Cooking, conversation and hand injuries

The kitchen is the room that tends to be the center of many gatherings with family and friends. It’s also where accidents, often hand injuries, can happen, especially when alcohol is involved. Sanj Kakar, M.D. a Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon, says he’s seen many unfortunate hand injuries. He urges everyone to celebrate safely and use extra caution in the kitchen.

Dr. Kakar can most often be found in surgery, helping patients with issues like carpal tunnel syndrome, thumb arthritis, wrist pain, and disorders of the hand and wrist. Holidays are times of the year when he and his colleagues tend to see more emergencies due to kitchen accidents—especially from cleaning mishaps.

“Imagine the dishwasher and the empty dishwasher, and you have the plastic that holds the dishes, I’ve seen a patient fall over,” Dr. Kakar says, explaining how one patient fell hands-first onto metal racks.

“The actual rack itself had impaled the patient’s hand,” Dr. Kakar explains, adding that surgery we needed to remove it.

Blenders can be a problem—both when in use and, believe it or not, when they are not in use, he says. People think the blender is off and won’t spin, then put their hand in and sometimes get injured.

“I’ve seen patients actually cut the tip of the finger off,” Dr. Kakar says.

And be careful when cleaning wine glasses—glass cuts can be difficult.

“While we’re in the kitchen, we want to enjoy food, but it can be a dangerous place,” Dr. Kakar says.

So be careful, have patience and enjoy your time in the kitchen injury-free.