Hand therapy is a specialized area of rehabilitation focused on assessing and treating conditions affecting the hands, wrists and upper extremities. Our skilled hand therapists are dedicated to providing comprehensive care to individuals experiencing a wide range of hand and upper extremity issues.

What Is Hand Therapy?

The HTCC (Hand Therapy Certification Commission), developed in 1989, is responsible for credentialing all certified hand therapists. A Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) is an occupational or physical therapist with at least five years of clinical experience, including 4,000 hours or more in direct practice in hand therapy. A CHT must also pass a comprehensive test of advanced clinical skills and theory in upper-quarter rehabilitation, and demonstrate continued professional development by re-certifying every five years.

Hand therapy encompasses a variety of therapeutic interventions aimed at restoring function, relieving pain, and improving overall well-being. Our therapists are trained to address both acute injuries and chronic conditions, using a combination of techniques and modalities to promote optimal recovery.

What Can Hand Therapy Help With?

  • Fractures — rehabilitation following fractures of the hand, wrist, or forearm, restoring mobility, strength and function.
  • Tendon and Nerve Injuries — specialized interventions to facilitate healing and optimal nerve function.
  • Arthritis — managing pain, improving joint mobility, and maintaining independence through targeted exercises and joint protection.
  • Repetitive Strain Injuries — practical strategies for carpal tunnel syndrome or tennis elbow to relieve symptoms and prevent further injury.
  • Postoperative Rehabilitation — promoting proper healing and restoring range of motion after surgery.
  • Traumatic Injuries — car accidents, workplace injuries, and other complex trauma.
  • Custom Splinting — tailored splints to support and protect the hand and upper extremities during healing.

What a Certified Hand Therapist Is

Any licensed occupational or physical therapist can treat a hand. A Certified Hand Therapist has done something considerably more specific: several thousand documented hours treating upper extremity conditions, followed by a national board examination covering anatomy, surgical procedures, healing timelines and orthotic fabrication. The credential has to be maintained through continuing education and periodic recertification.

It matters because the upper limb is unforgiving. Twenty-seven bones and more than thirty muscles work in a very small space, and the margin between protecting a repair and letting it stiffen is measured in days. A general rehabilitation background does not cover the surgical protocols, and the protocols are where most of the decisions live.

What a Course of Treatment Looks Like

The first appointment is assessment: history, examination, and measurement of motion, grip, pinch, swelling and sensation, so progress is tracked against numbers rather than impressions. You will usually begin treatment the same visit and leave with a short home programme.

After that, most people attend two or three times a week initially and taper as they improve. A straightforward tendonitis may resolve in four to six weeks. A tendon repair or complex fracture is a matter of months, staged carefully — protect, mobilise, strengthen — with each stage entered when the tissue is ready rather than when the calendar says so.

Much of the work happens between appointments. We would rather give you three exercises you will genuinely do than a printed sheet of twelve you will not.

When to Get Assessed

Sooner is almost always better, and it is the single most common thing people get wrong. Stiffness that has been present for months is substantially harder to reverse than stiffness caught at three weeks, and a finger that has been locked for half a year often stays limited even after the original problem is treated.

Worth an appointment: numbness or tingling that wakes you at night, a finger that catches or locks, pain that persists after a week or two of rest, grip that has noticeably weakened, or any hand or wrist injury that has been immobilised and now feels stiff. If you’re not sure whether you need a referral, give us a call and we’ll sort it out with you.

Serving Suffolk County and Long Island

We see patients from across Suffolk County and the wider Long Island area at our two offices — Hauppauge on Joshuas Path and Smithtown on East Main Street. A significant number have surgery in Manhattan and prefer to do the rehabilitation closer to home rather than travelling in weekly for several months; we work directly from the operating surgeon's protocol in those cases.

Our Approach

We take a patient-centered approach to hand therapy, tailoring our treatment plans to meet each individual's unique needs and goals. Our experienced hand therapists work closely with patients to develop personalized rehabilitation programs that address their specific conditions, functional limitations, and lifestyle factors.