Therapist can help people with wrist, elbow, or arm issues
Northern Michigan wintry sidewalks and parking areas can be tough on wrists.
Kalkaska Memorial Health Center’s Holly Swinehart, OTR/L, CHT, sees a lot wrist fractures following a slip and fall in her role as a hand therapist.
But she can help that golfer, tennis player, or summer gardener swing back into action.
“We help people get back their range of motion, increase their strength, and recover any lost function,” she said. “We tailor an individualized plan that begins with what they can do.”
Hand therapy is a specialized field for occupational or physical therapists. Hand therapists are qualified to help anyone with wrist, elbow, or arm issues. Treating the hand with its 27 distinct bones connected by tiny muscles, and the wrist through which tendons, ligaments, and nerves extend to the palm through the carpal tunnel, requires five years of experience and 4,000 hours in the field before a candidate can take the examination to become a hand therapist.
Swinehart, a graduate of Saginaw Valley State University, started working in Kalkaska in 2009 and enjoys seeing patients make progress as a result of her expertise.
Patients arrive with a prescription from a physician. In addition to fractures, hand therapists treat patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, tendon injuries, trauma, burns, arthritis, stroke impairment and several other conditions.
“Typically during an evaluation I would check the patient’s strength and range of motions,” Swinehart said. “We would also talk about any daily activities that are difficult for the patient.”
Hand therapists are trained to determine the rehabilitation potential associated with an injury and to establish a regimen of therapy to facilitate healing. Many patients are taught home exercises to help speed recovery. Patients usually start with visits to the hand therapist a couple of times a week. Therapy generally lasts four or five weeks, but needs are different for each patient.
At Kalkaska Memorial Health Center, the hand therapy program is located in the hospital’s lower level with other therapy areas. Most insurances cover hand therapy treatments.
For more information on Kalkaska Memorial Health Center’s therapy offerings, go to munsonhealthcare.org/kmhc/ptotspeech.