Ms Michelle Razo, Belfast’s only Certified Hand Therapist (CHT), travelled to Japan to co-deliver a Hand Therapy Connect Event with Mr Hiroyasu Fujii, Occupational Therapist and Japanese Certified Hand Therapist (JCHT) at Fukuyama City Hospital. It was held on 18 September 2026 for the Okayama Occupational Therapy Association, Bitchu Branch, at Kurashiki Heisei Hospital.
The Hand Therapy Connect Event
The Hand Therapy continuing education event was organised by Mr Fujii and Ms Razo, purposely with the theme to be inclusive, advance Hand Therapy expertise and aim to encourage Occupational Therapists within the Okayama Prefecture to explore Hand Therapy further.
The Bitchu Branch held an online pre-meeting to gather questions and clinical concerns from the attendees. The in-person event focused on exploring paths into Hand Therapy as well as answering the questions with theory and practical components.
Selected questions were then opened out to the whole room so the Occupational Therapists could share their own tips and clinical ideas. The Hand Therapy Connect Event covered the thumb CMC joint plus shoulder, elbow as well as extensor tendon injuries, with opportunities for manual provocative tests to be demonstrated and practised.
The attendees
Those attending were Occupational Therapists, who generally did not have a specific focus in Hand Therapy. Some travelled up to two hours to be there and others joined by Zoom, resulting in a strong turnout.
The Bitchu Branch ran the Hand Therapy Connect event as the first in a series bringing its members together, with the stated aim of building relationships Occupational Therapists can lean on across sites regardless of how long they have been qualified.
Full details are on the Okayama Occupational Therapy Association listing.
Connecting Hand Therapy in the UK and Japan
Ms Razo holds the Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) credential and has worked in the United States and currently has an independent practice in Belfast. Mr Fujii holds the Japanese Certified Hand Therapist (JCHT) credential and works in Fukuyama. This gave the event two different international expert perspectives on how each of them assesses, reasons and treats hand to shoulder conditions, giving the attendees two perspectives to the same clinical Hand Therapy standard.
Ms Razo and Mr Fujii had put the Hand Therapy event together over months of online meetings, bringing the first joint Japan and UK Hand Therapy event of this kind to fruition. It is a significant achievement for Hand Therapy in both countries.
A warm welcome
Ms Razo thanked Mr Hiroyasu Fujii and the Occupational Therapists of the Okayama Occupational Therapy Association, Bitchu Branch, for their welcome, their questions and their willingness to get hands on.
心より感謝申し上げます。With heartfelt gratitude.