Hand Therapy (Valentino - Online)

Course overview

Hand therapy is an incredibly personal and complex area for rehabilitation professionals and patients alike. Hamasaki et al. (2018) highlight this complexity in their study emphasizing the interdependence of both motor and sensory aspects of functioning to impact pain reports for hand therapy patients. Having effective plans of care means developing comfort as a therapist to assess, thoroughly, a patients pain and choose the best courses of intervention to achieve his or her goals. This course will assist therapists in developing their skills in testing differential diagnosis and developing an understanding of pathology leading to dysfunction. This course will be a good foundation course for new hand therapists and a refresher for those looking to review needed information. Additionally, each therapist will leave with testing and treatment recourses which they can apply in the clinic the next day. Physical and psychological factors related to rehabilitation will be considered during this course. Attendees will be able to identify tests needed for a number of differential diagnoses to enhance patient care and their knowledge as it relates to hand therapy preparation. Nerve entrapment in addition to physical dysfunction will be addressed as often these two components are appearing hand in hand for our upper quadrant clients. Participants will be able to select appropriate functional evaluations to bridge physical dysfunctional and psychological impact to develop more effective plans of care and treatment approaches.