Our hands account for 25 percent of all our bones.
The new Hand Center at Scott & White is one of only a
few facilities in Texas that restore their form and function
HUMAN
If our hands could speak, oh, the stories they would tell! How they’ve fed us and
protected us. How they’ve worked the land, or written letters to loved ones far away,
or knitted a blanket for a new baby. Our hands are such an important part of what
makes us human, and it’s easy to take them for granted. But when they become hurt
or diseased, we realize their true value.
T
he Scott & White Hand Center
team restores the use and
appearance of hands after injuries
sustained in accidents. Caregivers also help
people who are afflicted with arthritis,
compressed nerves, repetitive-motion
injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome,
or congenital defects. Patients include
people of all ages across the state and
outside Texas.
Hand injuries are the most common
type of injury treated in most emergency
rooms in this country, including Scott &
White’s. The team treats hand injuries like
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serious cuts, broken fingers, broken wrists,
and traumatic injuries sustained in factory
or agricultural work—which may crush a
hand or require amputation. Other
conditions are treated as well, including
joint replacement surgery of the wrist or
fingers for patients with severe arthritis.
Each patient receives personalized care,
depending on his or her needs.
It’s no wonder that so many people
seek help for hand injuries and medical
conditions that affect the hands. Such
impairment can interfere with the most
basic activities of daily life, such as typing
or holding a spoon. “There’s really a simple
reason why the hand is the most frequently
injured body part: we use it in everything
we do. And there’s a lot of things
packed into a pretty tight place,” says
Douglas S. Fornfeist, MD, director of the
Division of Hand Surgery, Department of
Orthopedics, Scott & White Healthcare.
“You have small nerves; you have small
arteries; you have tendons; you have 27
bones in each hand.”
Patients need a healthy dose of
compassion from a team that understands
how difficult life can be without the use of