Don’t take your hands for granted – how smart devices are increasing the importance of hand health

How much do you spend staring at your phone each day?

A 2022 survey of 1058 respondents by finder.com.au revealed that the average Australian spends 150 minutes on their phone per day – that’s roughly 17.5 hours per week! With the accessibility and convenience afforded to us from our devices, it’s impossible to completely detach ourselves from gadgets that have been the “extension” of our body. Just think back to when we had to QR code-scan everything during the pandemic.

Those numbers could be exacerbated further for people who are working a desk job, spending up to 40 hours per week over a keyboard. Texting, typing, swiping, and scrolling place repetitive stress on the fingers, hand and wrist. Once added up, these consistent motions can lead to undesired aches and pains in hands, wrists and arms from inflammation in joints and along tendons.

Though our use for hands has changed a lot, their importance in our lives has not. It is why no form of pain discomfort to our upper limbs should be overlooked if we want to reduce the risk of prolonged and recurring health issues.

To help resolve the issue, getting a professional assessment from a hand therapist can help address discomfort, which has created strong demand for more hand therapy appointments. Prompted by observation of broader commercial opportunities surrounding hand and arm problems, Healthia (ASX: HLA) acquired Melbourne Hand Rehab in March 2023, comprising 8 hand therapy businesses located in Melbourne. The acquisition was identified through its earnings accretion and confidence that integration into the Healthia model can improve clinic performance with centralised support services and potential co-location of services.

Settlement of the acquisitions in April 2023 took Healthia’s FY23 capital deployment on acquisitions to $22.25 million and ticked off Healthia’s stated goal to deploy at least $20m per annum on allied health businesses that have identifiable upside.

Hand therapy is a critical allied health service within Healthia’s Bodies and Minds division which seeks to treat range of motion and strength in our upper extremities including arms, hands, wrists, shoulders, elbows and forearms. To give another perspective of how these hand therapy clinic acquisitions might benefit the wider Melbourne community, joint pain from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis often flare up during colder weather, thus potentially bumping up appointment rates in Victoria where the weather is generally colder compared to the rest of Australia year round.

There are many ways a hand therapist can help effectively manage arthritis and wrist pain due to cold weather, for example by providing examinations to identify the root cause of the pain (e.g. whether it is genetic, or due to joint pain as a result of changes in barometric pressure), preparing a customised physical therapy plan, or medical intervention.

Incessant scrolling on our phones aside, hand therapy clinics have a high success rate in helping athletes with hand injuries where many predominantly utilise their upper limbs to showcase their talent.

Healthia focuses on delivering exceptional patient outcomes to match the growing demand of hand therapy. Services can also be co-located within a physiotherapy clinic or additional physio services can be introduced to hand therapy clinics. This provides a one-stop solution for patients while also enabling cross-referral opportunities.

Hand therapy clinics are a part of the Bodies and Minds division which accounts for 160 of the total 335+ clinics in the network. The division consists of physiotherapy, hand therapy, occupational therapy speech pathology, and clinical Pilates clinics located throughout Australia and New Zealand where some of the larger brands include Back In Motion, Allsports Physiotherapy, Access Ortho and Extend Rehab.

• About
• Latest Posts

Jack Cornips

Trading Desk Assistant at Emerald Financial

Latest posts by Jack Cornips (see all)

• UNITH delivers eSocial Worker for public health services across 14 countries - December 5, 2023
• Novatti cashing out of Reckon investment, clears debt to simplify payments business - November 17, 2023
• Novatti seizes opportunity in Australia’s cashless transition as revenues rise while expenses drop - October 30, 2023