Brooklyn Hand Therapy

This is an injury most people want to avoid, but unfortunately happens frequently, especially for athletes playing in contact sports. Recovery time from fractures vary, but with skilled Hand Therapy intervention…

Sprains are injuries that occur when a ligament is stretched or torn. Ligaments are responsible for connecting the joints in your body. Sprains are a very common form of injury and anyone can suffer from them, from professional athletes to the average person performing daily tasks.

The general symptoms associated with a sprain are pain, swelling, restricted mobility, and bruising.

Injury to the ulnar collateral ligament may require splinting. The ulnar collateral ligament is responsible for connecting the thumb to the side near the index finger. Normally, this happens when you jam your thumb into an object, person, or the ground while playing sports or performing some form of physical activity.

After the injury, your thumb may swell and bruise. Pain might last for only a week or two. After the initial pain, the problem lies more in the function and motion of the thumb. You might have trouble writing, turning a doorknob, or holding a drinking glass. This can be felt as pain or sometimes weakness in pinch strength.

Mallet Finger (also known as baseball finger) is normally caused by a strong force impacting the tip of the finger and damaging the extensor tendon that’s responsible for straightening the finger. This injury commonly occurs in baseball, basketball, volleyball, and a number of contact sports.

The finger may be painful, swollen and bruised, especially if the finger suffered a fracture, but usually, this type of injury is just the inability to straighten the tip. This injury may require splinting.

Finger Dislocation occurs when the bones of the fingers are moved (dislocated) from their normal position. Depending on the amount of force causing the dislocation, some bone may also fracture. Finger dislocation is a common sports injury, especially in contact sports, but it can happen to anyone – especially during falls.

Thumb Osteoarthritis (OA) is a condition with symptoms that feature swelling or tenderness at the base of the thumb, an aching discomfort from prolonged use, decreased grip strength, limited motion, and an “out-of-joint” appearance or bony prominence around the joint.

Thumb OA occurs when the cartilage at the end of the bones begins to wear away. Cartilage allows the bones to move smoothly inside of the body’s joints. Bone to bone action makes movement very painful and can inflame the joint.

While arthritis may be a degenerative disease, Hand Therapy intervention can help slow the process down through splinting and activity modifications.

Tendonitis is a condition that involves the tendons and muscles of your forearm and elbow, usually due to repetitive movement and overuse. Small tears begin to develop on the tendons near the elbow causing inflammation and putting stress on your arm.

Tennis Elbow symptoms are described as an ache on the outside of the elbow. Hand Therapy can help decrease pain symptoms through splinting, activity modifications, and ergonomic education.

Trigger Finger (Stenosing tenosynovitis) is a condition most common among people who frequently do tasks that require repetitive gripping or pinching actions.

This condition is caused by the thickening of the surrounding tissues where the finger’s tendons glide through. This “compression” can be felt as discomfort, usually at the base of the finger or thumb meeting the palm.

Symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include finger stiffness, a “popping” or “clicking” sensation when moving the finger, a finger locking in a bent position that either pops suddenly or cannot straighten.

Hand therapy can help decrease pain and “clicking” through splinting.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome occurs when the median nerve, which travels through the carpal tunnel, a narrow passageway in the wrist formed by the your wrists bones, is squeezed. The carpal tunnel is a very tight space that must be shared by 9 flexor tendons. When the surrounding tissues swell around the flexor tendons, pressure is put on the median nerve causing pain that can span from the elbow to the fingers. Numbness, pain, tingling, weakness of grip, and occasional shock-like sensations in the thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers are typical symptoms related to carpal tunnel syndrome.

There are a number of causes for carpal tunnel syndrome. Some of the most common are repetitive hand use and hand and wrist position, especially when the wrist is kept in an extreme flexion or extension position such as typing or using a mouse for long periods of time.

Other causes can be pregnancy, arthritis, and genetics.

Hand therapy can help to decrease carpal tunnel symptoms with splinting, activity modifications, and ergonomic education.

De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis occurs when the tissues surrounding two major tendons that control the thumb are thickened or when the tendons take up more space due to swelling, making it painful to move the thumb.

Symptoms are described as a dull or sharp pain and swelling at the base of the thumb or wrist. This condition can often occur in first time parents.

Pre & Post Surgery our certified hand therapists can provide splinting or therapeutic exercises for people who are about to undergo surgery or help with recovery after surgery.

Tendon Injuries and Repairs. Tendons are the tissues that connect muscles to bone in our bodies. They are flexible, but cannot be stretched too far or forcefully without tearing.

Our flexor tendons are partially responsible for our fingers’ mobility. Injury to either the hand, wrist, or forearm can affect the movement significantly.

The certified hand therapists at Park Sports Physical Therapy are trained to treat…

Nerve Injuries and Repairs. Our nerves run through our entire body and are responsible for relaying stimuli to our brain. When a nerve experiences damage, symptoms can include pain, numbness, tingling, increased sensitivity, burning, and make mobility difficult.

Hand Therapy can help regain sensation and mobility through exercises and manual therapy.

Ligament Injuries. Our ligaments are responsible for holding our joints together. Injuries to the ligaments are most often the results of an excessive force on your joints. The goal of therapy is to protect the joint cartilage from further damage that can occur because of defective ligament. Our hand therapists are specially trained to stabilize the joint by skillful splinting and teaching patients how to exercise and strengthen their hand, wrist, and forearm muscles in a safe way to aide in recovery.

Cubital Tunnel Syndrome occurs when pressure is put on the ulnar nerve, which runs from the elbow down to the hand. Symptoms include pain, loss of sensation, and weakness. Normally, the pinky and ring finger will also be affected by the entrapment or stretching of ulnar nerve, commonly described as a “pins and needles” sensation.

Our hand therapists will normally create splints for patients to wear while they sleep at night, keeping the elbow in the correct position, and implementing an exercise program to improve “ulnar nerve gliding.”

Dupuytren’s Contracture is a condition involving the abnormal thickening of fascia around the palm or tendons of the hand. Sometimes nodules develop around the tendons of the fingers which pulls them to a closed position. This thickening of the fascia can also make it difficult for a person’s fingers to fully extend in an open position.

Our hand therapists have a number of treatments available for patients with Dupuytren’s Contracture. This conditions is normally treated by splinting. Recent developments of lythic enzymes make this chronic condition treatment easy and cost effective. Our hand therapists are also trained to assist with post surgery cases.

Our Certified Hand Therapists create custom splints when patients need more support than pre-assembled splints offer. Splints are worn to support weak or damaged parts of the forearm, wrist and hand. It also serves to correct orthopedic maladjustments with both static and dynamic functionality.

Splints can be worn for a number of reasons which can include, helping fractured bones set correctly, sprains, and post surgery recovery.