- Blog
Occupational Therapy Month
Posted on 04-17-2026 in Wrist, certified hand therapy, occupational therapy, Arm, Hand & Elbow by Dr. Steven Kronlage, Dr. Alex Coleman, Dr. James Piorkowski
During the month of April, we want to take the opportunity to recognize Occupational Therapy Month and our highly skilled Certified Hand Therapists (CHT) who are board-certified in Occupational Therapy with a board certification in Hand Therapy. This additional qualification in the upper extremities requires 4,000 hours of patient care, three years of clinical experience and passing an advanced comprehensive exam.
When it comes to sustaining and optimizing the desired outcomes of your orthopaedic health, specialized hand therapy is instrumental in expediting the healing process, increasing mobility, and extending the overall functionality of the upper extremities. CHTs bridge the gap by providing non-operative interventions, preventative care, and post-surgical rehabilitation for various upper extremity disorders. They also help patients prevent re-injury by teaching them how to protect their hands and arms during daily activities and providing injury prevention education.
Under the guidance of North Florida Bone & Joint Specialists' fellowship-trained Hand Surgeons or in coordination with your own provider, our CHTs begin by evaluating the patient's medical history and muscular and skeletal limitations with daily activities. They will also perform a series of evaluations concerning sensory, perceptual and neural issues. Additionally, they will assess the surrounding vascular, skin and connective tissue involved with the surgery or injury.
Further understanding these factors will help our care team determine a comprehensive set of goals and a treatment plan that best serves the patient. Depending on the condition or injury, a comprehensive plan of care may include a combination of the following:
- therapeutic activities and exercise
- post-surgical/injury education
- scar and pain management
- sensory re-education
- mirror therapy
- joint protection
- activity modification
- training in activities of daily living and adaptive or assistive devices
- custom orthosis fabrication
Regardless of your needs, our team of fellowship-trained surgeons, Dr. Steven Kronlage, Dr. Alex Coleman and Dr. James Piorkowski, work closely with our CHTs to provide patients with the most appropriate treatment options. With same-day and next-day appointments available in Gulf Breeze at the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine (Suite 209) and in Pensacola on 9th Avenue, our goal is to make visits as accessible as possible. Call 850.807.4200 or complete our online appointment request form to schedule a visit.
Check out some of our related posts:
The Right Shoes
Footwear serves several useful functions, including protecting our feet, cushioning our body weight, providing comfort and, of course, adding a fashionable element to our wardrobe choices. However, selecting the proper footwear can also make a difference in your overall foot health. As you consider those fun new kicks, we encourage you to be mindful of how the right type of shoe can help you avoid injury or further exacerbate existing foot and ankle conditions. Specifically, ill-fitting shoes can be painful and cause issues such as bunions, hammertoes, plantar fasciitis, Lisfranc injuries and more.
Treating Ankle Arthritis
May is National Arthritis Awareness Month, and of the more than 100 forms of this painful condition, many can affect the ankle. In fact, almost half of people in their 60s and 70s have arthritis of the foot and/or ankle, but not all of them have symptoms.
On-Site Manufacturing of DME with XO Armor
North Florida Bone & Joint Specialists continues to embrace the healthcare technology revolution by adding custom, on-site manufacturing of durable medical equipment (DME) from XO Armor Technologies.