Hand Therapy

The acute hand therapy service provides evidence-based hand therapy intervention following acute hand injury or hand surgery to all age groups at Monash Health.

The acute hand therapy team is a mix of occupational therapists and physiotherapists who have specialised in the assessment and intervention of hand therapy. The predominantly outpatient service is based at Dandenong Hospital with satellite sites at Casey Hospital and Monash Children’s Hospital.

The hand therapy service is limited to acute care only, receiving internal referrals from Monash Health’s Plastic Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery units.

What does Occupational Therapy offer?

The key focus of hand therapy is to address occupational performance issues following recent hand injury or surgery. The hand therapy team perform assessment and evaluation of physical hand function and considers the whole person impact, to develop tailored occupational performance goals. Specialised hand therapy intervention is used to achieve these goals. Intervention may include patient and family education, splint fabrication, participation in safe occupation, sensorimotor rehabilitation and exercise prescription.

Hand injury or surgery significantly disrupts occupational performance, no matter the age group or occupation of the individual. The hand therapy team have the knowledge and skills to guide safe participation in occupation, with consideration for tissue healing.