A GRATEFUL patient has praised the care she received from a hospital's hand therapy team, after a bad wrist break meant she had to undergo intensive physiotherapy.

Pam Pedersen, 73, from Great Ayton, was referred to specialist hand physiotherpist Gary Rigby after losing a large part of the use of her left hand.

He used pioneering group therapy sessions at Middlesbrough's James Cooks Hospital to help restore the feeling in her hand after she suffered a particularly bad left wrist break, caused by a slip at home.

The break, also led to her needing surgery for Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, a condition that causes tingling and numbness of the hands and fingers. Mrs Pederson said the exercises she did as part of a group of six to eight patients saw her condition improve dramatically.

She said: “Because we shared experiences and built up relationships, we looked forward to going to the hour-long sessions once a week.

“Being in a group meant you concentrated on the exercises and were shown how to do them correctly for a full hour, whereas at home you might do a few exercises and then think, 'that’s enough', or you might forget to do them altogether one day.

“It meant you had a whole hour of therapy at least once a week, at the same time there was the camaraderie of the group. Gary made a bad situation so much better for me and other people also remarked on how impressed they were with their treatment.”

Mrs Pederson said it had been a "wonderful" service, she's hoping to make further progress with more treatment and exercises.