The Home Page Network

There are 6500 certified hand therapists in the world, three are employed by UPMC in the Susquehanna region. Two of these occupational/hand therapists work out of the Williamsport area while Micah Bingham works here locally at UPMC in Wellsboro.

These specialized occupational therapists assist us in regaining the ability to do whatever daily tasks or activities that are important to us. They work with people throughout their life span to help promote function.

Micah explained why he chose to be a certified hand specialist by saying, “I chose to be a hand therapist specially trained to treat the hand through the shoulder partly because it does require a heavy focus on the anatomy and kinesiology, the movement of the body. I find that fascinating, and we are very beautifully designed, complex and the hand is one of the most complex parts of the body.”

Understanding the complexity of the hand is what Micah stressed because there are 32 different bones in each hand, with 61 muscles and 132 ligaments that help to move those bones. Hence the importance of having a certified hand therapist when receiving care for our hands.

When beginning therapy many of us dread the pain we will experience during the healing process but Micah assures us, “Pain is something God gave us. Pain is important because it communicates something to us, it tells us, it informs us about things so we need to pay attention to it, we need to listen to it, not discount it. The phrase ‘no pain, no gain’ makes it sound like pain is our tool to get you better and you can expect to have a lot of it when you come here, I don’t like that approach. When the body is screaming about the pain it’s trying to tell us to change how we are doing our treatment.” This is why Micah stresses to his patients to tell him if any of the treatments are causing pain so he can change the approach to less pain and more gain.

In the first session with Micah, he does a measurement assessment. This assessment is used to guide the goals for your recovery. These measurements will be taken often to ensure that the progress you and Micah are looking for is being achieved.

Another service that UPMC offers through Micah’s expertise is making personalized orthosis such as braces, or splints. Sometimes these items are used when we have arthritis giving us pain in the joint. They assist us to regain the correct positions to take the stress off the joint. Micah also demonstrates exercises that give us relief from arthritic pain so we do not always have to wear the orthosis.

If you are struggling with ongoing pain from an injury or an illness and would like to return to the activities you once enjoyed you can find out more by visiting UPMCSusquehanna.org/rehab or by calling (570) 723-0120.

Sara Vogt, Vice President of The Home Page Network who is featured in this broadcast, broke her wrist in April so she was given a referral by UPMC to start occupational therapy that began ten sessions ago with two sessions a week with Micah in Wellsboro.

Thankfully she is experiencing a few goals that are already met while she has a few to go!

Left forearm TAM (total active motion) improved from 121 degrees to 160 degrees. Goal met.
Left wrist TAM improved from 105 degrees to 150 degrees. Goal met.
Left grip strength improved from 12# to 14#. The goal not yet met.
Left wrist circumference was down from 15.5 cm to 14.8 cm. The goal not yet met.