Locker room talk. A fellow was saying he was in bed for ten days after having his big toe operated on. “Ten days for your big toe?” “Yeah, the doc said my joint was shot and if I didn’t have a pin put in, I couldn’t walk and would be in a wheelchair the rest of my life. Man, I’d wake up in the middle of the night and my toe was killing me.”
Recent statistics indicate that 51% of occupational injuries involve the hand and fingers. The most common types of hand injuries are traumatic injuries, contact injuries and repetitive motion injuries.
Squeezing limes for fresh juice may improve the taste of any summer cocktail, but for bartender Justin Fehntrich, it only left him with severe and blistered hands. On a hot summer day this past June, Fehntrich was bartending at a fundraiser on Fire Island, which required that he prep drinks by cutting up and squeezing 100 limes into pitchers for the guests’ cocktails directly under the sun.
Shawn Roll has expertise in a specific type of “handiwork.” Roll, an assistant professor at the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, focuses primarily on research for the prevention, rehabilitation and assessment of musculoskeletal disorders like carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).
For some workers, a simple trip to the bathroom could result in the loss of a job.
Poultry-processing workers are sometimes disciplined for taking bathroom breaks while at work because there is no one available to fill in for them if they step away from the production line.
Most construction workers use hand tools. Some use them all day long. Using the wrong hand tool, or the right tool the wrong way, can injure the muscles, tendons, or nerves in your hand, wrist, or arm. These types of injuries develop over time. Early symptoms may include achy, tired hands and wrists that feel better after rest. It is easy to just write these off to a hard day’s work – and in some cases you can end up with an injury that might even force you to quit construction work.
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a group of painful disorders of muscles, tendons, and nerves. Carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, thoracic outlet syndrome, and tension neck syndrome are examples.
Compared to the roles of a power-line worker, bounty hunter, or coal miner, working in an office may not seem very dangerous. What's the worst that could happen -- a papercut or two? As The Office's Dwight Schrute would say, FALSE!
There are times when your family physician may not be able to give you the time and expertise needed to treat a variety of hand disorders. This is where the hand specialist comes in, and you can ask your family doc for a referral.
Hand pain has many causes, including injury and disease. Fortunately, many of those causes can be treated and the symptoms eased. Here are some of the most common conditions that cause hand pain:
