Rehabilitation is often a patient’s “next step” following an injury or surgical procedure. Intended to move patients back to their every day routines as quickly as possible, rehabilitation is often met with great praise and thanks from the patient and their physician. One service that is both highly specialized and highly regarded is hand therapy.

Services provided by a certified hand therapist can benefit patients of many different physician specialties.

• A Rheumatologist might refer patients with various forms of arthritis, Lupus, Scleroderma, and other types of syndromes for splinting in order to prevent further deformities. Hand therapy would also educate these patients on joint protection and energy conservation, and modalities for pain, stiffness and weakness to increase their independence for daily living activites.
• Pain management physicians can refer patients with Fibromyalgia, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, neural compressions, or after a stellate ganglion block. The prolonged hand therapy immediately following the procedure may help the patient gain the optimum results with the least amount of pain.
• Obstetricians and Gynecologists might seek hand therapy services for their patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome during pregnancy or Dequervain's tendonitis following pregnancy for relief of those symptoms.
• Orthopedists can refer for any upper extremity ailment for screening, splinting or treatment.
• Family physicians or ER physicians might refer for any upper extremity ailment or burns/wounds of the upper extremity. In these situations, a hand therapist would immediately screen the area, perform whirlpool debridement, splinting, and treatment.
• Neurologists might seek hand therapy services for any type of neural compression of the upper extremity for evaluation and treatment in order to decrease the compression.

Tori Russell, MS, OTR/L, CHT, recently joined the Rehabilitation Services team at North Fulton Regional Hospital. An experienced Occupational Therapist, Russell has held her hand therapy certification for one year and comes to NFRH after working in a physician hand therapy practice for the last two years with four hand surgeons.

Russell’s interest in occupational therapy began at the age of 10 when she witnessed a close friend’s sibling in a rehab session. This interest grew into a passion as she moved to the University of Georgia for her undergraduate studies where as a freshman, she worked as a tech for Missy Thurlow, a well-known certified hand therapist.

“I have never had a patient that did not benefit in some way from hand therapy services that was referred to me,” Russell says. “Hand therapy can help increase range of motion, strength, and independence with everyday living activities; it can also help decrease pain, numbness and tingling, hypersensitivity, and prevent further deformities, all to increase independence.”

When not caring for patients, Russell enjoys spending time with her husband and two dogs on their farm in North Georgia. If she weren’t a hand therapist, Russell would chose to remain in the medical field as a hand surgeon, pediatrician, or forensic pathologist. Hand therapy is her passion, however, and she receives motivation from the successes her patients experience.

”My motivation for my job is definitely the thanks patients give me for helping them relieve their ailments,” she says. “I do understand how important it is to use your hands in daily life, and I am fortunate to help people gain independence back in their lives when they have an upper extremity ailment.”

For more information about hand therapy and other Rehabilitation Services at North Fulton Regional Hospital, call 770-751-2650, or visit www.northfultonregional.com/rehab.