Occupational Therapy Hand Specialist

Occupational Therapy Hand Specialist

Occupational Therapy: Hand Specialist

Hand therapy is a specialty practice within occupational therapy. It combines elements of preventative care with recovery in order to allow individuals to regain proper mobility, dexterity, and strength in their hands and arms. As a combination of occupational and physical therapy, the practice requires a keen knowledge of the functionality of the upper limbs. It is a highly specialized practice that can help ease pain and prevent future suffering for those in need.

The practice is a combination of several major factors, primarily because it deals with so many different types of injuries, conditions, and their subsequent strategies to help relieve pain and strengthen patients' abilities. According to the research, "hand therapy is the art and science of rehabilitation of the upper limb, which includes the hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder girdle. It is a merging of occupational therapy and physical therapy and practice that combines comprehensive knowledge of the structure of the upper limb with the function and activity" (Certified Hand Therapist, 2012). The practice merges concepts and strategies from the two larger disciplines in order to best serve patient needs. Thus, hand therapy is a type of occupational therapy that revolves around working with conditions and injuries that have impacted hand mobility, strength, and capabilities. As such, "this enables the hand therapist to work with patients to hasten their return to a productive lifestyle" (American Society of Hand Therapists, 2011). Strategies focus on managing pain, both acute and chronic. There are also preventative treatments to help avoid surgery for an ongoing condition that may worsen without the therapy sessions. Hand therapy is often used in response to "desensitization following nerve injury or trauma" and "sensory re-education after nerve injury" (American Society of Hand Therapists, 2011). Moreover, the hand specialist can help teach patients essential drills and exercises which can be repeated at home in order to increase overall dexterity, strength, and motion. Overall, the hand therapist aims to directly deal with issues affecting a person's ability to use their hands so that they can once again return to work and a productive lifestyle. The certified hand therapists have a minimum of five years of clinical experience (Certified Hand Therapist, 2012). Most are trained as occupational therapists, with 14% physical therapists and less than 1% who are both occupational and physical certified therapists (Certified Hand Therapist, 2012). The professionals are trained to be able to take into account the structure and function of the hand in correlation with the injury or cause of discomfort or pain in order to generate strategies aimed at patient relief.

There are a wide number of individuals who qualify for the strategies and exercises within hand therapy practice today. Here, the research suggests that "patients who are candidates for hand therapy may have been affected by an accident or trauma leaving them with wounds, scars, burns, injured tendons or nerves, fractures, or even amputations of the fingers, hands, or arms" (American Society of Hand Therapists, 2011). Those patients with injuries that have limited their mobility or dexterity are prime candidates, as well as patients whose injuries cause pain and discomfort. Additionally, individuals suffering from more long-term conditions like carpal tunnel and arthritis and other chronic conditions are also candidates for hand therapy. Thus, both injuries and chronic conditions can be worked on within the strategies of hand therapy practice today. Thus, practitioners must be able to recognize and work with a wide variety of patient conditions, injuries, and complaints. As such, "the specialty of hand therapy practice developed as a response to dealing with advanced problems of dysfunction and diseases of the upper extremities," (International Federation of Societies for Hand Therapy, 2012). This also means that patients with issues in their arms and elbows can also benefit from hand therapy.