Hand and Wrist Rehabilitation

Whether you are recovering from surgery or you have a work injury that limits the use of your hands, our Hand and Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Program can help you regain your range of motion.

Working directly with you, our physicians at UR Medicine's Orthopaedics & Physical Performance and with doctors throughout the community, our Hand and Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Team—all of whom are Certified Hand Therapists—can address the issues created by repetitive motion, work injuries, auto related injuries, and chronic pain disorders.

UR Medicine's Approach

Our services go well beyond physical therapy and pain relief. Our team collaborates with your family, your insurance company, and even your employer to change your environment and your lifestyle to free you from pain in your hands and arms.

We begin with a full patient evaluation to understand your injury or condition, and the factors in your environment that may contribute to your pain. With this information, we develop a therapy and care plan that may include any of the following:

Dexterity Training
Edema (Swelling) Management
Functional Capacity Evaluation
Individualized Therapeutic Exercises
Injury Management and Prevention
Joint Protection Education
Onsite Ergonomic Evaluation
Orthotic Fabrication and Training
Pain Control
Prosthetic Training
Scar Management
Sensibility Re-education
Strengthening
Training in Activities of Daily Living
Work Conditioning/Job Simulation

What Sets Us Apart?

We have developed a number of specialty programs for the kinds of hand and arm injuries we see most often in our region. Programs include:

Injured Worker Program
Following a work or auto related injury, Hand and Upper Extremity Rehabilitation therapists can help you return to the same or a similar job, even if you need some changes in your workplace to do so.

Program for Office Workers
Whether as a result of an on-the-job or out-of-the office injury, hand and arm problems can affect your livelihood as well as your life.

Program for Sign Language Interpreters
Sign language interpreters often suffer from injuries because of repetitive motion, awkward postures, and inadequate rest of their hands and arms. Our specialists work with agencies that employ sign language interpreters to help reduce these risk factors. We also work with interpreters to improve posture, increase flexibility, and help you relieve pain and recover from repetitive motion injuries.

Program for Myofascial Pain
Our Hand and Upper Extremity Rehabilitation therapists can be helpful in decreasing myofascial pain. They can use a number of different treatments, including therapeutic ultrasound (phonophoresis), pain suppression through electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), a hands-on technique called myofascial release, and stretch and spray techniques.

Program for Musicians
In Hand and Upper Extremity Rehabilitation, we begin with an ergonomic evaluation while you play your instrument. We help you adapt your position and posture to see if we can relieve some of the pain right away. In very special occasions, we will discuss possible modifications to your instrument. We may teach you specific exercise routines that will help you improve your posture, increase flexibility and strength, and continue to play.