Author: tomBK

Patients requiring hand therapy pre and post operatively can now have this in our practice rooms with our hand therapist Erika, from The Hand Recovery Centre. This arrangement offers an improvement in care for patients, with:

• Care for non-operative and operative conditions
• Continuity for patients with a hand therapist that is familiar with Dr. Kenny’s preferences
• Combined consultations between surgeon & therapist
• Improved communication between members of the team and patients.

Dr. Kenny is happy to refer patients to another therapy clinic if they prefer.

The Hand Recovery Centre

Consulting in rooms with Dr Kenny, The Hand Recovery Centre strives to provide a positive experience through the recovery process for your client. From the first contact to the last, they endeavour to provide a welcoming client-centered environment that couples evidence-based practice with more than 12 years of clinical experience in hand therapy. Erika Lassig is the principal therapist and has completed additional study and training to become an Accredited AHTA Hand Therapist. Phillip Lassig oversees all the business and customer service functions of the centre and is committed to providing a positive experience to all clients. A written referral or phone referral are both acceptable.

Erika also takes direct referrals for issues that don’t require specialist input. She sees patients at two convenient locations:

• Dr Kenny’s rooms at the Greenslopes Specialist Centre
• Calamvale Medical Centre.

We have brand new rooms at Suite 301 The Nicholson Centre, Greenslopes Private Hospital. We will be relocating in 2020. Our phone number and contact details will remain the same.

We will send another reminder closer to the moving date. We are excited for the convenience we will offer our patients:

• Onsite at Greenslopes Private Hospital
• A perioperative anaesthetist
• Increased collaboration with allied health teams
• Easy parking
• Onsite pathology and radiology
• Other specialists if required

Distal radius fractures

• Treatment of distal radius fractures is more aggressive than 20 years ago, this is due to the development of fragment specific fixation and a better understanding of fracture patterns.
• Distal radius fractures occur all patient groups.
• While many fractures are amenable to conservative, all cases should still be reviewed by an Orthopaedic Surgeon.

Clinical pearls

• Distal radius fractures and hand injuries have an increased rate of complex regional pain syndrome.
• Ligamentous injury, especially to the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) are common with distal radius fracture. These often interfere with rehabilitation and regaining range of movement.
• They seldom need to be treated surgically, but may need to be addressed. The diagnosis will ultimately be confirmed by the orthopaedic surgeon, but clues to the diagnosis include ulna sided wrist pain and swelling and stiffness in supination despite a healed fracture. The orthopaedic surgeon will likely confirm diagnosis with an MRI.

3D Printing for improved patient care

3D printing in orthopaedics is being used:

• Prior to surgery, with the aim to plan the surgical approach and prosthesis sizes preoperatively
  and as a result decrease operative time.
• To create patient specific guides which optimise prosthesis placement. It is hoped that this improved implant placement will ultimately result in decreased complication rates, decreased surgery times, improved implant longevity and improved patient outcomes.

Ben has a passion for 3D printing and the advances that it can offer in orthopaedic surgery.
The Practice has invested in its own 3D printer and Dr Kenny frequently prints models for improved intraoperative planning. For more complex cases Dr Kenny collaborates with an Artificial Intelligence Professor at the University of Queensland (UQ) to create innovative 3D models and calculate surgical correction measurements.