Category Archives: General

Three Ways To Show Your Hands Some Love This Valentine’s Day

Skip the expensive chocolates and weekend getaways this Valentine’s Day! Whether you’re single or happily enjoying life with a romantic partner, your hands deserve some pampering and love this Valentine’s Day. Between the winter weather and the wear and tear of an active lifestyle, your hands are most prone to injuries requiring tendon and ligament repair during the winter months. While these injuries cannot always be prevented, there are a number of delightfully luxurious ways to combine showing your hands some love with improving the overall health of your hands and wrists. Here are our top tips for hand care this Valentine’s Day.

Top Three Ways To Pamper Your Hands

1. Hand Massages: More than a simple luxury, this gift to your hands offers a number of proven health benefits that include increased range of motion in your hands and wrists, improved circulation through fingers and hands, and reduction of trigger points that can cause painful injuries and chronic pain. Additionally, hand massages have been proven to be an effective, natural pain relief treatment option.
2. Healthy Manicures: Your nails are comprised of living skin cells. These skin cells need just as much care as the rest of your hands. A healthy manicure can provide an hour of relaxation and a host of health benefits. These benefits include increased circulation in the fingers, more effective distribution of body heat during the winter months and healthier skin that is less prone to cracking and lacerations.
3. Upgraded Handwear: Whether you’re an avid golfer or are simply spending a large portion of your day driving, the wear and tear of these activities can result in chronic pain and injuries in your hands. This is the year to gift yourself with top tier gloves to protect and cushion your hands during these activities.

Whether you’re currently suffering from chronic hand pain, are looking to pamper yourself while protecting your hand health, or are looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for a loved one who is recovering from ligament and tendon repair surgery, massages, manicures, and upgraded handwear show you care. Call New Jersey Hand and Wrist specialists today to learn more about overall hand health or to request an appointment to discuss a painful condition.

Cold Hands: What Causes Them and When To Seek Treatment

Are your hands always cold, even indoors where the heat is blasting and everyone around you is shedding layers? It turns out that this is more common than most people believe and sometimes requires medical attention. Our Hand and Wrist specialists have compiled an easy to understand overview of the causes of cold hands and some signs for knowing when to request an appointment for a consultation with one of our team of medical professionals. Read on to learn why your hands are always frigid and to be sure you shouldn’t be looked at by our staff.

Causes of Cold Hands:

The causes of persistently cold hands – even in warm environments – can range from circulation issues to blood vessel damage. By far, the most common cause of constantly cold hands (and feet) is circulatory issues. Less frequently, blood vessel damage or conditions such as frostbite are to blame. But, on a less serious level, cold hands can be the result of anemia, diabetes, some medications, atherosclerosis, Buerger’s disease, and hypothyroidism. If the coldness in your hands persists or gets in the way of day to day functioning, consult a specialist to diagnose the cause and treat it appropriately.

When to Seek Medical Attention:

If you have recently been exposed to extreme cold, visit an emergency room immediately to rule out frostbite. If you have white patches or scabs on your hands, you should also visit the emergency room immediately. You should visit our site to request an appointment with a specialist if you have previously been diagnosed with circulatory problems, diabetes, or other conditions that might inhibit the flow of blood to your hands. Lastly, if the pain persists or interferes with day-to-day functioning, consult a doctor.

Call us today, or visit our website, to speak with a NJ hand and wrist specialist about the specifics regarding your hands. Our team can diagnose your condition and treat you if necessary.

When Crossing Fingers Isn’t Enough: Signs It’s Time to See A Doctor

From paper cuts to door disasters, we really put our fingers through the wringer going about our day-to-day lives. Given how much we use our hands, it’s not uncommon to accrue finger injuries. Although many of these injuries are not serious, some can result in permanent deformity, loss of function, or more serious consequences if left untreated. What’s more, certain aches and pains may be a symptom of a more serious problem. Use these tips to assess your injuries, and decide whether it’s time to visit the doctor.

Schedule An Appointment for as soon as possible

Chances are, your hands are vital to everyday, well, everything. They’re highly visible, so chances are, worsening or new symptoms probably won’t sneak up on you. They may, however, become something you’re learning to deal with–which can be dangerous if they’re actually a sign of an injury or condition with the potential to cause lasting harm. Keep an eye out for these signs, and if you spot them, schedule an appointment with a medical professional as soon as possible–i.e, within the next week or day depending on the condition. Some of these, if especially pronounced or occurring suddenly, merit an emergency room visit ASAP (especially infections–don’t mess around with those). Better safe than sorry!

• If there is severe pain, chronic pain (lasting more than several days), or sharp pain associated with a particular motion
• If there is numbness (loss of sensation) in part of finger
• If the finger is pale or bluish in color
• Redness, swelling, pus, and other signs of infection persisting despite careful cleansing and treatment–if you haven’t had a tetanus shot, this is especially high-priority
• Subtle and gradual deformity of the finger or hand
• Persistent stiffness in fingers or hand

Head to the Emergency Room–Right Now

These may be signs that something is seriously wrong, and needs to be treated immediately.

• Heavy, uncontrollable bleeding
• Exposed bones or tendons
• Any laceration deeper than the top layer of skin
• Sudden loss of sensation in large area of hand
• Large area of missing or amputated tissue
• Foreign objects in a wound that you are unable to remove
• Severe and worsening signs of infection, including redness, swelling, pus, and discoloration at site and/or fever
• Sudden and obvious deformity of finger or hand
• Inability to move fingers or hand

Concerned about an injury to your hands or wrists that definitely isn’t an emergency, but is worrisome or painful? Request an appointment, or log on during business hours to use the chat.