The Effect of Hand Therapy on a Patient with a Colles' Fracture:

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of the effect of disability, specifically a Colles' fracture, and the role of occupational therapy in the recovery of function. On three separate occasions, a person with a Colles' fracture was interviewed on videotape. Data from the interviews were transcribed and the emergent concepts were organized into themes. One theme, ''just the everyday things'' illustrates the participant's frustration with her disability and another, ''standard program,'' addresses the hand therapist's reliance on a canned program. Themes from the study are discussed in terms of the consumer's experience of dysfunction and receiving occupational therapy services.