Clicking and locking of a finger or thumb is generally known as a “Trigger finger” or “Trigger thumb.” This is a common condition involving inflammation or thickening of the tendon that bends your fingers or thumb. The tendon passes through a pulley in the palm of the hand, however when the tendon is inflamed, it can catch or lock as you make a fist or grip items.
Raynaud’s Disease, pronounced ‘ray-nose’ is a condition caused by the sympathetic nervous system which causes narrowing of arteries in the fingers, toes and or nose, resulting in reduced blood flow to these areas. This results in change in colour with fingers turning black or white, and then blue or purple. This cascade of colour changes is known as Raynaud’s Phenomenon. Symptoms include feeling cold, numbness, and occasionally pain in the affected areas.
Joint pain from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are often flared up during colder weather. Arthritis in the hand commonly occurs at the thumb carpometacarpal joint, fingertips or known as the distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) and metacarpal joint. Arthritis can also occur at the wrist. Here we take a look at different ways of managing arthritis and how a hand therapist can help.
Read moreFinger injuries are generally known as a ‘jarred finger.’ It commonly occurs in sports such as netball, AFL, oz tag and rugby. Quite often they are left untreated and can lead to swelling, stiffness, pain and finger deformities. Here we take a look at the most common finger injuries and how a Hand Therapist can help.
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Despite learning in the digital age with laptops and iPads, handwriting is still an essential part of learning. Being able to write legibly allows your child to communicate their knowledge during exams and when they step into the workforce.
Messy handwriting can be affected by numerous factors. These include:
You may be referred to see a ‘hands physio’ or hand therapist after an injury. Do you know what makes a hand therapist different to a general physiotherapist or occupational therapist? Let’s take a look.
A hand therapist, or practitioner in hand therapy, is a qualified occupational therapist or physiotherapist who specialises in treating hand, wrist and upper limb injuries. Hand therapists have further gained their knowledge in the anatomy and rehabilitation of the upper limb by attending courses, clinical experience and self-directed study.
First published March 26, 2020 12:40pm. Updated 29th June 10:00am AEST
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New South Wales – From 6pm on Saturday 26 June 2021, if you have been in Greater Sydney, including the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour for any reason since Monday 21 June 2021, you must follow the stay at home rules and must continue to follow them for 14 days after you were last in Greater Sydney until 11.59pm on Friday 9 July 2021.
The requirement to wear a face mask in all indoor areas of non-residential premises that was recently applied in Greater Sydney has been extended to all of NSW.
Read more from NSW Health – HERE
This can be due to poor technique or repetitive motions straining the forearm and wrist muscles. It can lead to multiple types of overuse injuries such as lateral epicondylitis or intersection syndrome.
The ECU (extensor carpi ulnaris) tendon can become painful and swollen from a repetitive twisting of the forearm.The ECU tendon is one of the main muscles to move the wrist, helping it to extend and move to the side in an ulnar direction, but it also plays an important role in stabilising the ulnar side of the wrist during forearm rotation. The tendon lies in a sheath (the 6th dorsal compartment) which holds the tendon stable against the ulnar styloid. It can become inflamed within the sheath during overuse activities that require combined and repetitive wrist extension, ulnar deviation and rotation such as tennis, and golf.
However, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can also be caused by repetitive, strong and/or sustained gripping during day time activities and then symptoms might be more prevalent during the day than at night.