Ring Splints

The first time my daughter was fitted for ring splints, she was very young and her ability to hold a pencil in school was problematic. She was hyper extending so much she created her own very awkward fist type grasp to write with. Her professionals within the school district told us there was no way to change her grip and nothing to be done.  This information was incorrect, but I didn't know that at the time. As a creative child, she learned to do anything she wanted with that fist type grip, however, her occupational therapists told us that it was causing her some big problems, including nerve damage. The OT was concerned that she would lose hand use over time by continuing to use it in the manner (forcing early arthritis) By the time my kiddo was in 5th grade, she was sent to work hard on learning a new grip. When given the choice to use a new grip or to use her ring splints, she focused her attention on the new grip and she actually mastered it. I was incredibly skeptical, I didn't think she could do it.  She showed me otherwise, to our delight.
So, while she still hyper extends, her new grip is MUCH better and she is not wearing the ring splints at this time. I do want to share what we used, in the even that this information is helpful.

To begin with, the OT department at our local University custom made her these plastic ring splints. They were hard, and uncomfortable and they appeared to cut her blood flow as her fingers were always quite red/purple. She didn't like to wear them, and I can't say that I blamed her for that. Also, she was probably too young to work well with a product like this as she fought to bend against it instead of working with it. I would call that initial set a failure for our needs. The OT who fitted her for these plastic ring splints then went on to measure her for the silver ring splints, which were much more comfortable! She received a set that fit her well, though they still caused her pain when worn for a school day.

Eventually, she stopped wearing the ring splints and we tried different things.  In 6th grade she tried the silver ring splints again, but this is when she had transformed her grip, so she was doing much better without the splints than she had, previously. The people at Silver Ring Splints Company were very helpful with the OT who helped us.  This OT had never ordered them before, so he walked through a video conference to size her.  Unfortunately, he did size her a bit too small and they are not a good fit, nor are they returnable. The type that was identified as the most helpful for her were the

swan neck for finger tips and the MCP splint with bracelet for the thumbs. Because theses really were not a fabulous fit and because she was old enough to focus on her grip and make progress, we don't require her to use these at this time. Our insurance did help cover part of the costs of these splints.  Also, she had worse issues to attend to with her knees and shoulders throughout these years, so the splints ranked lower in importance when we weighed out all areas needed attention.
My opinion is that the Silver Ring Splint (click here)  products are really wonderful and they would be a great help to an adult, or teenager who is willing to work with them (or even a child who is ready to work with them).  It is essential to have them fitted properly, so make sure that your OT knows what he/she is doing and double check by following the advice on the company site.  If you want to try for insurance, you will likely have to pay up front and then submit yourself. I found it helpful to get codes and insurance papers before I met with OT so he could fill in what info he/she was required, and then I sent along a script from the Doctor, just in case.
These are expensive and there are other companies that make like products, though I cannot attest to the quality.  If you want to compare options, you can also check out Zomile (click here) , and Etsy even has some limited options (Etsty click here).
For my own child, I think the  Silver Rings Splints are likely a product she will want to come back to when she is older. The company makes a functional product that is also quite pretty and it looks more like jewelry than support.
I hope you find this information helpful! Please share if you have other vendors you like.