Using your hands and wrists effectively requires a great deal of fine motor skill, meaning you need to be able to make small, coordinated movements to accomplish the daily tasks you call upon your hands to complete. When you suffer an injury to the hand or wrist, those fine motor skills are disrupted, and your ability to carry out simple, day-to-day tasks is compromised.
In order to replicate the intricate tasks your hands are responsible for; hand therapists utilize a variety of fun and unique gadgets that allow their patients to rebuild and strengthen these fine motor skills. If you’ve ever seen a hand therapist’s workstation, you’ll know what we’re talking about!
Spooner hand therapist, Holly Hussey, MOTR/L, CHT, CLT-UE, Clinic Director at Spooner Surprise, gave us the low-down on all things related to the gadgets and tools called upon in a typical day, including the tools she utilizes most often in the clinic.
Holly’s Toolbox
Holly says, “If you think about how you use your hand throughout the day, you’ll quickly realize that the hand is very complicated and moves in all sorts of movement patterns. In order to replicate these movement patterns, we have to do a variety of different things in therapy. The way you grasp a knife to cut food is completely different than the way you use scissors to cut. We have to recreate different movement patterns with the hands, and the only way to do that is by incorporating different functional tasks with gadgets and tools.”
Putty
Putty – This is the bread and butter of the hand therapy world, according to Holly. Patients can grip it or roll it, pinch it on the table, or even place beads in it to work on sensation training while trying to get the beads out. Placing the putty on the table and pushing PVC pipes into the putty is another great exercise for working on strengthening grip.
Digi-Flex – This helps develop finger strength and coordination as patients press against the resistance of the springs.
Cones – Grasp and release while stacking them. This is helpful for improving hand-eye coordination and grip strength, especially when a patient can’t quite make a fist yet.
Hammer – This is used for grasping and strengthening of the forearm muscles as you rotate the hammer side-to-side.
Wrist Maze – This contraption challenges patients to mobilize their wrists in all directions as they work to transport the orb from one end of the maze to the other.
Wrist Maze
Power Web – This rubber web is used to strengthen and condition the muscles and joints of the fingers, wrist, and forearm. You can squeeze, twist, and push against the resistance to build strength and increase range of motion.
Rice and Beans – Grasping and releasing the beans/rice from one bin to the next increases dexterity and range of motion. You can also hide objects in the rice and beans to help with strength and sensory training.
Clothes Pins – Pinching and stacking these increases strength and coordination.
Water Beads – This is used for grasping and desensitizing. It can be helpful with people who don’t have normal sensation as you have to pick up the beads without crushing them.
Holly explains that all the gadgets and tools are color-coded. These colors represent different levels of resistance and inject an added sense of fun and familiarity. She says, “Your muscle memory is going to kick in when you are doing an actual activity. Plus, it is a lot more fun!”
Finding the Right Specialist
Putty and Cones
“The biggest misconception people have is how an injury to a finger or the hand is not that big of a deal. Think about everything you do during the day that requires your hands and fingers! You use them to get dressed, to prepare food, to carry items, the list goes on,” Holly says. “A lot of people don’t know hand therapy is a specialty. Because of this, people often miss out on receiving the proper care for their hand and wrist injuries because they don’t realize they should be seeing a specialist.”
Just like you would see a tailor if you want your outfit to fit its best, it is important to see a hand therapist if you want your hand to recover and function at its best! Hand therapists have the knowledge, expertise, and tools to tailor your treatment to what will be most beneficial for you, and can get you back to moving better and feeling better!
Learn more about Hand Therapy at Spooner Physical Therapy. Ready to schedule an appointment? Schedule an appointment or complimentary movement screen with a Spooner hand therapist at one of our locations throughout the valley.