Tuck your thumb into your palm, and try to tie a shoelace or write something down. Is that easy? No, it's not. This little exercise shows how important your hands and fingers are.
Hands are an intricate part of the body that allows you to do various other complex and easy everyday tasks. Your hands make you a valuable resource. However, injuries and other hampering situations can make it extremely difficult to do even simple daily tasks like eating, cooking, opening doors, cleaning up after yourself, etc. Thus, it's best to avoid the dangers and prevent discomforts.
Causes of Hand Injuries
Due to the complexities of bones, nerves, tendons, and tissues in the hands, severe injuries may be challenging to fix, demanding a lot of time, effort, expenses, and distress. Thus it's essential to understand the causes of injuries to be aware of those.
Lack of awareness is one of the primary causes of facing injuries besides being careless. Next is not regarding safety procedures such as door hinge finger guards in homes, schools, daycare centres, and retail stores. Boredom and distractions can again lead to carelessness, causing damages in turn.
Types of Hand Injuries
Hand care is of utmost importance to be able to carry out your day to day activities. Carelessness can lead to injuries that may be mild and manageable to severe and requiring medical assistance. Injuries may range from minor cuts and abrasions to fractures, lacerations, infections, burning (by coming in direct or indirect contact with the threats), pinching, smashing, carpal tunnel syndrome (overworking the hands), and a variety of other temporary or lasting symptoms such as numbness, swelling, pain, tissue/ muscle damage, and more.
Amputation is the last resort left to healthcare providers if the damage is intense and beyond repair. This can be disabling for the victim, stabbing their confidence, and obstructing them from doing most jobs.
Preventing Hand Injuries
To avoid injuries, especially when you have any vulnerable adults and kids around, put the necessary safety measures in place, such as a door hinge guard on high-risk doors at home or in your facility. Try to understand the hazards starting from doors to equipment and more.
Be aware of the hot areas, pinch points, moving surfaces, automated machinery/ appliances, sharps, tools, extreme temperatures, bites/ stings, chemicals, and jewellery. Maintain good hygiene and always keep a first aid kit handy.
Eliminate hazards and distractions and make it a clutter-free zone. Practice simple hand exercises like stretching to reduce stiffness and keep building strength before, after, and in between repetitive tasks.
Get immediate medical evaluation if you notice any visible symptoms after any injuries.
To Conclude
Keeping hands and fingers safe is a straightforward yet consistent and focused effort. The investments made today give you greater returns in the future on one's health and safety. Sure, injuries can be fixed if you invest in the best care and give yourself time to recover. However, your hand would never function the way it did before due to a loss in dexterity, grip, motion, and the ability to do daily tasks. Plus, you'd lose your precious time and finances to an unimaginable extent. So let this not be you or a loved one! Watch out and do the needful to avoid any dangerous situations you may not want your hands to get into.