Hand therapy trends in a changing South Africa.

A retrospective study prompted by the high incidence of traumatic hand injuries was undertaken to ascertain the nature of hand conditions treated at the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit of the Johannesburg Hospital in 1992, 1993, and 1994. This three-year period marked a historically significant stage of political change that was accompanied by a high degree of violence and that occurred within a wider context of high unemployment, social upheaval, and stress associated with uncertainty about the future. Conditions treated with splinting, therapeutic activity, and home programs included complex traumas of the upper limb, tendon and nerve injuries, fractures, and burns. Assaults accounted for the largest number of injuries, and lesions to tendons predominated.