Conditions and injuries of the finger, hand, wrist, forearm and elbow: what they are, how they behave, and when they stop being minor.
For most hand, wrist and elbow problems, a proper 6 to 12 week trial of hand therapy comes first. Surgery comes first when a tendon is cut, a fracture is displaced, there’s infection, or nerve damage is getting worse.
Burning hands are almost always a nerve problem. One hand, specific fingers usually means a squeezed nerve; both hands and feet means a body-wide cause that needs blood tests; burning after an injury with a hand that looks different needs checking this week.
Some ache for 3 to 6 months after a hand injury heals is common, and up to a year after a wrist fracture. What to rule out first, why sensitivity outlasts damage, and the exercises that turn the alarm down.
Sleep on your back or good side with the hand propped above your elbow on a pillow ramp, and take pain relief before the nerve block wears off. Nights 1 to 3 are the worst; most people sleep close to normally by 2 weeks.
You can drive when you can grip the wheel firmly with both hands, steer fast in an emergency and you’re off drowsy painkillers: often 1 to 2 weeks after carpal tunnel or trigger finger release, 6 to 8+ weeks after a wrist fracture, and generally not in a cast.
Legs, cardio and the other arm can usually be trained within days. Grip and pulling come back before push-ups, which often take 3 to 6 months after a wrist fracture, and tendon repairs need about 12 weeks before real resistance.
Latency, velocity and amplitude: slowed means the nerve is irritated, smaller means fibers have been lost. What mild, moderate and severe mean, why a normal study doesn’t rule out carpal tunnel, and when waiting has a cost.
A hand therapist is an OT or physio specialized in the hand, wrist and elbow who makes custom splints, measures progress in degrees and kilos, and runs your post-surgery protocol by the day. When you need one, and when you don’t.
Ice for a fresh injury or hot flare in the first 48 to 72 hours, heat for stiffness and arthritis, neither for nerve problems or numb hands. How long, how often, and the free thing that beats both.
A fingernail grows about 3mm a month, so a full nail takes around six months to replace, and after a crush the final shape isn’t clear until 6 to 12 months. What’s normal, what to leave alone, and the one streak that needs seeing.