Fourth of July is a great time to celebrate our independence with friends and family. For many of us, those celebrations include cookouts and fireworks. While fireworks displays are beautiful, it is also important to remember that they can cause serious harm if not handled properly. Fireworks related injuries are responsible for over 12,000 ER visits each year, most of which occur around the fourth of July. fingers, hands and face are most involved, and deserve special precautions when dealing with fireworks and open flames.

Fireworks injuries to the hand are particularly difficult to treat, as they can cause significant skin loss, tissue damage and burns. Often, they cannot be reconstructed, resulting in permanent deformity or amputation. Several prominent athletes, including NFL players Jason Pierre-Paul and C.J. Wilson, have sustained serious fireworks injuries resulting in loss of digits. Additionally, several people die each year from fireworks injuries.

The safest option for enjoying fireworks is to attend a professional display and keep your distance. The American Society for Hand Surgery recommends staying at least 500 feet away from launch sites. Additionally, never pick up firework debris or fireworks that did not light completely. These can be extremely hot and cause serious burns even hours later. Even sparklers, often considered relatively safe, burn at temperatures around 2000 degrees F, and can cause serious burns if handled improperly.

Those who plan to set up their own displays should take additional safety measures. First, check your state and local rules regarding personal fireworks use. Never place any portion of your body directly in line with the fuse when lighting a firework. As soon as the fuse is lit, back up a safe distance and avoid approaching the launch site. Finally, always keep a water source close by to completely douse fireworks before discarding them. We wish you a safe and happy July 4th celebration as you kick off the summer.

The post Celebrate Fourth of July Safely appeared first on Premier Orthopaedics.

By understanding what you’ll be dealing with during recovery, you’ll be more at ease throughout the process. Learn about what to expect.

• General Soreness:

  After your surgery, you’ll experience general soreness around the incision site and overall. Be sure to follow the after-care instructions that were provided by your doctor in order to recover properly.

• Preparing for Recovery:

  There are a few things you need to remember to do before you undergo surgery to make sure you’re comfortable during recovery.

  • Arrange transportation: You’ll be under some form of anesthesia so you’ll need someone to drive you home from surgery.
  • Prepare your home: You’ll need to allow your affected arm to heal after surgery so you’ll need to avoid using it. For this reason, it’s a good idea to prepare meals in your home beforehand so you don’t have to cook.

• Swelling:

  You’ll notice swelling for the first week after surgery which is a normal response. Reducing swelling will help speed up the recovery process while also minimizing your pain.

  • Elevation: Prop your arm up on a few pillows while you’re sitting or lying down. Make sure that your arm is elevated over your heart in order to reduce swelling the most. You should be doing so every day after your surgery for about three days to a week.
  • Ice: Icing your injury is also another way to reduce swelling and pain. Apply an ice pack or cold compress over the site of your surgery for twenty minutes at a time. This will also minimize the soreness that is common the first couple days after surgery.

• Wound Care:

  Your incision will also need to be cared for properly in order to avoid infection. Your doctor will thoroughly explain how to care for your incision, but there are a few key tips to keep in mind.

  • Generally, you shouldn’t remove your bandages until your follow up appointment with your doctor. After surgery, leave the dressings as-is to allow your incision time to heal. During your follow up appointment, typically around a week or two following the surgery, your doctor will remove the dressings to make sure the incision is healing properly.
  • Avoid getting your incision wet at all costs. Since you’ll be leaving your dressings on, this shouldn’t be an issue. Wrap it in plastic so that it won’t get wet in the shower and avoid submerging it in water.

• Medication: Your doctor will provide you pain medication to make the post-surgery soreness more tolerable. Be sure to take it as directed and contact your physician if you’re experiencing side effects.

If you experience a hand or wrist injury, you may be a candidate for surgery. Click here to contact Premier Orthopaedics to find out how surgery can benefit you.

The post What You Need to Know About Recovering from Hand or Wrist Surgery appeared first on Premier Orthopaedics.

It’s crucial to protect your wrists and prevent injuries that would make it painful for you to use a keyboard at work. Consider performing these easy exercises to help protect your wrists while using a computer and reduce the risk of pain.

