By Anna Strutt
I had an accident on June 9, 2025, which resulted in a bone fracture in my wrist and elbow. Initially, when my cast was removed on July 22, the surgeon and physiotherapist tested the rotation, flexion and extension of my hand/wrist, which I was able to do without any difficulty or pain. They said I would do well because I had full movement in those directions.
On August 14, I had my first physiotherapy appointment. The physiotherapist did a thorough, detailed assessment of my left injured hand, wrist, arm movements and took measurements with a special protractor device, comparing my injured wrist/hand/arm to my right wrist/hand/arm. I was able to do them perfectly and the measurements were the same as in my uninjured wrist/hand. She was very impressed. The only thing that was different was the strength in my injured/left wrist which was a bit weaker than my good wrist/hand.
The percentage difference in strength between my injured wrist and uninjured wrist was 40% left (injured) to 60% (right). However, there is always a slight difference between the dominant hand (my right) and non-dominant hand. The dominant hand is always a little stronger. What this means is that it won’t take very long before my left hand is at full strength.
It was fascinating to see that all the specific movements she asked me to do with my hand were in the tai chi set. For example, she asked me to rotate my wrist, do a tigers mouth, make a fist, flex and extend the hand up and down. Even the claw like position of the fingers and hand when we do strike tiger was included.
Apparently, I was waaay ahead of the curve in terms of recovery. I attribute this to many years of doing tai chi and I felt grateful to Master Moy for providing me and us with such an amazing art.
I felt that this was clearly, in my case, an example of the health benefits of the tai chi movements that Mr. Moy so thoughtfully and scientifically created for us.
Translation by Jordi Awarita, Cathy Filion