subject: Hand Surgery: Minimally Invasive Surgery Can Fix Your Hands [print this page] Hand problems are incredibly commonHand problems are incredibly common. Whether it's pain from a small fracture or an actual debilitating condition, you may be a candidate for newer surgical techniques that involve endoscopy or small incisions instead of just casting your arm up. There are many benefits to this and finding out if it's a good fit for you can save you months in a cast.
Because we use our hands so often, there are many common hand and wrist conditions that affect everything you do from writing and typing to manual labor to musical endeavors. These things are parts of daily life for many people. While using a cast has always been a wonderful treatment that has a good success rate, having your hand or wrist in a cast can be difficult to deal with and can make doing your everyday things harder than is optimal.
For several fractures in the hands and wrists, there is surgery available that is much less invasive than having a cast put on. For fractures in your fingers there is a procedure where pins are placed in the finger to keep the individual finger or fingers straightened out. Sometimes there will be a case of sorts, called an external fixator around the outside of the finger. While this may prevent some motion, it allows you to begin rehabilitating your injury much sooner than a cast would allow.
For tendon injuries, whether from an isolated incident or from an ongoing thing, the best way to fix it used to be by making an incision in the palm of the hand. Now there is a needle that can perform the tendon release without having to cut open the hand. This shortens healing time and leaves no scars. Carpal tunnel syndrome (numbness or tingling in affected phalanges), also something that is traditionally fixed with surgery; there are endoscopic methods that are available now.
For many injuries these technologies are getting better and better. There's no telling what they'll be able to do in the future as newer things are discovered and smaller tools are made. Someday it is possible that larger injuries will be able to be fixed in less invasive ways.
No matter what your affliction, it is of absolute importance that any decision is talked about with your doctor and surgeon. Making sure you're dealing with a licensed practitioner is important as well; as you'll want to make sure that any treatment you get will be done well. Ask your surgeon for pictures and referrals from past patients and call them to see how their recovery was.
Make sure that you ask any questions you have and be prepared to be told that these newer forms of treatment may not be your best option. While they do have typically better recovery results and shorter healing times, sometimes the traditional methods are better for certain individuals. This decision can only be made with a doctor.