1. Hold your arms out straight in front of you with your wrists limp. While keeping your arms still, raise your wrists so that your fingers point toward the ceiling, then lower your wrists so your fingers point downward. Repeat ten times.
2. Open both of your hands and stretch all of your fingers out, the close them and make a fist. Continue this for 20 repetitions.
3. Lay your forearm on a flat surface and rotate your wrist in a full clockwise motion for five repetitions. Then reverse the motion to perform five full counterclockwise motions.
4. Lay your wrist and palm on a flat surface. Use your wrist to rotate your hand so that your palm faces upward. Perform this for ten repetitions.
5. This exercise is similar to the first one, with some additional pressure for maximum stretching. Hold your left hand up with your palm facing away from you. Using your right hand, pull back on the fingers on your left hand to stretch your wrist. Make sure you feel a good stretch, but you shouldn’t experience pain. Then, bend your left wrist so your fingers are facing downward and use your right hand to stretch your wrist in that direction. Repeat five times on each hand.

When working on the computer for a long period of time, it’s important to remember a few helpful tips throughout the day.

Rest Periods

Spending the entire day with your wrists typing on the keyboard in the same position can lead to possible damage. To prevent this from happening, schedule periods of rest throughout the day so your wrists have a chance to recover. Take a five-minute break for every 20 or 30 minutes of continuous keyboard or mouse usage. This doesn’t mean that you have to completely stop working. You can use these short breaks to review tasks on the computer screen or for other forms of reading. Just be sure to keep your wrists rested.

Good Posture

Maintaining good posture while spending time on the computer will reduce the amount of strain put on your body. Be sure to set up your workspace in a fashion that allows you to sit comfortably without pain in any area of your body. Have a desk that is the appropriate height so your legs fit beneath it with enough room to move. Keep your back straight against your chair and your feet flat on the floor during the day.

Using these simple exercises and tips, you may be able to protect your wrists from any adverse effects caused by prolonged computer use.

If you’re considering undergoing surgery to reduce painful symptoms caused by a wrist injury, click here to download our e-book, How to Choose an Orthopaedic Surgeon. This educational guide will provide you with all the information you need to find a reputable surgeon.

The post Protecting your Wrists: 5 Exercise for Computer Users appeared first on Premier Orthopaedics.

Because these body parts are so crucial, it’s important to protect them as best as you can and prevent damage, injury, and disease.

Deal with an injury at the first symptoms

If you’re experiencing pain in your wrist, it’s critical that you see a doctor to discuss your symptoms. When you ignore your symptoms, they will only get worse and you’ll have to deal with even more pain. It can also lead to serious damage. If you have pain in your wrist, it’s likely that there’s a problem with the joint or the nerve. If this problem is left untreated, it’s possible that you may have to deal with it for the rest of your life.

Recover properly after an injury

After you’ve seen a doctor about your injury and received the appropriate treatment, be sure to follow the doctor’s directions properly in order for your wrist to heal. You may be required to rest for a certain amount of time, so make sure that you don’t start using your wrist before it’s fully recovered.

Performing tasks that require you to use your wrist could lead to reinjury if you aren’t completely healed. Avoid permanent damage and additional pain by resting your wrist after an injury.

Participate in physical therapy

Now that you’ve received treatment for your injury and rested for the proper amount of time, it’s likely that your next step is physical therapy. Physical therapy consists of gentle stretches and repetitive exercises to help you regain range of motion in your wrist.

Some patients may feel pain-free after their wrist treatment so they don’t participate in physical therapy exercises, or they stop after only a few days. But if you don’t participate in physical therapy for the prescribed amount of time, you’ll eventually begin to experience stiffness and pain, and you won’t be able to use your wrist like you did before the injury.

Guards and supports

To protect your wrists from injury, or from becoming reinjured, make sure to utilize wrist guards or supports when participating in activities that can potentially cause pain or damage. It’s crucial to wear protective guards or supports when golfing and doing yoga since you rely heavily on your wrists during these activities.

It’s also important to protect your wrists while participating in activities where you’re not using your wrists at all. Sports such as soccer and snowboarding don’t require the use of your hands, but in the event of a fall, serious damage could occur.

Take these tips into consideration and implement them to reduce the risk of wear and tear on your wrists.

If you’re considering undergoing surgery to treat your wrist injury, click here to download our e-book, How to Choose an Orthopaedic Surgeon. This educational guide will provide you with all the information you need to find a reputable surgeon.

The post Protecting Wrist from Wear and Tear appeared first on Premier Orthopaedics.