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Hand Pain And Hand Therapy

Pain in our hands may include any kind of discomfort in the tissues or joints of the hand or fingers. Hand therapists help to resolve hand pain and injuries.

hand anatomy

Our hands are very fascinating and interesting. It is very, very, very complex, physically and physiologically is made up of nerves, bones, blood vessels, muscles, and skin.

• The muscles help with movement
• The tendons also help with movement by connecting your hand muscles to bones
• The nerves helps you feel sensation in your finger and hands, as well as help your muscles move
• The blood vessels ensure continuous nutrition supply
• The skin protects the internal structures of the hand and fingers
• The joints of the fingers are complicated structures that are made with bursa, synovial membranes, synovial fluid, ligaments and cartilage that hold joints together
  

Any of these structures can be injured, causing inflammation, pain and swelling that decreased hand function, movement and causing hand pain.

types of hand pains

The types of hand pains and hand discomforts includes

• throbbing pain
• aching pain
• soreness
• stiffness
• unusual warmth/heat
• tingling
• numbness
• burning pain
• prickling (paresthesia)

Any sensation that includes numbness, burning, pins and needles and prickling, tends to have involvement of nerve damage (permanent or temporary).

causes of hand pains

There are 3 general groups of hand pain causes or aggravators, and they are:

• direct injury or trauma such as door slammed on it, cut by knife or bullet, punch or kicks, falling on it etc
  
• repetitive strain or injury such as heavy keyboard typing, poor hand posture, carrying heavy load over time that can give rise to conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, de Quervain's tenosynovitis (mummy's hand)
  
• diseases such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes and neuropathy

Painful hands can be signals and signs of underlying more serious issues such as fractures (such as distal radial fractures or finger fractures) or infections, and you should contact your doctor or us about your hand pain symptoms as soon as you can.

Please seek medical care as soon as you can if you have persistent or recurrent hand or finger pains. If you hands had been exposed to very cold temperatures and have changed color or lost sensations, or if you have severe pain or uncontrolled bleeding, please quickly get in touch with your doctor.

hand pain and hand therapy

When you see our senior hand therapist, they will first do an indepth hand and injury assessment to understand your specific hand injury before determining what specific treatments you may require. Hand therapy treatments for hand pain may include:

• customized hand splint
• soft tissue management
• joint mobilization and manipulation
• scar massage and management
• ultrasound therapy for accelerated soft tissue healing
• strengthening exercises
• stretching exercises