Inflammation, swelling, and other discomfort in your hands and wrists can make doing everyday things not only difficult, but painful. Your hands are required for everything you do; cooking, cleaning, writing, typing, grabbing things, and the list goes on. At Loudoun Sports Therapy Center there are a couple of things we often see in hands and wrists.
Here are the three common issues we see:
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: This syndrome is a result of the compression of a nerve as it goes through the wrist. This compression can occur from repetitive hand and wrist use. The compressed nerve can cause tingling and weakness of your hand and fingers. People with carpal tunnel often complain of clumsiness of their hands, difficulty gripping, and more frequently drop things.
- De Quervain’s tendonitis: This is inflammation of two of the tendons that control the thumb. This results in pain along the base of the back side of the thumb and along the thumb side of the wrist. Another symptom of this, could be swelling in these areas. This is caused by repetitive, overuse such as texting on a handheld device.
- Wrist Fractures: These are often a common occurrence due to a fall on an outstretched hand, for example, when you catch yourself right before hitting the ground. This amount of pressure the wrist has in a fall can cause it to fracture. Immediately following a fracture, the wrist is usually immobilized for a period of time. Swelling, pain, stiffness, and weakness are common symptoms after a fracture whether treated conservatively with immobilization or treated surgically with plates and screws.
How can physical therapy help?
Physical therapy is a great form of treatment for any of the issues listed above. A therapists will assess your hands and wrists to determine the exact cause of the discomfort you are feeling. After determining the cause, they will then be able to start you on your plan of care. This plan is unique and customized to individual patients, to ensure they see results, and get back to doing what the need and love to do, pain free. Therapists will introduce exercises that will strengthen, increase range of motion, and increase flexibility and stability of your wrist and hand.
By: Rachel Herrmann, DPT
Don’t let discomfort in your hands and wrists, interrupt your day or stop you from doing what you love. We have the perfect solution, so you can get back to living your life pain free! Call Loudoun Sports Therapy Center TODAY at 703-450-4300 to get an evaluation done by one of our therapists. They will get you set-up with a personalized plan of care, to get you fully recovered!
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