Hand Therapy

If you have an injury or condition that affects the use or movement of your elbow, forearm, wrist or hand, we have some expert physiotherapists in our team who can help you.  Helen is a NZ Registered Hand Therapist and has specialist qualifications which allow her to accurately assess and treat your hand or lower arm. We also have two other hand therapists on our team, namely Wendy Barry, our Associate Hand Therapist, who is undertaking her postgraduate Hand Therapy training, and our newest part time team member, Shirley Collocott, who is a very experienced Registered Hand Therapist. 

 
 

Whether you have pins and needles in your hand, have wrist/thumb pain after lifting your baby, have fallen and sprained your wrist, or you have caught your finger playing netball or rugby, our hand therapy team can help you recover.

Our hand team liaises closely with hand specialists/surgeons and other health professionals, so if we are unable to help you, we will be able to refer you onto someone who can. 

Some of the common elbow, forearm, wrist or hand injuries and hand conditions we treat are:

  • Fractures

  • Joint sprains and dislocations

  • Sports injuries

  • Tendon injures

  • Overuse injuries

  • Pain conditions

  • Post-operative care

  • Osteoarthritis

  • Nerve compressions, including carpal tunnel

  • CRPS

The treatments we offer are:

  • Splint making

  • Scar management

  • Pain management

  • Acupuncture

  • Massage

  • Exercises – Stretches and strengthening

  • Advice on safely returning to work and sport

We are very lucky that Helen and Jenni are also highly experienced general physiotherapists who can competently treat any co-existing shoulder, neck, back and lower limb problems you may have.

At Pukekohe Physiotherapy we treat both ACC and non-ACC (private) patients.  No doctors referral is needed which means you can come directly to us with your injury/condition. We can lodge ACC claims and refer for investigations as needed.

Our clinic holds a specialised Hand Therapy ACC contract. This means there is a small $10 charge for your hand appointments while hand splints are fully funded by ACC if you have an ACC injury.  Private patients (non ACC) pay a standard fee and the cost of materials and splinting will be added to this.  If you are unsure if your problem will be covered by ACC, please ask our receptionists about accident criteria.