Traumatic athletic injuries of the hand

The hand is critical for successful athletic participation in all but the rarest of circumstances. Despite the importance of the hands to the success of an athlete, they are often underemphasized in training and education due to the more severe orthopedic injuries that affect the larger upper or lower extremity joints and are immediately debilitating. Despite minimal attention to these injuries, they do amount to a substantial loss of time from sports. The following chapter highlights the common fractures and dislocations of the hand that commonly affect athletes of all skill levels. Proposed treatments, technical pearls, and common errors, rehabilitation, and outcomes are discussed.