Hand Therapy in Hauppauge

The hands are a complex part of the body made up of tiny bones, tendons, nerves, muscles, and veins. Our hands provide us with the dexterity and strength necessary to complete tasks at home and work. We use our hands for almost everything we do, so an injury can be stressful and hard to manage. At East End Occupational Therapy, we offer hand therapy in Hauppauge to help patients recover from their injuries. Continue reading to learn how occupational therapy can help you after your injury.

Occupational Therapy for Hand Injuries

Your hands play a vital role in almost all of the activities you do on a daily basis. Because of this, the hands are susceptible to injury. Your hands can become injured for a variety of reasons. You may have been affected by trauma, an accident, arthritis, or have undergone surgery. Some of the common problems that we help with include fractures, arthritis, trigger fingers, carpal tunnel, and weakness. After an injury, you may need occupational therapy. Occupational therapy is a form of therapy that is helpful for people recovering from injury more specifically geared towards helping them return to their work.

At East End Occupational Therapy, we provide hand therapy to treat injuries affecting the hands and upper extremities. Hand therapy helps patients return to productive lifestyles and shows them how to perform their daily tasks despite physical setbacks. Here are some of the ways that hand therapists can help:

Soften scars.
Treat and monitor wounds or lacerations.
Reduce scar tissue or adhesions between the skin and tendons.
Reduce swelling and inflammation.
Decrease pain and improve dexterity.
Teach patients with amputations to be more functional.

Treating Hand Injuries

When you injure your hand, it can be difficult to do something as simple as buttoning your shirt. Hand therapy can help you accomplish that again. Hand therapy often starts with an evaluation where our team will learn about your condition and your goals. After carefully reviewing your history, we will perform a detailed exam to establish your baseline function. We provide our patients with customized treatment plans with set goals and timelines to help them reach their desired function. It is essential to stay on top of your therapy, as a lack of effort may prolong recovery. Occupational hand therapy can provide the following benefits:

Conservative treatment without surgery.
Decreased recent or chronic pain
Reduced pain from nerve problems and restored sensation after a nerve injury.
Custom splinting to protect the injury and prevent stiffness.
It helps patients learn to complete everyday tasks again and gets them back to work or sports.
Helps with recovery after surgery, including wound management, scar treatment, preventing infection, and reducing swelling.

Contact Us

A hand injury does not have to take over your entire life. At East End Occupational Therapy, our dedicated team of specialized hand therapists will help you find a solution to your problem and put you on a successful path towards recovery. To learn more about occupational therapy or to schedule an appointment, contact our team today.

Common Overuse Hand Injuries

At East End Occupational Therapy, we take pride in offering the sessions of hand therapy to the local community. When issues with pain or mobility of the hands take place, completing everyday tasks can feel next to impossible. If you’ve recently been diagnosed with an overuse hand injury, our team will be able to help. Here at hand therapy in Hauppauge, our hand therapists will work diligently to get you back to full strength, so your quality of life can be restored.

Tendonitis

When talking about common overuse injuries, it’d be impossible to leave tendonitis off of your list. It is the most common overuse injury a person can suffer from. Tendons are cords of tissues that connect your muscles to your bones. Although these tissues are essential for movement, they can become inflamed and irritated through overuse. Symptoms of this condition can include the following:

Swelling.
Tenderness in the affected area.
Pain.

Strains

In a similar vein to tendonitis, another overuse injury that commonly takes place is a strain. Strains can affect both the tendons and muscles in your hand. When you continuously perform specific tasks and actions with your hands, the tendons and muscles can begin to stretch past the point of no return. If you don’t take care of this type of problem, you leave yourself open to developing any of the below:

Bruising.
Limited mobility in the affected area.
Complete tearing of the tissue.

Stenosing Tenosynovitis (Trigger Finger)

Another injury our team is well versed in treating is known as stenosing tenosynovitis, or trigger finger. This condition got its nickname because it causes the affected finger to get stuck in a bent position. Trigger finger takes place when the integrity of your flexor tendons become compromised. These flexor tendons allow you to bend your fingers, and when they cannot function properly, it leads to the involuntary bending.

