Wrist & Hand Pain: How Can a Professional Physiotherapist Help?

Professional Physiotherapist treating a wrist sprain in Rosedale, NY
It can happen in a variety of ways – playing sports, falling while walking or running, or even something as mundane as trying to open a jar. The next thing you know, you have a wrist sprain and it hurts. You can barely move your wrist. After some rest, what can you do? You might want to consider physical therapy exercises in Rosedale for wrist sprains

But that makes you ask, “When it comes to wrist & hand pain: how can a professional physiotherapist help?” Read on to learn more.

What Is a Wrist Sprain?

First, it helps to know exactly what it is. It can range from a minor injury to your wrist area that leaves it sore for a little while to having ligaments snap with the result being you not being able to move that wrist for weeks or months.

  • The symptoms of a wrist sprain include:
  • Bruising in the wrist area
  • Your feeling popping or tearing in that area
  • Loss of motion for your hand and wrist
  • Your feeling pain around your wrist
  • Swelling in the area
  • Weakness in the area

Your doctor will diagnose it after doing a thorough exam that may include an X-ray, an MRI, or an arthrogram. They will give it a grade between 1-3, with 3 being the most severe and involving torn ligaments, among other things.

Wrist Sprains: A Common Injury Among Athletes

While athletes tend to have excellent body control, it can still be surprisingly easy for them to sprain their wrists. A baseball player can do it either with their violent swings or if they try to check the swing due to their trying to stop the momentum of a bat that they can swing at high velocity. Falls are a part of many sports – a football player has to know how to go down once they are tackled, and the jarring impact on a hard surface like artificial turf can cause a wrist sprain. Skiers, skaters, skateboarders and divers are all at risk.

There is another one you might not think of – a boxer can injure their wrists with the impact of their punch hitting either a person or a heavy bag while training. If they don’t have their hand positioned just right, the impact can jar the hand and have it push hard up the arm and sprain the wrist.

Physical Therapy Exercises To Restore Full Mobility To a Sprained Wrist

You will need to rest the wrist first for a while applying ice. A bandage can compress the wrist and you also will need to ice it. A cast or splint may be required. Then, depending on the severity of the sprain, you may see a Levittown physical therapist, who will work with you on a variety of stretches and exercises. These include:

Isometric Wrist Exercises

These usually involve your putting the arm with the injured wrist on a flat surface and the wrist leaning over the edge. You will then do various resistance exercises that usually involve pushing up or down against your other hand.

Wrist Flexor Stretches

When you do these you will be doing very slow gentle stretches that will help improve the range of motion. These can involve both hands or you’re using your good one to stretch the injured wrist area.
Man Suffering From Wrist And Hand Pain In Rosedale, NY

Wrist Extensor Exercise

You can use very light weights for these or even resistance bands. This can strengthen your hands and forearms as well.

A wrist sprain is a very common injury, with more than 200,000 people having it occur to them each year. While you can possibly self-diagnose it, it’s best to see a doctor to ensure that there are no other injuries, like a fracture or worse, that might require surgery.

Call Experienced Physical Therapists In Rosedale, NY

When you have a wrist sprain, especially involving your dominant hand, it makes you realize just how much you use your hand for everything. Losing the range of motion for a while can be very aggravating, but once you do the physical therapy exercises, you will be back to where you were. Then you can be careful when you walk, run, and play sports and just hope for the best.

Do you have a wrist sprain? You can call experienced physical therapists In Rosedale, NY – including the staff at Phoenix Physical Therapy Rehabilitation PLLC. They will work closely with you to get your wrist moving around like it should. Their number is 347-733-1916 … make an appointment at one of their three locations (Rosedale, Brooklyn, or Levittown) today!

 

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Phoenix Physical Therapy

Rosedale Location
23520 147th Avenue, Suite 1,
Rosedale, NY, 11422

Levittown Location
2920 Hempstead Turnpike,
Levittown, NY 11756

Brooklyn Location
7510 4th Ave., Suite 3,
Brooklyn, NY, 11209
Phone: (347) 733-1916