Hand Therapist Nigel Chua 
After distal biceps repair, most people lift nothing heavier than a cup of coffee for about six weeks, start strengthening at eight to twelve weeks and return to heavy lifting at four to six months. Turning strength comes back last.
After a wrist arthroscopy clean-up (debridement), most people move the wrist within days, return to desk work in one to two weeks and get back to push-ups and lifting at six to eight weeks. If something was repaired, recovery takes months instead.
After a De Quervain’s release, most people use the hand for light tasks within days, lift normally by 4 to 6 weeks and are back to heavy work by about 3 months. The week-by-week plan, exercises, and the thumb nerve to watch.
Thumb UCL repair recovery takes about 3 months: cast or splint for around 6 weeks, gentle motion from week 3 to 4, pinch strengthening from week 8, and sport around week 12 with a playing splint or tape.
K-wires hold a broken finger, hand or wrist bone while it heals and usually come out in clinic at 3 to 6 weeks, in seconds, without an anesthetic. How to care for pin sites, spot infection, and get moving after removal.
Still numb after carpal tunnel surgery? Night waking and tingling usually improve in weeks; constant numbness takes months, sometimes a year or more, and the fingertips come back last. What’s normal, what helps, and when to call your surgeon.
A hard lump under the scar after hand surgery is usually normal scar thickening. It peaks around 6 to 12 weeks and softens over 6 to 12 months, faster with firm massage and silicone.
A healing hand surgery wound is slightly pink, mildly swollen and less sore each day. Redness that spreads, pain that worsens after day three, pus, fever or red streaks mean infection: call your surgeon or go to the ER the same day.
A click or bumpy feeling after trigger finger release is usually swelling and a thickened tendon settling, and fades over 4 to 8 weeks. Locking that returns, or catching no better at 3 months, needs your surgeon.
A finger that won’t straighten after hand surgery is usually swelling, a tight scar or a stiff middle joint. The push test tells tendon from joint, and the first 3 months are the window to fix it.