RSCC Occupational Therapy Assistant Program

For people young and old, knowledge is power. This article focuses on the 4 most common hand injuries.

This article offers great tips for protecting our upper extremities! This advice helps the athlete or the average person. This is an article I'll hang on too.

This website offers a list of tips to avoid injuries to the fingers, wrist and hand. These are some good tips for all of us to keep in mind while working with clients and even for ourselves.

This article gives a good list of typical hand therapy techniques. I think that this makes a quick reference for therapies.

This article discusses advantages and disadvantages to splinting. It also gives instuctions on the general application of splinting.

This pdf has plenty of pictures and good information!

hanger prosthetics and orthotics. There is a Hanger location in downtown knoxville right by Fort Sanders Hospital.

How to make a splint, materials, variety of splints, etc.

This article was published in the Jounal of Hand Therapy April/June 2008. This article details the 5-step protocol that was developed in response to the large number of amputees from Operation Enduring Freedom. The article is broken into 3 "phases": "acute care, subacute care, and long-term rehbilitation needs."

A Canadian company specializing in UE prosthetics. Also contains a great glossary explaining terms and vocabulary.

Each amputee goes through their own personal struggle. Whether the amputation is a result of trauma or illness, the feelings are the same!

I found this website is very powerful and educational. And as a future OT practitioners we can recommend it for our clients. It is about amputation foundation that originally was created for veterans, but would give a hand to any amputee civilian. There are a lot of helpful information about how to take care of amputated limb, how to get social security disability, etc. Also this foundation offers support, financial aid, information on recreational activities, medical equipment, and counseling.

Youtube splinting demonstration.

This video is short, but is a great visual to see splinting. It also provides some signs to watch for if the splint is bothering the patient, such as redness, or swelling

I-limb digits is the fully customized electronic prosthesis for people with missing fingers or partial hands.

Splinting for rheumatoid arthritis.

this webpages gives a general overview of body-powered vs. electric-powered UE prosthesis. Advantages and disadvantages, improvements, and types of terminal devices. There is some interesting information on the different types of hands and gives info re: an experimental hand being engineered by students at Rutgers University that can be controlled through human thought.

A handout from AOTA talking about the role OT plays in UE amputations.