Hand and wrist assessment and treatment can be overwhelming. There are a lot of tendons, ligaments and bones crammed into a small area, you need to worry about ligament and cartilage tears, rehabing fine and gross motor control, strengthening, and then there are a bunch of fancy-looking splints. How would you like to get a better grip on hand and wrist injuries?

In this podcast with Physiotherapist (English Institute of Sport Boxing Technical Lead Physio) Ian Gatt, we discuss hand and wrist injuries in general, and dive into details on contact-related injuries encountered in boxing. If you treat patients that fall onto their hands and wrists, cop a blow to their fingers in ball sports, are boxers or martial artists, or just occasionally get involved in confrontations with walls or other immovable objects, you will enjoy this episode. You will explore:

How to take a comprehensive subjective history for hand and wrist pain patients
Questions you need to ask your hand and wrist patients
Identify likely diagnoses for your patients injuries based on their pattern of symptoms
When imaging is useful
Figure out if your patient is likely to have a quick or slow recovery
What is most important - pathology &structural diagnosis, biomechanics or function?
Common boxing or contact-related hand and wrist injuries
How to establish the severity of an injury
Carpometacarpal (CMC) joint injury management
Knuckle (Sagittal band) injuries
Bone stress injuries of the hand and wrist
Triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) injuries, and why these are not as common now in contact sports

In the next two podcasts with Ian, we will explore how you can assess and treat these injuries.

Links associated with this episode:

Resources associated with this episode:

Video - How to wrap a boxer's hands with Ian Gatt

Loosemore et al. 2016. Hand and Wrist Injuries in Elite Boxing: A Longitudinal Prospective Study (2005-2012) of the Great Britain Olympic Boxing Squad.

CLICK HERE for your spot on a free shoulder assessment webinar with Jo Gibson, available soon.

Other Episodes of Interest:

PE 043 - Sporting Shoulder with Jo Gibson

PE 027 - Sports Injury Management with Dr Nathan Gibbs

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