Fabricating a splint for deep friction massage

Deep friction massage (DFM) is a therapeutic modality for tendinitis, muscle strains, ligamentous sprains, and capsulitis of the trapezio-first-metacarpal joint. Depending on the stage and site of the lesion, treatment sessions may be as brief as 5 minutes or as long as 20 minutes. Many therapists find DFM to be very effective but state that treatment is very fatiguing to administer. Therapists with hypermobile fingers find it particularly difficult to perform. In order to overcome these two problems, a number of splints have been designed to treat various lesions. This article describes how to fabricate one of these splints. This splint is useful for commonly seen lesions such as supraspinatus tendinitis and a sprained acromioclavicular ligament.