Written by Sara McEvoy, PT, DPT
Here's a thought:
Think about the number of things you do every day that require the use of your upper extremities. From dressing and eating to texting and typing on a computer, most activities of daily living rely heavily on the proper, pain-free function of the fingers, hands, and arms.
Hand therapy is a specific field of rehabilitation that focuses on the assessment, diagnosis, and management of injuries and conditions affecting the hand and arm. Provided by both physical therapists and occupational therapists, hand therapy can make a tremendous impact on a person's quality of life, function, and level of independence.
People who may benefit from hand therapy include anyone experiencing burns, arthritis, De Quervain's tenosynovitis, bone fractures, finger amputations, carpal tunnel syndrome, lymphedema, and stroke-related dysfunction.
And because injuries and conditions of the upper extremities can affect people of all ages and backgrounds, hand therapists get to work with a diverse range of patients, including children, athletes, veterans, and seniors.
RehabMart offers a wide range of hand therapy products that allow clinic owners and therapists to optimize outcomes for their patients of all ages. These products can improve physical function (including strength, coordination, mobility, and sensation), reduce pain, and even track and measure patient progress.
In no particular order, the following products are among the top five hand therapy tools offered at RehabMart. These can be used in daily clinical practice to assist patients, streamline care, and facilitate outcomes-based reimbursement.
The CanDo Digi-Flex Hand & Finger Exerciser is an effective unilateral tool that can help patients improve and restore strength in their fingers and hands. The ergonomic device allows users to challenge each finger individually without allowing stronger fingers to compensate for weaker ones. This is thanks to an ingenious design which includes a top row of springs attaching to individual buttons and a bottom row of springs providing an additional level of resistance.
Ideal for both rehabilitative and developmental exercises, the CanDo Digi-Flex Hand/Finger Exerciser can easily fit into any sized clinic, as it can be purchased individually, in sets of five, or in sets of eight.
Brightly-colored, fun-textured CanDo TheraPutty makes therapeutic exercises and activities fun as well as challenging to patients of all ages. TheraPutty helps people develop dexterity, grip strength, and hand strength while simultaneously stimulating the imagination and improving patient engagement and attention.
TheraPutty can be purchased in small or large amounts for any sized clinic or patient population. The bright and interesting colors help differentiate between resistance levels while also providing extra stimulation for a true multi-sensory experience.
Testing and measuring grip strength requires reliability and accuracy. Accomplish both in your clinical hand therapy practice with the use of the Baseline Pneumatic Squeeze Bulb Dynamometer.
Dynamometry is a gold standard in grip strength assessment, and this tool is easy for both patients and clinicians to read, which is great for motivation and recording. Unlike other dynamometers, this hand therapy product is highly comfortable to hold and ergonomically designed for optimal performance and measurement. The patient simply grasps and compresses the bulb, providing a measurement of pressure applied.
Wrist and ankle weights are a staple in most therapy clinics, and for the hand therapist these simple yet versatile weights can play an important role in daily practice. The Gold Line Wrist & Ankle Weights come in hygienically sealed individual plastic protective packages and can be purchased individually or in sets of 5 or 16.
Unlike other wrist and ankle weights, they're made with high-quality material that's durable, easy to clean, and can stand up to daily use. These are ideal to use for individuals looking to gain upper extremity strength while performing functional tasks and while performing specific rehabilitation exercises that preferentially target specific muscle groups.
Hand therapists have the ability to challenge their patients with multiple different types of activities. But in the interest of space and organization, featuring all these different modalities can be challenging. The Upper Extremity Workstation from Performance Health solves this problem by providing a space-saving yet spacious "one-stop-shop" for activities that help challenge a person's dexterity, strength, and coordination.
This workstation features: a bilateral sander, manipulation board, stacking cones, graded pegboard, shoulder abduction ladder, Extended Your Reach exercises, shoulder exercise ladder, graded ROM arc, EZ Exerboard, two-tiered horizontal bolt board, and finger extension remedial game. The latex-free material accommodates patients of all ages and sizes and features activities that can mimic work-specific duties.
Many similar upper extremity work stations are smaller and unable to accommodate multiple patients at once. Not only can this impair workflow but it can also limit the ability of patients to engage in meaningful social interaction during their therapy. The larger and four-sided design of this hand therapy workstation helps both clinicians and patients by permitting ample space for multiple users at once.
Daily use of the hands and arms require a combination of strength, sensation, coordination, gross and fine motor control, and gross and fine motor control. For hand therapists, having access to safe, effective, reliable, and standardized tools is a necessity for implementing personalized plans of care that can optimize these physical characteristics which define ideal upper extremity function.
And for the hand therapy patients themselves, using rehabilitative tools and products is valuable because it can improve their function as well as help them see their own progress, thereby maximizing their engagement.
To see our full list of hand therapy products or to learn more about our newest featured products, visit Rehabmart.com.
For more product reviews, helpful tips on Caregiving, and information on therapeutic techniques and technologies, be sure to check out our full library of articles on Caregiver University.
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Sara McEvoy, PT, DPT, is a licensed and board-certified Doctor of Physical Therapy. She has direct clinical experience within the long-term acute care and skilled nursing settings, and has a special interest in geriatrics and neurological rehab. She is also a freelance writer who creates content almost exclusively within the health and wellness fields.
