok, a bit of a preamble to create some context
Over the past several weeks, I've been recovering from a heart attack and stroke (if interested, you can learn more about it at Caring Bridge, a phenomenal free service). One of the first concerns I had once I was lucid was the use of my right arm -- it was completely numb and unresponsive, and there was some concern it could be permanent.
I'm one of the fortunate ones, and as the weeks went by, Occupational Therapists worked hard with me to try and regain use of my right arm and hand. There were a variety of special tools, gadgets, some therapy putty, and exercises to use -- things were proceeding well for gross motor functions, but fine manual dexterity was a long ways off -- my right hand would tremble more and more the further away from my body I'd reach, and it was almost completely desensitized. There was no real improvement at that point for several days, and I was beginning to accept that my arm and hand would simply stay that way -- about 75% of my usual strength, and tremors. Not bad, all things considered.
This is where Blokus comes in.
Getting a bit frustrated over the lack of progress during the previous few days, I was eager to try something else. During an OT session, there were a variety of minor manual dexterity tests and exercises, and I was growing bored. I started looking around the room and found a shelf in the corner with some old, tattered board games -- Candyland, Go to the Head of the Class, Yahtzee, Sequence, and Scrabble. But peeking out from the bottom of the clutter was a familiar and welcome sight -- amidst all those worn games was a copy of Blokus.
I told my OT a bit about the game and said we should play, and I assured her that there would be just as much fine motor skill activity as any of the other exercises. So she brought over the box, and my demo personality took over -- setting up the board, laying out and showing the pieces, and explaining the rules while I arranged everything.
Then we started to play. I was tasked with the challenge of only using my right hand during the entire game.
She approached it a bit like Tetris, consolidating in one corner. I was tentative at first, grabbing only the bigger pieces and keeping them close to my side of the board. As the game moved on and I was slowly running out of both large pieces and space close to my side of the board, I was starting to get a little worried.
I could pick up the smaller pieces, but had to actually watch and sort of "force" my fingers to do it -- my hand was still so numb I literally could not feel the pieces I was holding. As I started to stretch my arm out to place a blocking move, my arm started to tremble and shake. I took a deep breath, brought my arm back, and tried again, concentrating on the section of the board I wanted to place the piece, rather than my hand. My arm still trembled slightly, but I was able to get the piece where I wanted it to go.
The game continued, and as the pieces grew smaller and the board space more limited, I slowly noticed my arm was trembling less and less. The game helped distract my mind and let it focus on strategy, visualization, and layout rather than spending energy shaking my arm around.
By the end of the game, my arm and shoulder were pretty fatigued -- it's hard to imagine how much exertion a one-handed game of Blokus takes after seven weeks of convalescence. The OT was very pleased, and agreed it was a great exercise and allowed me to practice larger, gross motor coordination (with the larger pieces and closer sections of the board) while slowly working toward fine motor skills (using the smaller pieces further away).
It's given me new hope that my arm could still fully recover. I'm hoping Blokus becomes a staple of my occupational therapy -- and perhaps some other residents will get a chance to learn a new game while exercising their minds and bodies.
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Herb
United States
North Carolina
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Thank you so much for sharing your experience. This is both motivational to me at the moment and I believe will be motivational to others as well. Thank you.
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chris schott
United States
saint louis
Missouri
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Bah, another cheap ploy to get thumbs.
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John Desmond
United States
Lansdowne
Pennsylvania
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Salutations, Mr. Little !
Having - I hope - helped my father recover from a stroke, maybe I have a bit of an idea what you've been going through.
My hopes, prayers, and best wishes are with you.
Yours, John Desmond
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Paul Szilagyi
United States
Parma
Ohio
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I hope you recover well; your trademark much-greater-than* GeekLists were some of the most insightful reading on the subject of boardgaming that I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing.
A friend of mine had a similar experience with the loss of fine motor function. Over the years he's gotten almost all of his functionality back (although, at best he can only give you one-and-a-half-thumbs up). You may experience some quirks as well...
OTOH, the experience caused him to pursue a career in Occupational Therapy, at which he's thriving.
Hopefully, your experience will similarly enrich your life, when all's said and done...and that of others, if your 'Blokus Technique' catches on.
*
">>", that is...
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Andy Andersen
United States
Newark
Delaware
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Best of luck. With your great attitude, I'm sure your recovery will be successful.
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The Honorable Mayor McCheese
United States
Clearwater
Florida
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Jason, it is good to hear your recovery is going well so far.
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Robert Wesley
Nepal
Aberdeen
Washington
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 You should play "Jenga" then, or perhaps "Golf", where 'strokes' were 'tallied' with the LEAST amount being BEST! 
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Tim Fiscus
Germany
Landstuhl
Armed Forces Europe (AE)
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Jason-
I use games everyday in my quest to treat wounded soldiers and it's great to hear stories like this! I dream of having a famous BGG'er cross my therapy path!
Best wishes to your recovery.
Tim
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