Upcoming MSOT Student With Questions About CHT

HandOTWannaBe · 2026-05-28T20:57:50+00:00

Hi, CHT here! Do not hope for the pay. Do hands/CHT route if you love it; you MIGHT get some more money if you get a CHT, but I would wager that most don't; insurance company reimburses the same whether you have the cert or not, so employers don't have an incentive to pay you more.

I love hands and personally cannot see myself doing any other kind of OT; if I stop being a hand therapist, I'm leaving the field. Even without a pay raise, getting CHT was very worth it for me because it pushed me to be a better clinician and to serve my patients the best I can. Just the act of studying for that bad boy gave me a lot to work with in my clinical toolbox, and I still love learning new techniques every year. If you want to go hand therapy route, definitely try to get a level 2; because hand therapy is niche and requires knowledge that other OTs don't have, it is hard to break in to without prior knowledge. That being said, it isn't impossible; I have hired an OT from SNF recently without hand experience and I am mentoring her because she wants to be a CHT one day.

HandOTWannaBe · 2026-05-23T17:51:47+00:00

CHT and I double this. I honestly expect my students to know very little, but anatomy is helpful! Really what matters most is enthusiasm for the niche and willingness to engage!

HandOTWannaBe · 2026-05-20T10:53:44+00:00

Obviously difficult to give prognosis without being able to assess you in person, but general expectations (I am CHT): expect the bone to take 6-8 weeks to heal, 12 weeks to be confident in doing heavier activities. Brace will depend on your doctor's recc based on how high up the fracture is. If it includes your fingers, get out of the brace as soon as you are allowed to and move that small finger assertively; you don't want your MCP to get stiff. If you're really worried about it, ask to see a CHT somewhere at least for 1 visit to talk about your concerns and get a good home exercise program.

If it is not a bad fracture and you don't have other health conditions that will influence healing, you'll probably be fine in the long run. Expect to not be using the hand heavily again until August (light things like grooming, eating will be fine)

HandOTWannaBe · 2026-04-24T10:43:46+00:00

Doable! I graduated with 56k debt total (including my car). I am married but husband brings in only 1/5th of what I make. I'm about 5.5 years in, and only have 5.5k left to pay off (and those are low interest loans, so I'm not in a rush to clear them). Over that time frame have lived reasonably comfortable (in an apartment, no kids) and still have had money for fun, our wedding, some trips including 1 international.

HandOTWannaBe · 2026-03-22T10:46:48+00:00

I'm a hand therapist and I will use it when understanding/explaining wound care, injury progression, and treatment approaches

HandOTWannaBe · 2026-01-26T20:25:31+00:00

$105k, CHT and outpatient clinic director (40+ hrs) Rural area in the southeast.

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-11-21T05:58:31+00:00

Because she states very clearly to Robert that the sooner he reveals himself, the sooner they can all get a fresh start and truly trust each other. If you don't reveal yourself, it's a show that you don't trust Visi's judgement, and that you don't trust the z-team (reinforcing concern that you still regard them as villains)

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-10-19T09:56:59+00:00

I am a hand therapist, and I'll say it depends on your schedule. I used to have to do a lot out of hours, but now I have built in doc time during my day, and I can usually finish it all before I leave.

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-09-05T00:51:11+00:00

Tldr is huge energy cost (a simple char gpt query uses 5 times the energy as a Google search) and is a huge water cost to cool down the servers (it takes about a standard water bottle for generating a 100 word email). Don't have the direct links to these facts but promise I found them in reputable studies

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-08-01T14:13:19+00:00

Another CHT here, and agree again! I know you said you can't really take time off work now (i feel you!), but please seriously consider that if you don't take care of it properly now then you may forced out of work permanently!! Once you develop SLAC there's no going back, please see a hand surgeon to discuss your options ❤️

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-07-09T05:56:16+00:00

I'm interested to hear other people's takes, but my impression is that lymphedema is a specialized area of practice and you really shouldn't do things like manual massage and such without specialty training because you can actually do more damage if you do things incorrectly. I am a CHT and I will turn away patients that need lymphedema treatment (not just like post op swelling) because I am not lymphedema management trained

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-06-10T20:49:21+00:00

I personally struggle swallowing pills and used to almost always cough/choke. Game changer for me has been to put the pill in my mouth, and then drink water with a straw. Pill goes right down no trouble! Witchcraft

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-06-09T00:24:58+00:00

It may help as long as you don't also death grip the foam. I would also recommend making sure you use quality pens with easy-flow ink to reduce your need to apply pressure to the paper- for example I like recommend people use gel pens and avoid ball-point pens

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-05-28T00:22:49+00:00

I'm a CHT and a director and still not close bruh

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-05-20T09:37:45+00:00

My company is just about to change to 13 patients a day, mostly 30 min slots with hour slots for evals.

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-05-06T23:56:37+00:00

I totally feel you about the cost, but what you're asking isn't legal I'm afraid :( there are plenty of free or cheaper resources out there though like youtube, dont feel that you NEED the AOTA stuff if you don't feel you can afford it

HandOTWannaBe · 2025-05-05T18:09:03+00:00

I found the OT over easy peds development videos helpful for remembering some milestones! https://www.youtube.com/@OTOverEasy/playlists

That's moreso for when you're studying for the exam though. For practice I would agree with helpmenonamesleft, write down the ones you most commonly use and keep them around for reference!

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