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Hand Therapy
There are many physical therapy services offered at Arrow Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation, and we’re proud to add another offering to the list: hand therapy. This service is designed to help patients deal with many different hand and upper extremity conditions.
What is hand therapy?
The term “hand therapy” can be slightly misleading. This form of therapy is designed to help patients with many hand issues, but therapists who specialize in hand therapy can also help people with issues in the upper extremities. The wrist and forearm are considered upper extremities. Also, the elbow, upper arm and shoulder are also included in this category. There are several goals that hand therapy is designed to work toward. Restoring the maximum level of function to the hands and upper extremities is one of these goals. Also, hand therapists seek to build personalized treatment plans designed to target the specific issue that’s affecting your hands or upper extremities.
What can a hand therapist help treat?
The hands and upper extremities are used for many routine actions that we do every day. From drinking your morning coffee to opening a door, these areas of the body are critical to daily life. But your ability to perform routine tasks like these can be affected by many factors. An example of an issue hand therapy is often used to treat is fractures in the hands or upper extremities. People with carpal tunnel syndrome can also benefit from this type of therapy. In addition, sports injuries like tennis elbow can benefit from the help a hand therapist can provide.
Hand therapy can be used to help patients avoid certain types of surgery, such as rotator cuff surgery. It can also help patients reduce the pain they feel after surgery, and it may even help to speed up their post-surgical recovery. Other issues that hand therapy can be used for include:
- Sprains/strains
- Tendinitis
- Trigger finger
- De Quervain’s tenosynovitis
- Dupuytren’s contracture
- Arthritis
How can a hand therapy specialist help me?
At Arrow Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation, we have an occupational therapist
at our Edison, New Jersey, clinic who specializes in hand therapy. This specialist can use many therapy techniques to help patients with hand and upper extremity problems: She can show you therapeutic exercises that are designed to restore your ability to do everyday activities. Our specialist can also help you improve fine motor movements in your hands. If you’ve had a hand or upper extremity injury, she has the knowledge and experience to create static and dynamic support splints customized to your needs.
Manual therapy is another tool that Arrow’s hand therapist can use to help patients. This technique can help break up and prevent scar tissue from forming after an injury or surgery. It’s also intended to help improve the range of motion in joints in the hand and upper extremities. Your hand therapy plan may also include therapy methods like:
- Acute or chronic pain care
- Sports injury and overuse prevention
- Muscle reeducation
- Work-related conditioning
- Home exercise prescription
- Sensory integration for amputations
- Wound care
- Post-surgical management and treatment of tendon reconstructions
- Custom splint fabrication
- Desensatization techniques
Our hand therapist will also work closely with surgeons, doctors and other health care professionals, and this helps ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to your recovery. This willingness to communicate can also benefit you in other ways. One example is that it can help make sure your hand therapy complements and supports treatments prescribed by other members of your health care team.
If you have a hand or upper extremity issue, Arrow Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation is ready to help you get the care you need. We offer free screenings to help you get started with your therapy. Our hand therapist can also create a therapy plan that’s personalized to your specific needs. Contact our team in Edison for more information or to schedule an initial appointment with our hand therapy specialist.
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