You grab an avocado, take a knife, and begin slicing it in your hand—it seems pretty standard, right? This method is all wrong and could actually be dangerous. In fact, one in four people go to the emergency department due to injuries to their hand. It’s one of the most injured parts of the body.
Avocado hand happens when a person uses a knife to remove the pit of an avocado but, 而不是, slices through the soft fruit into their hands or fingers. The consequences can be devastating. 这是为什么.
You can damage your tendons and 神经
The power to your hand comes from the muscles in your forearm, which are attached to your fingertips through tendons that run through your wrist. The major 神经 in your hand run on the front of your hand, close to the skin.
Your 神经 are responsible for powering your muscles and causing sensation in your fingertips. "They are the electrical wires that give you the ability to touch things," says Christopher Goodenough, MD, a a hand surgeon in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at University of Utah Health. "If you touch a tabletop or a dog, you know right away what you’re touching because of sensation in your fingers."
If you cut your hand with a kitchen knife or another sharp object, you can damage your tendons, 神经, 血管, 甚至是肌肉. Depending on the severity of the injury, it may cause you to:
- Lose the ability to flex your fingers
- Feel a dull sensation or completely lose sensation in your finger
- Have trouble making a fist (usually one finger stays up)
- 肌肉缺乏
- Not be able to use your hand normally
You may need surgery and therapy
Because your 神经 and tendons are so close to the surface of your hand, a task as simple as cutting an avocado can cause major surgery. If your injury causes you to lose function or sensation in your hand, 手手术 and hand therapy 可能是需要的.
Hand therapy can last weeks to months. 与一个 certified hand therapist can help you achieve faster recovery results.
Hand injuries can take weeks to months to heal
The type of injury will determine how long your recovery will be. Here’s what you can expect.
- 手部受伤 without damage to the 神经 or tendons would likely require sutures at an urgent care or emergency department.
- 手受伤 神经损伤 would cause someone to lose sensation in their fingers and would need surgery to repair it. "病人 would have to go through rehab but can usually do that fairly quickly and are back to normal life in a couple weeks,Goodenough说. 然而, 神经 heal very slowly, and it could take a couple months to regain normal sensation in your fingertip. Goodenough tells his patients that they can go about their day normally while their injury is healing.
- A 肌腱损伤 would require a lengthy surgery (about a couple hours) to repair the tendon, and therapy would follow. "病人 have to be diligent about their rehabilitation process because tendons can either scar together—which limits the finger to move—or they can rupture their tendon if they put too much force on it,Goodenough说.
I injured my hand—what do I do?
Hand injuries can be scary due to the amount of blood that may come from the wound. "There’s a lot of blood flow to the hand,Goodenough说. "If one of the main 血管 is injured, the amount of blood is usually the scariest thing for patients." But that doesn’t always indicate a serious injury.
If you were to injure yourself while cutting an avocado, you should put pressure on the wound with some gauze or a clean towel to help stop or slow down the bleeding. Next, get treatment as quickly as possible at an urgent care or emergency department.
How to avoid avocado hand
The first piece of advice is to 不 cut the avocado while it is in your hand. Also, make sure you have a ripe avocado and use a butter knife. There are several safe ways to cut an avocado. 大发娱乐有一个:
- 找一个成熟的鳄梨.
- Place the avocado on a cutting board and cut lengthwise.
- Twist the avocado and pull apart.
- Remove the pit by putting your index and middle finger between the pit. Place your thumb on the back and push to pop the pit out.
- Remove the skin using a spoon.
- 享受!