Raleigh Hand Center sponsored Highwoods Kiwanis Bowling tournament at AMF Pleasant Valley Lanes on Saturday June 13th.

Please read these tips from the American Society for Surgery of the Hand regarding safe pumpkin carving this Halloween:

Carve in a Clean, Dry, Well-lit Area
Wash and thoroughly dry all of the tools that you will use to carve the pumpkin: carving tools, knife, cutting surface, and your hands. Any moisture on your tools, hands, or table can cause slipping that can lead to injuries.

Always Have Adult Supervision
“All too often, we see adolescent patients with injuries because adults feel the kids are responsible enough to be left on their own,” says Dr. Jeffery Wint. “Even though the carving may be going great, it only takes a second for an injury to occur.”

Leave the Carving to Adults
Never let children do the carving. Doctors suggest letting kids draw a pattern on the pumpkin and having them be responsible for cleaning out the inside pulp and seeds. When the adults do start cutting, they should always cut away from themselves and cut in small, controlled strokes.

Sharper is Not Better
“A sharper knife is not necessarily better, because it often becomes wedged in the thicker part of the pumpkin, requiring force to remove it,” says Dr. Jeffery Wint. “An injury can occur if your hand is in the wrong place when the knife finally dislodges from the thick skin of the pumpkin. Injuries are also sustained when the knife slips and comes out the other side of the pumpkin where your hand may be holding it steady.”

Use a Pumpkin Carving Kit
Special pumpkin carving kits are available in stores and include small serrated pumpkin saws that work better because they are less likely to get stuck in the thick pumpkin tissue. “If they do get jammed and then wedged free, they are not sharp enough to cause a deep, penetrating cut,” says Dr. Wint.

Help for a Pumpkin Carving Injury
Should you cut your finger or hand, bleeding from minor cuts will often stop on its own by applying direct pressure to the wound with a clean cloth. If continuous pressure does not slow or stop the bleeding after 15 minutes, an emergency room visit may be required. Also you should thoroughly clean the wound with running warm water and hand soap.

When to contact a physician after a knife injury:

– If you cannot control the bleeding with a few minutes of pressure

– If your fingers are numb or discolored

– If you cannot bend or straighten your finger

– If the cut is large and may require stitches

– If you develop signs of an infection afterwards including redness, fevers, swelling, increased pain, drainage, etc.

https://www.assh.org/Public/Safety/Pages/PumpkinCarvingSafety.aspx

Dr. Jim Post from Raleigh Hand Center is presenting Scaphoid Fracture Management at UNC Orthopaedic Hand Conference at WakeMed hospital on Monday August, 12th. Scaphoid fractures are common wrist injuries often overlooked as a “wrist sprain” initially. Delayed treatment may result in fracture nonunion, persistent wrist pain and decreased range of motion. To read more about scaphoid fractures on our site, click here.

In order to better serve our patients, we will be moving to a new location with convenient patient parking and state-of-the art facilities. Construction is almost complete! Our new address is 3701 Wake Forest Rd, on the northwest corner of Wake Forest Rd and Dresser Court. The new location is only one block north of Duke Raleigh Hospital.  

Our new office will offer on-site hand/upper extremity therapy, digital x-ray, electronic medical records, nerve conduction studies, and convenient parking in an easily-accessible location off the 440 Beltline. We will continue to provide prompt, specialized hand and upper extremity care to patients with problems of the hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. We will continue to cover Duke Raleigh Hospital emergency hand surgery consults.

We anticipate opening the new office on Monday, August 26th, 2013. We will be closed due to moving on Thursday afternoon, August 22nd and all day Friday, August 23rd. Please check back for more updates.

Updated on 8/8/2013

Dr. John Erickson from the Raleigh Hand Center presented “Bone Tumors of the Hand and Wrist” on September 19th at the WakeMed Hand Conference.