Hand Therapist Nigel Chua 
A pinhole from a grease gun or hydraulic line is a high-pressure injection injury and needs a hand surgeon the same day. Plus knuckle cuts, crush, burns, rings, vibration, and how long each keeps you off the tools.
Pipetting pain at the base of the thumb or thumb side of the wrist is usually thumb base overload, De Quervain’s or trigger thumb. Most early cases settle in 4 to 6 weeks once electronic pipettes, splinting and exercises cut the press count.
Most golfers can putt 2 to 3 weeks after trigger finger or carpal tunnel release and swing a driver at 6 to 8 weeks. Wrist plates, scaphoid screws, TFCC repairs and trapeziectomy take 3 to 6 months. Here’s the club-by-club order that gets you there.
Tennis elbow is padel’s most common arm injury. Most players can keep playing on a reduced load, grip pain eases over 6 to 12 weeks of the right exercises, and the bat, grip and hours matter more than rest.
Kneading loads a bent-back wrist, piping squeezes the thumb base for hours, and hot trays load the elbow. Most early cases ease in 2 to 6 weeks with bench, bag and tray changes. Splints, exercises and return-to-work times inside.
Surgeons’ hand pain is usually thumb base overload, carpal tunnel, trigger finger, a pressed digital nerve or tennis elbow. Most settles in 6 to 12 weeks with night splinting and OR changes; after a release, expect about 2 weeks before scrubbing and 4 to 6 before full lists.
Wind and brass players get hand pain from holding the instrument’s weight and squeezing harder than the keys need. Most cases settle in 6 to 12 weeks with a strap, rest or support change and a graded return to practice.
A leash wrapped around your fingers can break or dislocate a finger or tear a thumb ligament in one lunge. A sprain settles in 2 to 3 weeks, a broken finger takes 6 to 12 weeks, and a rotated finger or wobbly thumb pinch needs checking the same day.
Sonographers’ thumb, wrist and elbow pain comes from a pressured pinch grip held all day. Most early cases settle in 2 to 6 weeks of grip and setup changes; here is what each pain is and when you can get back to full lists.
Wrist pain from carrying trays usually comes from a loaded, bent-back wrist and heavy glasses at the rim. Where it hurts points to the condition, and most settle in 2 to 12 weeks once the carry, plate and bar technique change.