The hand specialist/surgeon said I had a torn ligament in the second joint of my thumb, based on clinical exam & an x-ray that showed no fracture. He admitted he did not know the nature of the tear -- torn all the way, or just part way - but he recommended surgery, which involved at least 6 weeks as a mostly one-handed person unable to drive. I told him that would be very difficult for me, since I live alone & have no close family, so he proposed to send me to Hands-On Therapy to get a custom-made splint to immobilize the joint & allow the tear a chance to heal. (He did not suggest I have an MRI to determine the nature of the tear...)
When I called Hands-On Care for an appt., they couldn't see me until a week later. Ok, fine...
At the appt. I got my splint, & was told to wear it as much as possible, "23 hrs. out of 24", & come back in 3 weeks. However, by the next day it was irritating my skin at an edge which had not been curled up to avoid such a problem. I called & was told to come in later that day - fine. The splint (made of molded plastic, heated in the facility & formed to shape) was modified. Fine.
However, that night the velcro on the splint -- part of what kept it tight on my thumb joint-- kept coming loose, meaning it would not stay in place. I had some stick-on velcro at my house, so replaced it myself. But over the next few days it kept coming of; I kept replacing it with my own supply, but a few days later (weekend in between), on a Tuesday morning, I called Hands-On again, about this problem.
I was told they couldn't see me until the following day at 3 p.m. THIS was a little disturbing - it was SO important for me to wear the splint THEY had made for me "23 hrs. out of 24", but it kept coming apart - nevertheless, they could not see me for another c. 30 hours.
When I showed up for what I thought was my 3 p.m. appt. the next day, Wednesday, it turned out that it was not an appt. per se -they didn't have room for an appt. & were just 'fitting me in', & the least experienced San Jose State student intern was assigned to deal with me in the waiting room.
She addressed the problem by making a sort of frame out of the moldable plastic, covering the edges of the velcro so it couldn't come off. During my interaction with her there were multiple aggravations such as her consistently misunderstanding what I said, telling me to wait briefly while it turned out she went to spend 30 min. with another client there for therapy, & telling me I could do ALL my normal activities; I was asking her about some gardening /yard maintenance tasks I needed to do - only to be contradicted by the head therapist, who overheard the exchange & told me absolutely NOT to attempt those gardening activities.
However, these accumulating unsatisfying aspects are not why I am writing this negative review; rather, it was the next episode that brought things to a parting of the ways: Almost as soon as I got home from the appt. that Wednesday, the fuzzy fabric strap that helped hold the splint on kept coming loose; the velcro wasn't coming off, but the strap would not stick to the velcro. I believe that by 'framing ' the velcro, its surface area was reduced - & the effect was that it was no longer enough big enough to firmly hold the strap in place.
I called again on Thursday morning about this new problem. I was told they could not see me until the following Monday afternoon - more than 4 days later. I protested that this was no way to run a business - that like pediatricians & primary care physicians, they should keep a few slots open for people who had emergent issues - or someone should stay late that day to assist me. If it was so important that I wear the brace "23 hours out of 24", & keep it immobile to the ligament could heal, yet the brace THEY made me wasn't working, why weren't they trying to help me right away? At this point I decided to ask my doctor to refer me elsewhere.
Saba, the owner & head therapist, seems very knowledgeable & skilled, yet she apparently takes advantage of the semi-monopoly she has on hand therapy in the South Bay/West San Jose area, & packs people in to maximize her profits - resulting in being unable to accommodate patients she is supposedly treating, who need help on short notice.
Due to the restrictions of health insurance companies, my only other option was to go thru Stanford, which means going all the way to Redwood City. While there is no guarantee I will get better treatment & service there, I would not return to Hands-On Therapy unless I had no other option. It seemed I was being regarded as a troublesome patient who kept demanding attention, when it was the splint THEY had designed & had already repaired/modified twice, that was not staying intact & doing its job.
Further, the day I first got the splint, I was given no instructions on what I could or couldn't do while wearing it, whether it was impt. to keep it dry, etc. read more