How Can I Manage My Hand Pain?

The human hand is an intricate piece of anatomy with 27 bones in the hand alone and eight bones in the wrist. So when a hand becomes injured there can be serious consequences to its function if not treated properly. Hand injuries, for the most part, are responsible for more than 10-percent of all hospital emergency room visits. In a recent study of more than 1,000 hand injuries, the following is a breakdown of the type of injury incurred; 42-percent of patients were cut on their hand, 27-percent of patients received serious bruising, 17-percent received a fracture, and nearly 5-percent received some sort of infection on the hand.

The most common hand injury is from blunt force trauma at 50-percent, with injuries from sharp objects coming in at 25-percent.

Most injuries can be avoided with safety in mind as well as common sense when engaging in various sports and activities that could result in an injured hand:

• If you are performing a task or action that is causing hand pain and other symptoms of injury, then stop or take a break, or simply switch hands.
• When using objects for tasks, such as a hammer, reduce the speed and force in which you move the hand. This also counts for typing, quilting, raking, rowing, sports in which a racquet is used, and knitting.
• When holding an object for a considerable amount of time, change the position of the object to relieve stress to the hand.
• Wear gloves when you are using power tools and follow the safety instructions on the power tools themselves.
• Wear protective equipment, such as hockey masks and gloves, while participating in various sports activities.