Hand Injuries & Prevention Exercises

Hand Injury Overview
Intricate in design and function, the hand is an amazing work of anatomic engineering. Form follows function in the hand; therefore, any injury to the underlying structures of the hand carries the potential for serious handicap.
The goal with injuries to the hand is a rapid and accurate initial evaluation and treatment.

The hand consists of 27 bones (including the 8 bones of the wrist). When the other associated structures (nerves, arteries, veins, muscles, tendons, ligaments, joint cartilage, and fingernails) are considered, the potential for a variety of injuries exists when trauma involves the hand.

Hand injuries account for nearly 10% of hospital emergency department visits. A series of 1,000 consecutive hand injuries showed the following distribution: 42% lacerations (cuts), 27% contusions (bruises), 17% fractures (broken bones), and 5% infections. Hand injuries account for about 17% all workday loss injuries.

The most common cause of the injuries was blunt trauma (50%) followed by injury from a sharp object (25%).
Hand Injuries : lacerations, fractures and dislocations, soft tissue injuries and amputations, i
nfections, burns, high pressure injuries.

full article : Here

At Equinox Health Clinic, we can assess your injury and give you proper home care and rehabilitation program to make sure that with exercises and stretches you can maximize recovery. If we think you need further medical attention we will send you to the appropriate person for care.

Here are some great hand exercises to maintain dexterity for life

Try to do some of these every day :

1.      Shuffle cards and deal one by one.

2.      Practice lacing and tying a bow on a shoe.

3.      Tie knots and untie them.

4.      Pick up coins, buttons, marbles or other miscellaneous objects from a "junk drawer." (Try sorting objects into small containers.) Try using tweezers to do this.

 

5.      Take a handful of coins, marbles, seeds, nuts, bolts, etc. and try to drop them from your hand at one time.

6.      Hold an object in your hand and rotate it in as many directions as possible.

7.      Squeeze clay into a ball or roll it on a table into a "snake." (You can buy special thera puttyfor this.) Or print out these exercise sheets: one, two, or three.

8.      Crumble a piece of paper or cloth into a small ball with one hand.

9.      Button and unbutton buttons.

10.    Open and close safety pins; try making a chain.

11.    Screw and unscrew large/small wing nuts from bolts.

12.    Use a screwdriver in both hands and practice screwing/unscrewing various sized screws.

13.    Put away the silverware from the dishwasher.

14.    Play dominoes/checkers/Scrabble/jigsaws etc. Stack checkers or coins as high as possible. Make a house of cards.

15.    Do any handicraft of your choice: macrame, woodwork, tile projects, model kits, knitting, etc.

16.    Put a key into lock and turn it back and forth.

17.    Unscrew lids of jars.

18.    Turn a door handle.

19.    Pour water into a jug and then pour it from the jug and into a cup.

20.   Write or type something -- anything. You print out these worksheets to practice your handwriting: practice cursive or practice printing.

Full size pictures : Here

Yoga for hands and wrist Health : Michelleyoga.ca

Keep your hands healthy

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Prevent. Perform. Recover.

Equinox Health Clinic