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Hand & Wrist Physical Therapyin Colorado Springs

Your wrist is a complex joint made up of eight small bones arranged in two rows between the bones in your forearm and the bones in your hand. Tough bands of ligament connect your wrist bones to each other and to your forearm bones and hand bones. Tendons attach muscles to bone. Damage to any of the parts of your wrist can cause pain and affect your ability to use your wrist and hand. If you are experiencing wrist pain, the cause may be:

Injury

  • Sudden impact: The most common method of injuring your wrist is when you fall forward onto your outstretched hand. This can cause sprains, strains and even fractures.
  • Repetitive stress: Any activity that involves repetitive wrist motion — from hitting a tennis ball or bowing a cello to driving cross-country — can inflame the tissues around joints or cause stress fractures, especially when you perform the movement for hours on end without a break. De Quervain’s disease is a repetitive stress injury that causes pain at the base of the thumb.

Arthritis

  • Osteoarthritis: In general, osteoarthritis in the wrist is uncommon, usually occurring only in people who have injured the same wrist in the past. Osteoarthritis is caused by wear and tear on the cartilage that cushions the ends of your bones. Pain that occurs at the base of the thumb may be caused by osteoarthritis.
  • Rheumatoid arthritis: A disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues, rheumatoid arthritis is common in the wrist. If one wrist is affected, the other usually is, as well.

Other diseases and conditions

  • Carpal tunnel syndrome: Carpal tunnel syndrome develops when there’s increased pressure on the median nerve, which passes through the carpal tunnel, a passageway in the palm side of your wrist.
  • Kienbock’s disease: This disorder typically affects young adults and involves the progressive collapse of one of the small bones in the wrist. Kienbock’s disease occurs when the blood supply to this bone is compromised.
  • Ganglion cysts: These soft tissue cysts occur most often on the top of your wrist opposite your palm. Smaller ganglion cysts seem to cause more pain than do larger ones.

Information courtesy of the Mayo Clinic.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • If we are asking you to do something that is hurting too much, let us know! Physical therapy should not be severely painful. It is not common to be so sore that patients are in pain or it affects their daily life. If this ever happens during or after an appointment, let us know and we will adapt your program.

  • We recommend budgeting 45-55 minutes for a typical therapy session. We also recommend showing up about 30 minutes early to your first visit. This way, you can complete the paperwork before your visit time and streamline the process.

  • A physical therapy visit lasts about 45-55 minutes. The actual contents of the visit vary based on your diagnosis/need, but typically what happens is:

    1. You check in with the receptionist, make any appointments necessary, and we discuss your health insurance benefits with you.
    2. A staff member takes you to a private treatment room. You can change clothes if you need to, and then your therapist joins you to begin therapy.
    3. Your therapist uses hands-on manual therapy techniques to decrease pain and improve range-of motion and flexibility.
    4. You perform 6-8 various exercises and stretches with the guidance of your therapist. These can include therapeutic band exercises, light body weight exercises, or minimal weights. The stretches will promote strength, stability, improved range of motion, and pain relief.
    5. We can initiate other techniques to include manual work, taping, cupping, neurostim, biofeedback, laser, and dry needling as needed.
    6. Your therapist makes recommendations based on your progress. These can include altering the frequency of visits, making additions/alterations to your home exercise plan, or things to do before your next visit.

  • You should wear loose clothes that make it easy to move. We also recommend sneakers. Workout clothes will work, but any comfortable clothing will work fine. Plan on giving your therapist access to your area of concern. The less your clothes restrict your movement and the more comfortable you are, the better. Shorts, yoga pants, or athletic/loose fitting pants and a tee shirt are all good options.

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