Hand therapy · Singapore
Stiff Finger Joint Recovery Program
Written by Mavis Tham, Shamaine Soh and Yuna Zhuang, Principal Hand Occupational Therapists at Phoenix Rehab.Clinically reviewed by Nigel Chua, Founder and Clinical Director, Registered Occupational Therapist, AHPC A1300362Z.Last reviewed 2 October 2026.
A finger joint has a window in which it will still give range back. It is measured in months, and it closes quietly.
This is the program for a finger that will not straighten or will not bend after a fracture, a dislocation, a sprain, a burn or a period in a splint. It covers the PIP joint, the middle knuckle, which is the one that stiffens hardest, as well as boutonniere deformity. Hand and wrist cases are managed by our hand therapy team.
No referral needed. Every first visit is one 45-minute Assessment & Treatment, $230, nett, no GST. Bring your operation note or scan report.
Where are you right now?
Four situations we see
- The splint or cast just came off and the finger is stuck. This is the best point to start and the reason is in the section below.
- It has been a few months and it has stopped improving. Plateau is not the same as finished. It usually means the input stopped changing.
- The middle joint bends but will not straighten, and the tip is pulling back. That pattern has a name and a specific splinting approach.
- It has been more than a year. Honest answer, the gains are smaller. Worth measuring rather than assuming, and worth knowing before you consider surgery.
What does not come back
A joint held still long enough stops being a joint that can be stretched
When a finger joint is immobilized, the tissue around it shortens to the length it is held at, which is the same thing that happens anywhere in the body that stops moving. In the early months that shortened tissue is still remodelling, which means sustained, low load positioning can persuade it to lengthen. That is what a serial cast or a dynamic splint does, and it is why hand therapy for stiffness is mostly about time spent in position rather than about effort.
What changes is that remodelling slows. As the months pass the tissue matures and the joint surfaces themselves can adapt to the position they have been held in, and past that point the range that is left tends to be the range you keep. There is no single date at which this happens and it varies by joint and by person, which is exactly why it is worth measuring where you are now rather than waiting to see.
Measuring is a goniometer on each joint, active and passive, written down and compared at the next appointment. If nobody has done that with your finger, that is the gap, whoever does it.
Usually expected, and what is not
Is this normal while working on a stiff joint?
Stiffness work is uncomfortable, and there is a line between the discomfort that is doing something and the pain that is not.
Usually expected
- Aching for an hour or two after an appointment or after time in a splint.
- Swelling that comes up with work and settles by the next morning.
- Range that is better in the afternoon than first thing.
- Progress that arrives in steps rather than smoothly.
Contact your surgeon or doctor
- Swelling and pain that are still up the following day, every time. That is too much load, not too little.
- A joint that becomes hot and red.
- Skin breaking down under a splint.
- Pain out of proportion with color, temperature and sweating changes and intense sensitivity. That needs a doctor promptly.
If you have sudden severe pain with a hand or arm that is cold, white or losing sensation, or you are unwell with fever and a hot swollen wound, that is an emergency department today, not a therapy appointment.
If it is not going to plan
You have been doing the exercises and the number has not moved in six weeks
Exercises alone rarely move an established contracture, because a few minutes of stretching does not accumulate enough time at length to change tissue. What changes it is total end range time, which is the sum of the hours spent held at the limit, and that needs a splint rather than effort.
The other possibility is that the block is not where you think. A joint that will not bend because the tendon above it is stuck is a different problem from a joint that will not bend because the capsule is tight, and the two need opposite approaches.
The Stalled Recovery Review is three appointments over three weeks with the same therapist, because what tissue does under graded work cannot be read in one visit. $690, nett, no GST.
The program
The four stages, and what moves you up
- Stage 1, Calm and Protect. Swelling down first, because a swollen joint cannot move. Pain settled enough for the joint to be positioned.
- Stage 2, Move and Mobilize. The main event. Measured range, joint mobilization, and a splinting plan aimed at total end range time. Criteria to move up are degrees gained and held.
- Stage 3, Rebuild and Strengthen. Grip and pinch, and the finger asked to work in the hand rather than in isolation, so that the range gained is range you use.
- Stage 4, Return and Perform. The grip you need for work and the things you have been doing one handed. Night splinting often continues after the program ends.
Logistics
When can I…
Your surgeon decides, based on healing and what your job demands. These are typical points, not permissions.
What our patients say
Google reviews from our clinics in Singapore.
| Activity | Typical point | What has to be true first |
|---|---|---|
| Typing, everyday use | Throughout | Use is encouraged. A stiff finger that is used does better than one that is protected. |
| Night splinting | Often weeks to months | For as long as the joint keeps responding to it. |
| Heavy grip, tools, gym | As strength allows | Grip tested against the other hand. |
| Ball sport | When range has stopped changing | Buddy taping to the next finger for the first weeks back. |
| Medical certificate | Your doctor issues it | Hand therapists do not issue MCs. We can write a report on your functional limits for your doctor or employer. |
What it costs
$230 per 45 minute appointment
One to one with your therapist for the whole 45 minutes. Nett, no GST. Same price for your first appointment and your last. Stiffness programs are driven by how the joint responds over weeks, which is why the appointments are spread rather than stacked. The Stiff Finger Joint Recovery Program is 12 appointments, $2,760 in all. You pay for each appointment as you attend it. If you need more, your therapist shows you which stage criteria are still open, and each extra appointment is $230.
This program runs Stages 1 to 4 of the Phoenix Recovery Protocol, and sits under hand therapy after surgery alongside the rest of our recovery programs.
Prefer to phone? Each of our five clinics has its own number on the clinics page. No referral needed to book.
Timeframes on this page are typical ranges, not promises. Where your surgeon has given you a protocol, that protocol takes precedence over anything written here.
Where we are
Clinics across Singapore
SERANGOON
265 Serangoon Central Drive #04-269
S550265 · Lift C only
NE12CC13 Serangoon MRT
WhatsApp 8892 4121TANJONG PAGAR
10 Anson Road #02-77A
International Plaza, S079903
EW15 Tanjong Pagar MRT
WhatsApp 8227 7074JURONG EAST
2 Venture Drive #02-02
Vision Exchange, S608526
NS1EW24 Jurong East MRT
Opening 20 October 2026
WhatsApp 8242 7340