By Jorge L. Brito, MD, MA

**The views presented are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.**

Hand surgeons share A LOVE OF FREEDOM, and, more specifically, the distinct ability and passion to be able to restore our full expression of liberty. 

Hands define us. They provide the primary mechanism for freedom of expression. As the focal point for our body language, hands allow us to figuratively speak in three dimensions and add immeasurable depth and volume to our words. It is through our palms and fingers that we hold items, expertly handle our mobile devices, create art, and do so much more that embodies freedom of expression. The shaking of hands and other forms of touch connect us with others as friends, family, and also lovers. Through touch we experience the profoundest of intimacies. Touch blesses both the giver and the receiver via the absolute awe-inspiring motor and sensory function of the three peripheral nerves. And as hand surgeons we directly protect, maintain, and restore these vital roles through the myriad of surgical and non-surgical treatment options in our toolboxes for the skeletal and soft tissue components of the hands. Whether form follows function or function form, I will not delve into here, but we address both in our daily practices. As a group, we have a passion for functional anatomy and the drive to restore it. The hands so profoundly define us as humans that the aesthetics of hands perhaps more than any other part of our bodies than the face, crosses deeply over into function. Examples include supernumerary digits, ganglion cysts, and the preference of ray amputations over digital ones, among innumerable others.

I was recently reminded of just how wonderfully our hands express our freedom and liberty on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, November 9^th, 1989. On that day the cellist Msitslav Rostropovich, having suffered under communism and exiled to Paris from the former Soviet Union, made the trek to Berlin. There he held an impromptu recital, playing to an enraptured audience in celebration of the metaphoric handcuffs coming off. Google it and you can watch his hands as they masterfully play Bach.

CAPT Jorge Luis Brito, MD/MA
Executive Officer, U.S. Naval Hospital Guam