Hand Therapist Nigel Chua Rheumatoid arthritis is your immune system attacking your joint linings, not wear and tear. Morning stiffness over an hour, big knuckles and wrists, both hands, feeling unwell. Early medication protects the joints; late medication can’t rebuild them.
Flexor tendon repair rehab sits between two failures: move it too little and the tendon glues to its sheath, too hard and the repair ruptures. The repair is weakest around week 3, which is exactly when the hand starts feeling fine. Here’s why every rule exists.
Boutonnière deformity is the central slip tearing off the middle knuckle. On day one the finger looks almost normal, and the deformity develops over the next one to three weeks while it’s being treated as a jam. Here’s the test that catches it before it bends.
The elbow stiffens faster than any other joint in the body. After a dislocation the X-ray looks fine and everyone relaxes, but weeks in a sling cost range you don’t get back. Bending returns easily; straightening is the year-long project.
CRPS is the body’s injury response failing to switch off: burning pain out of proportion to the injury, color and temperature changes, swelling, and fast-increasing stiffness. It’s real, most people improve, and the hand has to keep moving while it hurts.
A stiff hand after a cast or surgery is normal, but stiffness has a clock. Early stiffness is wet cement, old stiffness is set concrete. Here’s how to tell whether the block is joint, tendon or the small muscles inside your hand, and why time at end range beats pulling harder.
Trapeziectomy removes the arthritic bone at the thumb base, and the pain relief is reliable. Strength is the slow half: pinch often measures worse at 3 months than before surgery, which is normal. The honest verdict sits at month 9 to 12.
Carpal tunnel release stops the night tingling within days, then people panic at week 4 when the palm hurts and the grip is gone. Pillar pain, scar sensitivity and a 3 to 6 month grip timeline are all normal. Here’s the honest week-by-week.
The middle knuckle is the most commonly injured joint in the hand, and the swelling after a sprain or dislocation lasts 6 to 12 months. That’s normal. What isn’t normal, and what ruins these fingers, is resting them still.
Jersey finger is the deep flexor tendon ripping off the bone at your fingertip, usually the ring finger, usually grabbing a shirt. The finger still works, which is why people wait. Hold the middle bone and bend the tip: if nothing moves, this is surgical, in days not weeks.