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Young Hand Injuries
October 29, 2008 |
Dr. Sandra Collins considers herself a hands-on physician.
Quite literally. She specializes in orthopedic hand surgery and treatment. She says, “A hand surgeon is generally going to be a person who has dedicated an extra year
of their training to doing hand fellowship. It usually includes hand surgery,
wrist surgery, microvascular surgery.”
From surgery to physical therapy Dr. Collins says there is one common goal in treating
hand injuries. “Orthopedists, especially hand surgery - it is
more about restoring
function rather than saving people’s lives. What
I want to do for my patients is
get them back to either pain free or minimal pain with activities of daily life.”
She adds that many young patients do not realize the damage that can be caused to
their hands from careless activities. “There are a lot of problems related to the
hand and wrist that are complicated because there’s a lot of complex anatomy. In
young people it’s generally trauma and it can be anything from a hand fracture from
punching a wall to cutting every tendon in your wrist from putting your hand through
a window.”
She adds that the most frustrating thing about those kinds of self-inflicted hand
trauma is that they can be prevented. “It would be very nice if people would stop
punching stationary objects, walls, dumpsters, doors, especially windows.” Many
young patients also suffer hand trauma caused by car crashes or falls. Teenagers
and young adults also commonly suffer from things like tendonitis and carpel tunnel
syndrome. |
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