Our hand therapists are physiotherapists with a specialist interest in conditions and injuries affecting the hand and wrist.

What hand conditions do you treat?

We treat a range of hand and wrist conditions including:

  • Osteoarthritis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Trigger finger or thumb
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
  • De Quervain’s and other tendinopathies or repetitive strain injury
  • Post fracture or surgical rehabilitation
  • Dupuytren’s contracture (advice or onward referral for surgery)
  • Ganglion cysts and other lumps and swellings
  • Wrist pain and injuries
  • Finger or thumb pain and injuries.

What happens during my appointment?

Your initial appointment will last for 30 minutes. We will ask you a few questions about your condition and then carry out a physical assessment.

We can then discuss with you treatment options for going forwards. Some people will just require one or two appointments, others will benefit from several follow up appointments.

You will already know your diagnosis before you arrive, or part of the assessment will be to help form a diagnosis. Often we will be able to form a diagnosis based upon what you are telling us and from your physical assessment, although sometimes we may decide to arrange for you to have further imaging which we can do within our service. This can include x-ray, ultrasound or MRI. The type of imaging we select will depend upon the nature of your pain or injury and also which part of your hand or wrist is affected.

Treatments available

Depending on the condition, treatment options can include:

  • Exercises and advice
  • Corticosteroid injection, which if appropriate, we can arrange for you to have this within our service
  • We don’t supply splints but if we think that you need a splint, we can advise on which type of splint and where you obtain it.
  • If appropriate and we feel that surgery is likely to be beneficial, we can make referrals to the hand orthopaedic or plastic teams in local hospitals. Examples of this include Dupuytren’s contracture or severe carpel tunnel syndrome.