When people hear we have a Certified Hand Therapist on staff, they often ask: isn't that just physical therapy for a smaller body part? Not quite — and the difference matters enormously for your recovery.
The hand is a precision instrument
Your hand and wrist contain twenty-seven bones, a web of tendons gliding through tight tunnels, and nerves responsible for the finest motor control in your body. A few millimeters of scar tissue in the wrong place can mean the difference between a full grip and a permanent limitation. Rehabilitation at this scale demands specialized training.
What "CHT" actually means
A Certified Hand Therapist has completed thousands of hours of specialized upper-extremity practice and passed a rigorous national examination. It's one of the most demanding credentials in rehabilitation — and it's why hand surgeons refer their post-operative patients specifically to CHTs.
Custom splinting, made in-clinic
One of the most visible differences: custom orthoses. Our hand therapy program, led by Laura Drumm, CHT, fabricates precision splints in the clinic, molded to your hand, to protect healing structures at exactly the right angles at exactly the right stage of recovery.
Timing is everything
After a tendon repair or fracture, tissue healing follows a strict biological timeline. Move too soon and you risk the repair; too late and you lose motion to stiffness. Protocol-driven hand therapy walks that line precisely, in coordination with your surgeon.
If you're facing hand surgery, dealing with carpal tunnel, or fighting arthritis in your thumbs, ask about our certified hand therapy program — it's one of the things that makes First Rehabilitation different.