At the Vancouver Hand Clinic, arthritis care is about attention to detail, compassion and experience. Our therapists provide a detailed assessment and individualized rehab plans which typically includes education, exercise, manual therapy and custom splints.

Stephanie Chung (OT/CHT) has extensive experience in arthritis management through her many years of work with OASIS and the Arthritis Program at Vancouver Coastal Health. She also teaches Masters level arthritis courses in the UBC Department of Occupation Therapy.

We treat a variety of trauma and post-operative conditions and work closely with doctors and surgeons. These include fractures fixated with plates/screws, tendon repairs, carpal tunnel releases, pulley releases, nerve injuries, FOOSH, TFCC, and post-op Dupuytren’s. If the surgeon prescribes a post-operative splint, we make these in the clinic. We also provide education, exercises and manual therapy at the appropriate phase of your recovery.

Lisette Cheng, pictured above, works at the Vancouver Hand Clinic as well as Vancouver General Hospital in trauma & hand therapy.

We treat a wide variety of repetitive strain injuries (RSI). This can involve tendons, nerves, muscles, ligaments and/or joints.

Tennis elbow (inflammation/changes to the common extensor tendon) is an example of an RSI that we treat - and it usually has nothing to do with playing tennis. The first line of defense is a well-fitting counterforce brace, education, ergonomics and exercises based on the stage of recovery. IMS needling may also help speed up recovery.

Tendon problems are common and can be caused by overuse, ergonomic problems or even trauma. Sometimes there doesn’t seem to even be a cause!

DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis (aka “new mum thumb”) is a common tendon issue. Usually there is pain along the thumb side of the wrist, tenderness or swelling in the area, and pain when moving your thumb. A custom thermoplastic splint is usually key to recovery and is superior to an off-the-shelf brace (pictured above).

Joint pain can be due various factors including injuries, arthritis annd/or overuse, or underlying hypermobility. Maybe you used to have a “party trick” with how flexible your thumb was - and now it’s painful.

In these cases, we provide education regarding ideal positions for your hands, strengthening exercises and often some form of support for the joints. We can help take the pressure (and pain) off your joints via custom thermoplastic splints, Oval 8 splints, silver ring splints or taping techniques.

From competitive athletes to weekend warriors, we treat many types of sports injuries. Our goal is to maximize your hand’s recovery while minimizing any time away from your sport. Examples include mallet finger, skier’s thumb, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, overuse or even falls on the court that lead to sprains or strains. We can get creative with splints, braces and taping techniques to help you get back to sport faster.

For example, the gold standard custom splint for recovery from skier’s thumb (a ligament injury) is pictured above. After some time splinted, we progress you to an exercise program to get you back to your regular activities.

Nerve issues can cause a variety of symptoms, but often include numbness, tingling, pain or weakness - usually without an injury per se. We provide a detailed assessment to figure out which nerve is being impacted and why.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common nerve issue that can result in pain, numbness, tingling or weakness in the hand and thumb. A custom splint for night is part of the gold standard of care (pictured above).

Finger pulleys are important structures that hold your finger tendons in place during gripping. They can be torn to various degrees by chronic overload or by trauma.

A custom pulley splint is often a vital part of recovery from a grade 2 or 3 tear before beginning a strength program. This splint supports the pulley and allows it to heal while allowing for functional use of your hand.

Alex Osatchuk, pictured above, has a special interest in climbing injuries and enjoys climbing herself.

Stephanie Chung fabricates fully waterproof, fully washable splints. These are often a requirement for infection-control protocols in the hospital system. These splints follow the IPAC guidelines (Infection Prevention and Control Canada).

The splint material is plastic, non-perforated and does not contain any velcro components. Most splints are available in this form - call us if you have any questions.