The hand is one of the most heavily used parts of your body. Regardless of your age or lifestyle, you use your hands extensively on a daily basis. With that said, an injury or condition that limits the range of motion will be immediately noticed and can become frustrating immediately.
Hand injuries can occur in any number of ways, from accidents to overuse. If you’ve recently suffered a hand injury or have been living with hand pain for an extended period of time, it’s time to make an appointment with an orthopedic hand doctor in New York City!
These are the most common hand injuries:
Sprains and Strains
As mentioned before, hand and wrist injuries are extremely common. So common that nearly everyone has at least sprained their wrist at some point in their life – but that doesn’t make it any less painful!
While sprains and strains may sound similar, they have one major difference: A sprain occurs when there’s an injury to the ligaments and a strain involves a tendon injury. Both types of injury involve an injury to the tissues surrounding the joint and they both can vary wildly in severity. In a minor sprain or strain, the surrounding tissues generally remain intact and will recover rapidly without much intervention. In more severe sprains and strains, the tissues may be badly torn and need surgery to be fully repaired.
Fractures and Other Bone Injuries
As you may know, a fracture essentially means a broken bone. Fractures make up a significant portion of all hand and wrist injuries. Fractures to the wrist and other parts of the hand make up nearly 10% of all broken bones!
The wrist is made up of eight small bones that connect with the two longer forearm bones called the radius and ulna. Although a broken wrist can happen in any of these 10 bones, by far the most common bone to break is the radius
Dislocations and Other Joint Injuries
Finger dislocations are one of the most common injuries to the hand, up there with sprains and strains. Each individual finger has three joints and the thumb has two. These joints allow our fingers to both bend and straighten. When any two bones are forced out of place at the joint, such as by a traumatic sports injury or a fall, the finger becomes dislocated.
The most common joint to dislocate is the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint or the middle joint of the finger. If you feel as if you’ve suffered a dislocation, it’s important that you make an appointment with an orthopedic hand doctor in New York City!
Find The Best Orthopedic Hand Doctor
If you’ve recently suffered a hand injury, or if you’ve been living with hand pain for an extended period of time, make an appointment with us at OrthoManhattan. You’ll be treated by only the best orthopedic hand doctor that New York City has to offer! To get an appointment on the books, all you have to do is click here or submit a contact form on the right side of this page.