A splint is a clock in plastic.
It holds a joint, tendon or bone in exactly the position it needs, for exactly as long as the healing takes. Too short and the tissue heals long or crooked. Too long, or in the wrong position, and you trade the injury for a stiff hand.
The splint in the drawer doesn’t work.
Every guide below says what the splint is for, how many hours a day, how many weeks, and how to tell it fits.
Start here
- What a hand therapist does (and why splints are custom)
- Which finger splint do I need?
- Which wrist splint do I need?
- Buying a wrist brace off the shelf
Finger splints
- Mallet finger splint
- PIP extension and finger gutter splint
- Capener splint
- PIP extension block splint
- Oval-8 and silver ring splints
- Buddy taping
- Fingertip protector
- Trigger finger splint
- Relative motion (yoke) splint
Thumb splints
- Thumb spica splint
- Thumb arthritis splint (short CMC)
- Mallet thumb splint
- C-bar (first web space) splint
Hand splints
- Ulnar and radial gutter splints
- Metacarpal fracture brace
- Dorsal blocking splint (flexor tendon repair)
- Resting hand splint
- Anti-claw splint
- Ulnar drift splint (rheumatoid arthritis)
- Dupuytren’s night splint
- Hand splints after stroke or cerebral palsy
Wrist and forearm splints
- Wrist cock-up splint
- Carpal tunnel night splint
- Wrist splint after a fracture
- Sugar tong and Muenster splints
- TFCC brace
- Wrist drop splint
Elbow splints and braces
Splints for stiff joints
Splints for sport
Wear time is the treatment. The plastic is just how it gets delivered.
The right splint, worn the right hours, for the right weeks. Miss any one of the three and it’s a souvenir.
Written by Nigel Chua, hand occupational therapist in practice since 2005. Thousands of hands, wrists and elbows assessed and treated. My credentials are here. These pages explain; they don’t examine. Your surgeon’s or doctor’s plan comes first.