Expert care for hand and upper extremity problems

Problems affecting your upper extremities — including your fingertips, shoulders, and everything in between — can cause pain and frustration, making it difficult to complete daily activities. Our nationally recognized orthopaedic team combines expertise with advanced treatments to help you overcome the pain.

Hand and upper extremity care at AHN: Why choose us?

At AHN, we don't just treat a shoulder, elbow, wrist, or hand — we treat the person using it. That personalized care helps us achieve the best possible outcome for each patient. Our team incudes fellowship-trained, nationally recognized orthopaedic surgeons and sports medicine physicians who use advanced nonsurgical approaches for upper extremity injuries.

We are one of a few programs in western Pennsylvania able to deliver complex treatments like reconstructive surgery and hand therapy, which is why we're trusted by professional sports teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates™ and Pittsburgh Riverhounds™ to take care of their athletes.

Our goal is to find the least disruptive treatment that helps you get back to your life. We offer minimally invasive procedures for conditions affecting your hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder that lead to better outcomes and faster recoveries over traditional open surgery. These approaches can reduce pain, minimize tissue disruption, and support a quicker recovery.

You don't need to wait until your arm, wrist, and hand pain becomes severe. If pain has lasted more than a few weeks, keeps coming back, or is interfering with your daily activities, schedule an appointment with one of our specialists.

Hand and upper extremity conditions we treat

Our hand and arm specialists treat a wide range of problems and injuries that affect your fingers, wrists, elbows, and shoulders. Conditions we treat include:

Finger, wrist, and hand problems or injuries

• Hand, finger, wrist, and thumb fractures
• Arthritis in the fingers and hands, including carpometacarpal (CMC) thumb arthritis
• Overuse injuries like trigger finger, mallet finger, and gamekeeper's thumb
• Nerve compression injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome
• Lumps or growths in your hand
• Damage to the soft tissue under your fingernails
• De Quervain tenosynovitis, which affects the tendons on the thumb-side of your wrist
• Dupuytren contracture, which causes tissue in your palms to thicken and pull your fingers into a bent position

Shoulder pain and upper arm injuries

• Shoulder fractures 
• Humerus (upper arm bone) and clavicle (collarbone) fractures that affect the shoulder joint
• Shoulder arthritis (inflammation of the shoulder joint) and osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease)
• Rotator cuff tear
• Bicep tendon tear
• Sports-related shoulder injuries

Elbow conditions or injuries

• Elbow fractures
• Elbow osteoarthritis
• Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis)
• Triceps tendon tear
• Complex elbow trauma
• Sports-related elbow injuries

Treatments for hand and upper extremity problems

We focus on giving you a clear diagnosis, which allows our doctors to build a personalized treatment plan based on your goals. We'll help you understand what recovery will look like, and we'll tell you what to expect when safely returning to the activities you enjoy.

Your personalized treatment plan may include:

• Bracing: Wearing a brace helps you rest the affected area by limiting movement. We offer custom braces that hug the unique shape of your hand, wrist, or arm for maximum effectiveness.
• Medication: Medications may reduce inflammation and relieve pain. You may start feeling better with an over-the-counter medication, such as ibuprofen. If the pain is severe, you may need a prescription medication.
• Injections: Injecting medications directly into the problem area can provide effective pain relief.
• Physical therapy: We guide you through exercises to strengthen the muscles that support your hand, wrist, elbow, or shoulder. Our physical therapy team includes certified hand therapists who have additional training and years of experience in treating hand and upper extremity concerns.
• Surgery: If other treatments are not successful, you may need surgery. We perform advanced procedures that bring lasting relief, including carpal tunnel release and nerve repair.
• Preventive services: We offer many services, including strength training, to help you make a safe return to your favorite activities. If you're an athlete whose sport includes throwing — such as baseball, softball, and football — our arm care program lowers your risk of future injuries.

If surgery is part of your treatment plan, at AHN, you have access to experts who are skilled in a broad range of advanced procedures, including:

• Arthroscopy: We use sophisticated equipment and tiny incisions to examine and repair joint problems in the shoulder, elbow, and wrist, addressing issues like arthritis and other joint damage.
• Shoulder replacement surgery: We restore function and alleviate pain in arthritic shoulder joints with primary shoulder arthroplasty and total shoulder replacement, which involves implanting an artificial joint made of metal and plastic. We use ExactechGPS® technology for added precision in shoulder replacement surgery, which leads to faster recovery and reduced risk in treating arthritis, acute trauma, and various forms of bone cancer and disease.
• Microvascular surgery: We help you regain blood supply and function by reconnecting small blood vessels. You may need microvascular surgery if you've been injured resulting in a deep cut or amputation.
• Nerve repair: We perform sophisticated procedures to repair damaged or pinched nerves. This includes carpal tunnel release to treat finger numbness.
• Reconstructive surgery: Reconstructive surgery restores function and improves appearance after injury or disease, or when a congenital defect is present. We correct congenital defects like connected (webbed) fingers, and we reconstruct joints like elbows and shoulders after complex fractures. We also perform open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of the shoulder to repair severe fractures in your upper arm bone. 

Minimally invasive surgical approaches for upper extremity injuries

Our specialists also have expertise in the following minimally invasive techniques:

• Wide-awake local anesthesia no tourniquet (WALANT): This allows patients with both acute and chronic conditions to remain awake without a tourniquet, allowing them to actively participate in the procedure as needed. It eliminates the need for medical clearance before surgery, preoperative testing, fasting, and sedation/general anesthesia. Patients can often drive themselves home after their procedure.
• Percutaneous techniques: We can perform many procedures without large openings, typically for trigger finger and specific fracture repair with pins.
• Mini-open surgery: We can perform some upper hand orthopaedic procedures, like carpal tunnel release, with smaller incisions that lead to a faster recovery time.

Contact us

To make an orthopaedic appointment with the AHN Hand and Upper Extremity Division, schedule online using MyChart®, or call (412) DOCTORS 412-362-8677 to request an appointment and learn more about our treatments.