What We Treat

Post-surgical hand and arm recovery in Vancouver.

The stitches are out, but the hand still feels foreign. Stiff, swollen, not yours yet. Getting it back starts with a cause-first evaluation, not a guess.

Scar tightness Post-op stiffness Swelling & edema Talk to a Specialist

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound like you?

  • Fingers that won’t close into a fist since the surgery
  • A scar that feels tight and tethered every time you move
  • Swelling that lingers weeks after you expected it gone
  • A splint you’re not sure you’re even wearing right
  • Progress that stalled once the surgeon signed off
  • A quiet worry that you’ll be stuck with the stiffness for good

Two or more? Keep reading.

Why It Happens

Surgery fixes the structure. Recovery is its own job.

A good repair is only half the story. The stiffness afterward is rarely just one thing. It’s usually a mix: scar tissue laying down and tethering the tissues underneath, lingering swelling that chokes off motion, joints that stiffened while they were protected, and a healing timeline that has to be respected. Push too soon and you risk the repair. Wait too long and motion sets like concrete.

Getting the timing right takes a cause-first evaluation, not a generic handout. That’s the work: reading your surgery, your scar, and your protocol, then dosing motion, splinting, and edema care to match. This is a case for a Certified Hand Therapist, someone who does this every day. Get it right, and you get your hand back.

A treatment room at Dynamic Arm & Hand Therapy where one-on-one sessions happen

The Honest Truth

After surgery, waiting costs you motion you can’t get back.

If you keep waiting

  • Scar tissue matures and hardens, and easy motion gets much harder to win
  • The window your surgeon opened for full recovery quietly starts to close
  • You settle for a hand that half-works, and call it the new normal

If you start this week

  • You know exactly what’s limiting your hand by the end of visit one
  • You work one-on-one with a Certified Hand Therapist, every visit
  • You get a plan with an endpoint: a real one, not an open tab of visits

Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.

How We Fix It

The same four phases. Matched to your protocol.

Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like after hand, wrist, or arm surgery.

Weeks 1–2

Pain

Protect and settle.

Edema management, custom splinting, and gentle scar care protect the repair while calming swelling and pain.

Weeks 2–6

Prime

Win back the motion.

Protocol-driven motion frees up the scar and stiff joints, restoring range within the limits your surgery allows.

Weeks 6–10

Perform

Rebuild the strength.

Graded strengthening restores the grip and control you need for the tasks that fill your day.

Weeks 10+

Prevent

Back to your real life.

Your hand gets tested against the tasks you actually do before you’re cleared: that’s the endpoint, not just another appointment.

After having some hand numbness after shoulder replacement surgery, Andrew was my Occupational therapist. Andrew brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding. He explains things in an easy to understand way and provides thorough explanations and education. Being an RN, I am very choosey about the care I receive, and I highly endorse Andrew and Dynamic Arm and Hand Therapy for your arm and hand recovery needs!

Shared by Linda W. · Post-surgical, RN

Early on: hand numbness after shoulder replacement, and no clear answers

Later: thorough answers, real education, and a recovery she trusted

Post-surgical Peace of mind

Related Conditions

Pain rarely stays in one place.

Compensation patterns often show up nearby. Here’s what else we treat.

1

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Numbness, tingling, and a grip that fades right when you need it.

Learn More 2

Tendinitis

Reaching overhead or gripping flares a tendon that will not calm down.

Learn More 3

Nerve Pain

Burning, tingling, or numbness down your arm that no one has explained.

Learn More

Questions, Answered

What people ask before booking after surgery.

A great surgery still needs great recovery. The repair heals on its own, but motion, scar, and swelling do not sort themselves out. Left alone, a stiff hand can set that way, and it is far harder to reverse than to prevent. Hand therapy protects the surgeon’s work and helps you get the full use back, not just a hand that healed.

No. Your plan stays inside the protocol your surgeon set, and it moves only as fast as your healing allows. You work one-on-one with a Certified Hand Therapist, every visit, so nothing is rushed and nothing is guessed. Andrew reads your surgery and your tissue, then doses motion and loading to protect the repair while you gain ground.

It depends on your surgery and how your tissue heals, and your plan is built around both. A full recovery runs through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, on the timeline your healing sets. Either way, you get a plan with an endpoint: you’ll always know which phase you’re in and what’s left, not an open-ended string of appointments.

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 - Fri: 8am - 5pm
  • (360) 309-0176 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • Same-week appointments available

5.0 · 19 Google reviews

Typical response: under 2 business hours

Step 1 of 5

So we know who to look for when you walk in.

Visit Us

Care this good, this close.

Dynamic Arm & Hand Therapy

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