Hand therapy is an integral part of Rehabilitative care treatment. Occupational therapy, Physical therapy, and Hand therapy are the different branches of rehabilitative care. Basically, physiotherapy and occupational therapy patients do their specialization course in hand therapy to treat hand-related ailments. To achieve certification, medical students must give their five years to become “Medically Certified .”However, in the medical line, a certificate is not enough. one should have 4000+ hours of clinical experience treating patients. According to the medical certification report, 5300 certified hand therapists are available globally, which is the minimum. Hand therapists generally work with occupational therapists and orthopedic surgeons to make the treatment super-effective. Hand therapists usually look after overall upper extremities, including the wrist, elbow, and shoulder.
They offer the best treatment for the below-mentioned hand conditions:
- Rheumatoid and OsteoarthritisOsteoarthritis
- Post-surgery wound recovery and infection prevention
- Work-related injury and associated chronic pain
- Joint replacement therapy
- Congenital deformities in newborn deformities
Hand therapists benefit your life in many ways.
Accurate Assessment of injuries:
Ailments in the upper extremity and injuries to the hand are widespread problems. Our hands are made up of very complex structures. Hands, elbows, wrists, and fingers are prone to damage because we constantly overuse them to accomplish our day-to-day tasks. Even surprisingly, any neurological disorder also profoundly impacts our hands. Fortunately, hand therapists are there to treat our hands with their extensive knowledge and experience. They can accurately treat and assess various upper extremity conditions and hand dysfunctions to promote healing and return to normal activities in a short span. Certified hand therapists diagnose problems via in-depth assessments. They check how the muscles, tendons, and joints synchronize while working. Even they contain dysfunctions using specific gamified tools and techniques. An experienced hand therapist always provides careful diagnosis with the best treatment.
Minimize pain-related stress
Pain in the shoulder, wrist, and elbow is very common, and they develop not just because of physical inconvenience. They also come up with mental stress, gradually minimize coping abilities, also hamper sleeping qualities. Hand therapists understand these problems by thoroughly diagnosis and series of tests. They work with an orthopedic surgeon and design specific rehabilitative programs to minimize hand pain. The hand therapy process is designed to quickly heal hand pain-related stress by stimulating the nerve. Therefore, your hands gradually start recovering and regain functionality.
They offer routine care.
CHT is a much easier process of evaluation and easy to accomplish treatment. Hand therapists offer to expedite care with top-notch diagnosis and treatment and deliver a satisfactory outcome. Choose a therapist who is empathetic and caring. A hand therapist should understand patients’ psychology and make them mentally strong to cope with the hand pain. Frequent treatment is a great process for improving the range of motion and, thereby, functional ability. The patient must continue all these treatments because, in rehabilitative care, treatment adherence is crucial; because in the first two sessions, patients may not see any difference, but with time, they can notice positive differences. Unfortunately, in rehabilitative care like OT, CHT, and PT.
Improve functional outcome
Working with a hand therapist, patients get a personalized treatment plan for upper extremity ailments. They will start just after setting the treatment baseline and also make it manageable for patients so they can attain it easily. A good hand therapist will stay with you at every step of your journey and continuously monitor your progress. Setting a goal is very important in any treatment plan. If you are in a hand ailment, you must reach out to a hand therapist because pain is not suitable for your overall mental and physical health.
Restore function
The best part of hand therapy is seeing the entire healing process and restoring functionalities. Hand therapy is a scientific therapeutic intervention that works step-by-step to make the healing process more consequential. There are many conditions like Carpus tunnel syndrome, Osteoarthritis; sports injuries gradually alleviate hand functionality by restricting motion. They often struggle to do regular daily tasks in their professional and personal lives. Therefore, patients feel less energetic, demotivated, and depressed. Our hands are complex. In severe cases, they may require surgery to get healed completely. Surgery is part of treatment but not a complete procedure. So, after-surgery rehabilitation time is a must. Therefore, the patient needs hand therapy to stimulate healing, speed up the recovery process, and restore hand functionalities. Hand therapy is a process of weeks to months, but the result is quite promising.
In hand therapy, you will receive a different layer of treatment. In the first 15 days to 1-month patient receives treatment that stimulates the healing process, then after one month hand therapist offers treatment that restores functionalities. Some patient asks, “How to increase grip strength”; Hand therapy also provide some exercises like pinching, squeezing, and curling exercises that really increase the grip strength of patients.