De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis

One final overuse hand injury that our team would like to discuss is De Quervain’s tenosynovitis. This painful condition affects the tendons on the thumb side of your wrist. When the tendons in this area become affected by this condition, you’re likely to experience pain near the base of your thumb, as well as having a difficult time managing your grasp and making a fist. Swelling around this area is also a common symptom. While you may think you can try and handle these symptoms on your own, if you’re still experiencing pain after trying the below, it’s time to see a doctor:

Not using the affected thumb.
Icing the affected area.
Using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication.

What Is Hand Therapy?

When you’re faced with the previously mentioned conditions or any other types of overuse injuries, hand therapy could be the answer to your problems. This form of treatment was developed to focus specifically on ailments plaguing the upper extremity. Hand therapy needs to be administered by a certified hand therapist, which our team here at East End Occupational Therapy can offer patients. Hand therapy in Hauppauge merges both occupational and physical therapy theory to facilitate the optimal healing outcome within our patients.

Benefits Of Hand Therapy in Hauppauge

If you’ve never heard of hand therapy before, it’s understandable if you’re a bit hesitant to undergo sessions of this practice. However, our team would like to ease some of the nerves you’re experiencing by sharing the benefits you can receive by scheduling an appointment. Benefits that patients can expect when they choose to work with us include:

Elimination of pain.
Improved flexibility and range of motion.
Potentially avoiding the need for surgery.
Post-operative recovery aid.
Restored functionality levels.

Contact Us

Patients dealing with hand issues can attest to how quickly they can drain one’s quality of life. Fortunately, at East End Occupational Therapy, hand therapy in the Hauppauge our team can help with that situation. To schedule the hand therapy sessions needed for you to make a full recovery, contact our team today.

What Are The Most Common Work-Related Hand Injuries?

No one expects to sustain an injury while they’re on the clock at work. However, the unfortunate reality is that many employees face this situation each day. In any given year, upwards of 7 million injuries will take place in the workplace. Construction workers specifically must be careful of damaging the ligaments, joints, and bones in their hands. An injured hand for someone who does manual labor could mean missing out on work and paychecks for weeks even months if the injury is not properly diagnosed and treated. If you’ve recently suffered a workers comp hand injury on Long Island, consider reaching out to our team at East End Occupational Therapy. Our team of experts offers hand therapy as one of our treatment services that can be used to heal your ailment while limiting the risk of long-term issues arising.

Common Hand Injuries:

People tend to take the functionality of their hands for granted. Everyday tasks can become impossible to perform when your hands are riddled with pain, which is why our team is committed to offering the services needed to heal. Some of the most common injuries we can treat at Hand Therapy in Hauppauge include:

Carpal tunnel syndrome.
Fractures.
Sprains or strains.

What Can Cause A Workers Comp Hand Injury On Long Island?

Having a full understanding of what can cause a workers comp hand injury on Long Island will go a long way in helping you avoid them. One of the most common causes is not wearing protective gloves that are necessary for your job. Other causes include:

Overuse.
Slips and falls.
Burns.

When Care Is Needed?

During at least one point in all of our lives, we’ve neglected to give an injury the attention and care it deserves. While sometimes doing so will present no issues, ignoring injuries all of the time can end with disastrous results. Even the smallest cut or injury can snowball into serious complications that can result in permanent damage. To avoid this from happening, contact a medical professional immediately when any of the below become present:

A deep, gaping cut.
Loss of strength.
The inability to move your hand.
Severe bleeding or pain.
Fractures or dislocations.

Preventing Hand Injuries:

When you suffer a workers comp hand injury on Long Island, make East End Occupational Therapy your first call. We offer the highest quality hand therapy available for all patients in need. However, while our care will help you make a full recovery, there is an even more effective way of receiving treatment, and that is avoiding an injury altogether. By following the advice we have listed out below, you can do your part in keeping yourself injury-free:

If your job requires them, always wear protective gloves.
Point out unsafe working conditions to your boss as soon as they arise.
Take sufficient breaks when you begin to feel discomfort to avoid overuse injuries.
Always be aware of your surroundings at your place of work.