Pennsylvania Certified hand therapist receives top honors from American Society of Hand Therapists
Christos Karagiannopoulos, who is a certified hand therapist for ATI Physical Therapy at the OrthopediCare MSA Clinic in Chalfont, Pa., recently won top honors from the American Society of Hand Therapists (ASHT). Karagiannopoulos received the Journal of Hand Therapy First Time Author’s Award and the ASHT Best Scientific Paper at their national conference in Chicago, Il., during late October.
Karagiannopoulos, who holds a B.S. in Physical Education, Master in Physical Therapy, and Master’s of Education in Kinesiology, is currently a Ph.D candidate at Temple University’s College of Allied Health Professions. He began his part-time doctoral program in 2006 and focused his research on wrist sensori-motor impairment following distal radius fractures. He has also developed a special interest in psychometric evaluation of assessments at the wrist and hand and he has previously published research in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy and Journal of Athletic Training. He is currently a co-author towards the development of the American Physical Therapy Association Clinical Practice Guidelines for distal radius fracture rehabilitation.
He has practiced orthopedic physical therapy in the Philadelphia region since 1999 while also serving as a part-time faculty at Temple University Kinesiology Department for several years. He joined ATI Physical Therapy in July 2008 and acquired a certification in hand therapy that same year. He first worked at ATI North Wilmington until 2011 and then moved to the OrthopediCare Clinic. His clinical interest is in the treatment of post-operative, post-traumatic and chronic cumulative trauma of the upper extremity.
Karagiannopoulos’ latest research work on wrist and hand sensori-motor impairment following distal radius fracture interventions was published in the Journal of Hand Therapy in July 2013 and presented at the 2013 ASHT National Conference. He expects to finish his doctoral program in December 2014 and plans to continue his clinical work with ATI while expanding his professional contribution in academia.