Weeks 1–2
Pain
Settle it down.
Hands-on work, plus a few changes to how you hold and load the arm, take the heat off the irritated tendon or nerve.
What We Treat
Elbow, wrist and hand pain treatment in Milford.
The jar you now hand to somebody else. The grip that lets go without warning. One cause-first evaluation with a licensed physical therapist finds where it is really coming from.
Sound Familiar?
Does this sound like you?
- You pass the jar to somebody else now, and you hate doing it
- Turning a key or a doorknob sends a jolt up through your forearm
- Your hand goes numb in the night and you shake it awake
- A mug slipped out of your hand once, and you have thought about it every day since
- Buttons and zippers take two tries on a cold morning
- An afternoon in the garden costs you the next two days
You are the one who fixes things for everybody else. That is hard to do with a hand you cannot trust.
Why It Happens
The pain is in your hand. The cause might not be.
Elbows, wrists, and hands are mostly tendon and nerve, and neither one forgives repetition. Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are tendons that got loaded more than they could recover from. Carpal tunnel is the median nerve being squeezed at the wrist, which is why the numbness wakes you at night. Arthritis at the base of the thumb takes the strength straight out of a grip. And sometimes symptoms in the hand actually start at the neck or shoulder, where the nerve begins its trip.
That last one matters more than people expect. Treating a wrist that is really a neck problem wastes months. So the evaluation follows the whole chain, neck to fingertips, one on one with a licensed physical therapist. You are never doubled up with another patient, so nothing gets skimmed over.
The Honest Truth
Grip is quick to lose. Slow to rebuild.
If you keep waiting
- A nerve left compressed can leave weakness behind, even after the pain settles
- The other hand does everything, and before long it starts complaining too
- A tendon that never gets to recover becomes the thing you plan your week around
If you start this week
- You find out whether it is tendon, nerve, joint, or coming from higher up
- You get positioning, bracing, and load advice that fits your actual day
- You get a plan with an endpoint, phase by phase, not a standing appointment
Your hands never get a day off. Which is exactly why they so rarely fix themselves.
How We Fix It
Four phases. Built around your hands.
Every plan has an endpoint. Here is what the four phases look like for an elbow, a wrist, or a hand.
Weeks 2–6
Prime
Free the joints up.
Wrist, forearm, and elbow motion get restored, and we check the neck and shoulder while we are at it.
Weeks 6–10
Perform
Build the grip back.
Grip and forearm strengthening, loaded gradually, so tendons rebuild instead of flaring up again.
Weeks 10+
Prevent
Back in your own hands.
The gripping, lifting, and repetitive work you actually do gets rehearsed here first, so it stops costing you the next two days.
Just had our 1st visit with Chris. He is so professional and knowledgeable, so glad he is our therapist. Looking forward to our next visits. Thank you.
Lynda N.
Questions, Answered
What people ask before booking for a hand or an elbow.
No. Connecticut has Direct Access, which means you can see a physical therapist without a referral from a doctor. Call us and book the evaluation yourself. If your particular plan wants a referral on file, we will tell you that up front and help you sort it out. Nothing has to wait on somebody else.
Often, yes. Numbness that wakes you usually points to a nerve being compressed, most often at the wrist. We work on the space that nerve travels through, how the wrist sits while you sleep, and the tendons crowding it. We check the neck and shoulder too, because the same symptoms can start higher up. If you need a surgeon, we will tell you plainly.
Almost never completely. Total rest quiets a tendon for a little while and then hands it back to you weaker than before. What usually changes is how you grip, how much you do at once, and how often you break it up. We work that out around your real day, whether that is a keyboard, a garden, or a job that does not pause.
Tendons and nerves heal on their own timelines, so we will not put a number on it before we have seen you. What you get instead is a plan with an endpoint. After the evaluation you will know which of the four phases you are starting in, what has to change to reach the next one, and what is left after that.
We will not quote a number before we know what your plan covers. Ask us for a free benefits check and we will look yours up and tell you plainly what to expect. You hear the real numbers before your first visit, not on a bill afterwards. If we are not the right fit for you, we will say that too.
Book Your Visit
Ready when you are.
Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.
- Hours Mon to Fri: 8am to 5pm
- (475) 209-1606 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
- Tell us your best times and we’ll find you one
One therapist, one patient, every visit
Typical response: under 2 business hours
Step 1 of 5
Request sent.
That’s the hard part done. We’ll call during business hours to lock in your time.
Visit Us
Care this good, this close.
Youtherapy Wellness and Physical Rehab
- 318 New Haven Ave. Unit A, Milford, CT 06460 (opens in a new tab)
- (475) 209-1606
- Fax: (203) 283-1266
- info@youtherapywellness.com
- Mon to Fri: 8am to 5pm