Co-Director
Woodworking is a skill that requires precision and patience. Strong, functional hands are crucial to woodworking and it is important to protect them from potentially dangerous tools and accidents. Knowing the basic anatomy of the human hand and becoming familiar with symptoms for common conditions can be helpful when it comes to protecting yourself from injury during woodworking.
Wrist tendonitis is a common condition. It involves irritation and inflammation of a tendon at the wrist joint.Wrist tendonitis often occurs where tendons cross each other or pass over a bony area. These are possible sites of irritation. They can lead to pain when you move the wrist.
Stiff fingers can be cumbersome, and arthritis or minor injuries are common causes. In some cases, health issues involving the bones, connective tissues, or muscles in the hand are responsible.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition that affects the hand, wrist, and arm. It happens when the median nerve gets compressed, or squeezed, at the wrist. The median nerve is a large nerve running from the palm to the upper arm.
Also known as Dequervain’s tenosynovitis, gamer’s thumb is “a condition that causes pain, stiffness and a sensation of pain with thumb and wrist motion,” says the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Of all orthopedic injuries, wrist fractures are among the most common. One particular type of wrist fracture affects the end, or distal, part of the radius and a recent study reported that distal radius fractures comprise 16.4% of all fractures.
CTS is common in pregnancy and can occur in 31% to 62% of people who are pregnant. Researchers aren’t sure why CTS is so common in pregnancy. They speculate that pregnancy-related hormones might contribute to increased swelling throughout the body.
Results presented at the Virtual EFORT Congress showed an increase in the occurrence of osteophytes and decrease in cartilage thickness in the distal and proximal interphalangeal joints of elite climbers in a 10-year period.
A sprained thumb is an injury to a ligament, which is a soft tissue that connects bones to each other at the joints to keep it stable, as opposed to a thumb fracture (break) which is an injury to the bone. The ulnar collateral ligament is the most injured ligament in the thumb. This particular ligament connects the thumb to the hand on the side closest to your index finger.
Golfer’s Elbow, like Tennis Elbow, is a condition that causes pain in your elbow. However, Golfer’s Elbow is where the tendons of your forearm muscles attach to the bony bump on the inside of your elbow and the pain might spread into your forearm and wrist.
