Orthopedic Hand Surgeon in Maui

Surgeons that specialize in hand surgery are generally known as orthopedic surgeons. An orthopedic surgeon is a medical specialist who is expertly trained to diagnose, treat, and manage injuries and conditions affecting your musculoskeletal system, of which your hand is a part. Your musculoskeletal system includes various tissues in your body, including your bones, cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and other tissues — all tissues that are present within your hand.
 
Orthopedic hand surgeons can treat both acute and chronic hand injuries and conditions. Acute hand injuries are those that occur due to an accident and cause sudden pain. In contrast, chronic hand injuries occur over time due to repetitive stress with pain that slowly builds and gets worse. Thus, acute hand injuries cause pain for a short amount of time, while chronic hand injuries cause pain for three months or longer.
 
Some acute hand injuries that orthopedic hand surgeons can treat include fractures, torn ligaments or tendons in your hand, and others. Some chronic hand injuries that orthopedic hand surgeons can treat include carpal tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, basal joint arthritis, and others.
 
To treat such conditions surgically, orthopedic hand surgeons must go through rigorous education and training. Their education and training involve an undergraduate Bachelor of Sciences (B.S.) degree, four years of medical school, and five years in a residency training program. After completing the residency, many orthopedic surgeons further their training with a fellowship program to specialize in a specific area of orthopedic surgery, such as hand surgery.

One of the most common hand surgeries is carpal tunnel release surgery, as this chronic condition is common among many different people. Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve that runs through your hand and wrist becomes compressed or pinched. As a result, patients with carpal tunnel syndrome experience pain, numbness, tingling, and burning sensations in their wrists and hand.
 
With carpal tunnel release surgery, an orthopedic hand surgeon makes an incision into your palm and cuts through the transverse carpal ligament to relieve the pressure on the compressed median nerve, removing whatever is causing the compression and making more room for the nerve to travel through. It will take a few weeks for you to recover and return to light activity with your hand, and several more weeks to return to more vigorous activity with your hand.

The number of hours your hand surgery will take depends on the type of surgery you’re having done. For example, some hand surgeries may take as little as 20 minutes to complete, while others will take longer—around one to two hours. That said, most hand surgeries should not take longer than one hour to perform.

There are various types of hand surgeries that orthopedic hand surgeons can perform. Here is a list of some of those hand surgeries:
 
• Carpal tunnel release surgery
• De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis surgery
• Trigger finger release surgery
• Joint replacement for severe arthritis
• Tendon repair
 
If you’d like to learn more about hand surgeries or are looking for a skilled hand surgeon to perform your surgery, we can help at NorthShore Orthopedics! Call us today or visit our website to learn more about our hand surgery options or to schedule a consultation with our orthopedic surgeon. We serve patients from Wailea, Kihei, Hana, Lahaina, Kaanapali, Lana’i, Moloka‘i, Oahu, Kaua’i, and Hawai’i Island.