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A Helping Hand for Hand Injuries
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Business New Haven
10/1/2001
By:
BNH
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Twenty years ago it would have been unheard of for someone to get injured on the job without leaving his or her desk. What could be safer than sitting in an enclosed space typing, filing and taking shorthand? Workplace injuries that might require therapy could happen at a construction site or on an assembly line, but in a white collar occupation? Never.
Today there is a computer monitor on every desk, from the CEO's suite to the mailroom clerk's cubicle. The words "carpal tunnel syndrome", "repetitive stress" and "ergonomics" are part of the cultural landscape and hand/wrist braces are not an uncommon sight, even at the local Starbucks, where pulling lattes can be a source of great pain‹and a long term injury. The pain and suffering brought on by repetitive stress have taken their toll on American productivity, but more important, they have threatened the livelihood of thousands of people who have lost functional use of one or both of their hands. A task as simple as buttoning a shirt can be fraught with frustration and pain. Fortunately, there is help available through rehabilitation services.
Hand therapy evolved as a sub-specialty of occupational therapy in the mid-1970s. Hand therapists treat major trauma; amputees; elbow, wrist and hand fractures; tendon and nerve lacerations; joint replacements, burns, and wounds. Their patients are also stroke and accident victims, trying to relearn how to use a hand that was affected by a brain injury.
A nurturing environment for hand therapy is one that is exemplified by tough love: the patient is expected to pitch in and work hard toward recovery. Special exercises have been developed to strengthen the hand's tissues and muscles. Muscles are "cross trained" by doing another activity to strengthen it beyond what is needed for daily activity.
Hand therapists will also take a "whole person" approach to treating hand injuries, because, even with repetitive stress injuries, the problem is not always solved with therapy and ergonomics, other factors may be involved such as work schedules, pacing of activities, and time pressure on the job.
Some rehabilitation programs have begun to offer preventive education, to teach workers how to avoid hand injuries that result from repetitive stress. An ounce of prevention in this case may be worth a fulltime job.
Sponsored by:
GAYLORD
Locations in New Haven, Fairfield, Wallingford and West Hartford
For more information call 1-800-64-REHAB
Or check our website: www.gaylord.org
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