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Customer Story: A horse trainer's journey to stronger grip strength

Customer Story: A horse trainer's journey to stronger grip strength

I had the privilege and joy of interviewing Linda Tedesco about her hand health journey.  Linda began riding horses at about 3 days old (not a joke!).  She has dedicated her life to training horses, and painting them.  This is her story.
- Allen Arseneau

 

I’m a horse-trainer and a painter, and after years of hand overuse and injury, my hands just didn’t work anymore.  Hand Yoga fixed my hands!

I’ve been doing Jamber Hand Yoga for a year now, and it has really changed my life!  Before I started doing these hand stretches and hand exercises, I constantly dropped things because all my years of taking care of horses really damaged my grip strength and hand flexibility.  I’d literally pick something up, only to have it slide right out of my hand because my grip strength was so weak.  I can’t tell you how many drinking glasses I’ve broken this way!  My hands felt better after the first class.  Now, after a year of doing Hand Yoga, my hands feel amazing – they are strong, and help me do the things that I love the most!

Linda T.

Years of abuse really damaged my hands.

I’ve spent my entire life (literally since I was a newborn baby!) on horses and caring for horses.  I’m a professional horse trainer.  When I’m not caring for those beautiful animals, I’m painting (and often of horses!).  All the years of pulling on the reigns, of carrying bales of hay, of saddling up the horses with 40lb saddles, or of painting have really take their toll on my hands.  And a few bad horse accidents have made this all the worse.  In fact, one such accident resulted in my whole shoulder girdle being ripped out, and my collar bone being completely broken, leaving me with nerve damage, and a major lack of strength, especially in my right hand. 

All of this abuse over the years has left my poor hands weak and stiff.  My middle fingers tend to slip out of joint.  I have a trigger finger on both hands!  My hands just don’t work like they used to, and it’s so frustrating because I have so much more to give! 

Because I love what I do, I just don’t want to stop…I love horses, and I love painting too much.  And both of these jobs require so much hand strength and hand flexibility.  In fact, when I paint, I use copious detail.  This requires so much hand strength….and it has become so hard to keep this up.

Linda Tedesco - "Electric!"

Explore more of Linda Tedesco's paintings, including her famous "Electric!" painting above.

Hand Yoga has given me my hands back.

Well, that was before I started doing Hand Yoga.  Hand Yoga includes hand exercises for trigger finger, hand stretches, and hand strengthening exercises.  After even just the first Hand Yoga class that I took, I was amazed at how much better my hands felt!  After a few weeks, I saw an immense improvement in my grip strength and dexterity.  The hand exercises for trigger finger really worked because my trigger finger wasn’t getting stuck as often.  I was suddenly able to use my hands again.  I wasn’t dropping things.  My hands were starting to work like they did when I was younger.  I almost started feeling more powerful. 

Explore Free Jamber Hand Health Classes

Now, after a whole year of doing Hand Yoga’s hand exercises and hand stretches, it’s just been wonderful.  My hands are more elastic.  My fingers don’t slip out of joint anymore.  I have so much more grip strength than I’ve had in years.  I can take care of the horses.  I can paint.  My hands are my hands again!!!

Climbing Hands exercise

I do the LIVE Hand Yoga classes.  I’ll do hand stretches and hand exercises in the car when I’m driving, and I try to Hand Yoga at night, and then I’ll treat myself to a Hand Massage (the same hand massages that we do at the end of each Hand Yoga class!).  And this has been enough to transform my hands.  It’s just amazing. 

In fact, before Hand Yoga, I couldn’t open a jar.  Now, after a year of Jamber’s hand exercise classes, I can grab that jar, and twist off the cap.  My hands are so much stronger!  It’s amazing how much my hands have improved.  I have so much more strength and dexterity in my hands.  I have so much more confidence!

Jamber’s products have made a huge difference.

I’ve been using the ZenGrip Mugs, and these have really helped as well.  I used to have to hold a mug with both hands, because my right hand was so weak.  With a ZenGrip Mug, I can easily hold the mug in my right hand!  I actually enjoy drinking again.  It’s great.  I’ve given ZenGrip Mugs as gifts to everyone I know.  I gifted a bunch to some Navy veterans who were working on my house.  I even showed them a bunch of Hand Yoga exercises.  After about a month, they shared with me that they’ve been telling all of their contractor friends about Jamber, and they’ve been doing the hand exercises themselves, and have already seen a benefit in their hands. 

I love the Jamber Organic Hand Therapy Massage Olive Oil because I care about what I put on my skin, and it just makes so much sense to massage my hands with olive oil.  The bottle is perfectly sized.  It makes it easy to massage my hands – which I love to do before bed!  And the Grippie (the Hand Warming Grippie) is genius!  I love it.  I use it (heated up!) for my hands and my shoulder.  And my fiancé uses it for his neck.  It’s just such a great product. 

Jamber Products

I love that Jamber is so dedicated to helping people’s hands feel better.  It’s certainly made a big difference in my life. 

- Linda Tedesco (Pensacola, FL)

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