Your hands braced against the dashboard when the impact came. Now you can’t grip properly, can’t type without pain, can’t do the work that supports your family. Hand injuries affect everything from employment to buttoning your shirt.
The hands are intricate, essential, and vulnerable. Injuries to these structures deserve compensation reflecting their profound life impact.
Hand Anatomy and Vulnerability
The human hand contains 27 bones, numerous joints, intricate tendon systems, and delicate nerves packed into a small space. This complexity enables remarkable dexterity but creates vulnerability to trauma.
Carpal bones form the wrist, with eight small bones arranged in two rows. The scaphoid bone is particularly injury-prone and notoriously difficult to heal due to its blood supply pattern.
Metacarpal bones form the hand proper, connecting wrist to fingers. Fractures here affect grip strength and hand function.
Phalanges form the fingers, with three bones per finger and two per thumb. Finger fractures and dislocations are common in accidents.
Tendons transmit muscle force to move fingers. Flexor tendons on the palm side close the fingers. Extensor tendons on the back open them. Tendon injuries can be devastating despite appearing minor externally.
Nerves provide sensation and motor control. The median, ulnar, and radial nerves serve different hand regions. Nerve injuries cause numbness, weakness, or both.
Common Hand and Wrist Injuries
Scaphoid fractures are the most common carpal bone fracture. They occur when the hand braces against impact, driving force through the wrist. Scaphoid fractures have high non-union rates due to the bone’s tenuous blood supply. Non-union leads to progressive arthritis and dysfunction.
Distal radius fractures, commonly called wrist fractures, occur when people catch themselves during falls or brace against impacts. Simple fractures may heal with casting. Complex, displaced, or intra-articular fractures require surgical fixation.
Metacarpal fractures often occur when hands strike objects during collisions. The fifth metacarpal, the boxer’s fracture, is most common. Multiple metacarpal fractures significantly impair grip function.
Tendon injuries range from partial tears to complete rupture. Flexor tendon injuries in the fingers require delicate surgical repair and extensive rehabilitation. Even successful repair rarely restores full function.
Ligament injuries cause wrist and finger instability. Scapholunate ligament tears cause progressive wrist arthritis if untreated. Finger collateral ligament injuries affect grip and pinch strength.
Nerve injuries produce sensory loss, motor weakness, or both. Carpal tunnel syndrome can result from wrist fractures or develop gradually after hand trauma. Nerve lacerations require microsurgical repair.
CRPS: When Pain Becomes the Injury
Complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS, sometimes develops after hand and wrist trauma. This condition causes severe, chronic pain disproportionate to the original injury.
CRPS symptoms include burning or throbbing pain that exceeds expected levels, skin color and temperature changes in the affected area, swelling and skin texture changes, motor dysfunction including weakness and tremor, and spreading of symptoms beyond the original injury site.
CRPS can transform a relatively minor hand injury into a permanently disabling condition. Patients with CRPS often cannot use the affected hand for any functional purpose due to pain.
Proving CRPS claims faces skepticism because the pain seems disproportionate to objective findings. Defense experts may dismiss CRPS as exaggerated or psychogenic. Medical literature and clinical expert testimony establish CRPS as a recognized condition with physiological basis.
Treatment for CRPS includes medication, nerve blocks, physical therapy, and sometimes spinal cord stimulation. Prognosis varies widely. Some patients improve substantially while others remain severely disabled despite aggressive treatment.
Occupational Impact
Hand injuries devastate workers across every field. Documenting exactly how your injury affects your specific occupation is essential for lost earning capacity claims.
Surgeons cannot operate with hand dysfunction. Dentists cannot perform procedures. Musicians cannot play instruments. Mechanics cannot turn wrenches. Office workers cannot type. Artists cannot create.
Even workers whose jobs don’t obviously require hand function find themselves limited. Driving, carrying objects, using tools, operating machinery, and countless other workplace activities require functional hands.
Vocational expert testimony often proves essential in hand injury cases. These experts evaluate your specific occupation requirements, assess your post-injury capabilities, and calculate lost earning capacity when you cannot return to your prior work.
Functional Testing and Documentation
Objective testing documents hand function limitations in ways that support claims.
Grip strength testing using dynamometers measures maximum grip force. Comparing injured to uninjured hand, or to baseline measurements, quantifies strength loss.
Pinch strength testing measures fine motor function important for manipulation and precision tasks.
Range of motion measurements document limitations in wrist and finger movement.
Dexterity testing, including standardized tests like the Purdue Pegboard, assesses functional capability for fine motor tasks.
Functional capacity evaluations comprehensively assess work-related capabilities including hand function. FCE reports carry significant weight in documenting disability.
Future Considerations
Hand injury consequences often extend far beyond initial healing.
Post-traumatic arthritis develops in many hand and wrist fractures, particularly those involving joint surfaces. Pain and stiffness may worsen over years.
Future surgery may be needed for hardware removal, arthritis treatment, or addressing complications like non-union.
Permanent limitations in grip strength, range of motion, or fine motor control affect work and daily activities indefinitely.
Hand injury claims require documentation of functional limitations and occupational impact. This article provides general information about hand injury claims in Georgia. For specific guidance, consult with a Georgia personal injury attorney.