You use your hands all day, every day. They help you grab, hold, push, pull and more. Hand injuries make it difficult to complete any of these common tasks, putting a damper on everyday life.

Understanding the dangers your hands and wrists face can help you avoid injury.

Common Hand Injuries

Your hand consists of muscles, joints, tendons, nerves, blood vessels and 27 bones. Damage to any of these working parts can result in hand injuries.

A few common injuries include:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome. Your carpal tunnel is an opening between your wrist and hand. If you repeat the same hand movements over and over, your carpal tunnel may become more narrow. This compresses the nerve passing through the tunnel to your hand. You may feel hand or wrist pain, tingling or other uncomfortable symptoms.
• Fractures. Broken bones are common in the finger or hand. Playing sports is often to blame, but these traumatic hand injuries can occur anywhere. Bones in your hand break when you fall, crush or twist your hand in unnatural ways. The most common break affects the pinky finger, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
• Severed fingers. Traumatic injury can result in losing part or all of one or more fingers. Using a sharp knife, operating heavy machinery and performing other tasks can endanger your digits.
• Flexor tendon damage. These tendons extend from the forearm to your fingers and help you bend your fingers. Cuts, sports injuries and rheumatoid arthritis can make flexor tendons more susceptible to injury, which results in pain, making it difficult to bend one or more fingers. Jersey finger is a flexor tendon injury that is a common hand tendon injury. It occurs when a player’s finger gets caught in another player’s jersey and pulled forcefully.

Caring for Injured Hands

Proper orthopedic treatment helps you regain form and function following a hand injury. Based on your injury, an orthopedic specialist may recommend one of the following treatment options:

• Casts and splints. Wearing a cast or custom splint reduces movement and encourages the healing of injured hands. Minor bone fractures and carpal tunnel syndrome can often benefit from this approach.
• Rest. You may find relief from carpal tunnel syndrome and other overuse injuries by avoiding whatever repetitive motion causes pain. Briefly immobilizing the affected area can also allow swelling to go down following traumatic injuries.

Surgery. Cut and torn tendons often require surgery. So do severed fingers and fractures that break the skin. Sometimes, surgery is necessary to correct carpal tunnel syndrome. After a hand surgeon repairs your damaged hand, attend follow-up appointments to ensure your hand heals properly.

Protecting Your Hand and Fingers

A few steps can reduce your risk for hand and wrist injuries.

• Practice knife safety. Whether in the kitchen, woods or elsewhere, keep knives sharp and always cut away from yourself. Additionally, use knives in well-lit areas and stay focused when wielding your blade.
• Remove your rings. When working with or near heavy equipment, remove rings to prevent them from catching on something and damaging your finger. Instead, wear proper gloves to protect against extreme cold, heat and other dangers.
• Take breaks. If your job requires repetitive motion, stop working now and then to stretch your hands and wrists. Switch tasks when possible.

Have a problem with your hands? Meet with an orthopedic specialist at the Union Health Ortho Walk-in Clinic.