The hand is one of our body parts that takes a lot of stress to accomplish our day to day jobs. Your job can be sedentary or kinetic but the hand effort is constant. Even a homemaker is put under a lot of pressure to complete their regular household chores. In most cases, women suffer from wrist pain. Finger arthritis, and forearm muscle weakness because with increasing age their body start losing.
bone mineral density and lack of vitamin D. Thus women should concentrate on the range of motions of their hands. However, men should also take care of their hands, and wrists.
Grip strength or holding capacity is the biomarker of your muscle strength, cardiovascular condition, and cognitive behavior. Firm grip not only improves your present life but also secures your elderly life. A firm grip with strong hands, forearm, and the finger has a lot of benefits. Thus, irrespective of gender we should take care of our grip strength.
If you have weak arms, wrist, and finger joints, then don’t get stressed because here we will talk about a simple yet effective exercise that strengthens your hand, wrist, and fingers and protects them from injuries.
Significant benefits of hand exercise for your health
Light intensity exercises like yoga, massage, and isometric exercise such as grip strengthening exercise improve the condition of Carpal tunnel syndrome. The occupational therapist says that regular hand exercise with grip strengthening equipment improves grip strength and range of motions of CTS patients by about 21%. Within the first month, and 34% of patients by the next third month.
There is a lot of evidence to prove the efficiency of hand splints and hand exercises in the treatment of CTS. Medical researchers have performed a scientific study involving two groups of patients, Both groups of patients get significantly improved from CTS, one group wears a hand splint for four weeks, on the other hand, the second group practices nerve and tendon gliding exercise additionally. The second group of patients recovered faster than the first group of patients.
Apart from any disorder, common people who work on the computer for long hours, also develop finger joint pain or wrist pain. To alleviate this pain computer users can do simple hand exercises. Hand strengthening exercise helps ward off or even cure mild hand and wrist injuries. Hand exercises are very simple to perform and take a very small time.
Effective hand & wrist exercise to prevent injuries in long term
#1 Shake it out
Shaking out your wrist and hands in the wake of remaining similarly situated for some time is an extraordinary method to improve blood circulation and recover from joint stiffness.
How to do it:
Start with your hands out facing your side and palms should be facing at the floor
Then very slowly shake your hands by moving your wrist through limp
Perform this exercise for 10-15 seconds
Repeat 3 times for each hand.
# 2 Fist to Fan
Fist-to-fan stretches is a very effective method of stretching out all forearm muscles. It is a whole hand exercise. This form of exercise helps you to decrease joint and muscle pain. stiffness, swelling.
Start with your hand, palm facing downwards
Make a fist with both hands
Then open the first half for the first time ( your finger will be bent at their knuckles). Hold this hand gesture for only two seconds.
Then open your hands completely, your hands should look like a fan. All fingers should remain straight and spread apart. Hold this hand gesture for 2 seconds
Repeat this process for 5 times
Do this for both hands.
# 3 Thumb touches
Thumb contacts help to expand coordination in the thumb and index fingers, and help to once again introduce the bloodstream back to the area:
Keep your hands outwards with both of your palms facing up towards the ceiling
Begin with your right hand, gradually let your thumb touches the tips of each four fingers
Repeat this with another hand
Return to the initial position
Do this exercise five times with both of your hands.
# 4 Simple wrist stretch
It is an excellent approach to decrease stiff joints of the wrist, especially after exceeding writing and typing. It is the most appropriate hand exercise for computer users.
Hold your right-hand outward with palm facing upwards
Then grip all four fingers with your left hand
Then lightly pull all fingers down towards the floor
Hold this hand gesture for 10 seconds, then relax your right hand back to the initial position
Then do it with your left hand
Do this exercise 5 times each hand.
# 5 Thumb flexion and extension
It is designed specifically for the thumb. Our thumb does 50% of the hand’s job. Thus it sometimes goes through fatigue and stiffness. Thus thumb flexion exercise and extension is best to maintain thumb flexibility.
Start with your hands out in front of you with your palm facing upward
Then gradually extend the thumb across your palm until experiencing the stretch
Hold this thumb stretching gesture for ten seconds, then relax, come to the starting position
Do this exercise minimum of 10 times with each hand
# 6 Wrist flexion and extension I
It’s the easiest way to stretch your wrist, which can increase your blood circulation to the whole wrist and forearm area. This is a suitable exercise for Carpal tunnel syndrome.
Seat on a chair, then hold your feet flat on the floor
Rest your right arm at the edge of a desk, palm facing downward, the entire hand should hang off from the edge. Support your wrist with a small towel to feel more comfortable
Then gradually stretch your hand wrist upward toward the ceiling until experiencing the stretching
Hold this gesture for fifteen seconds, then release back to the initial position
Next, gradually flex your hands, the wrist will be again downwards towards the floor until you experience stretch
Repeat both kinds of stretch four times with right and left hand
All of these above-mentioned exercises are without equipment, hand and wrist strengthening exercises, but if you want to do advanced hand strengthening exercises then use the best hand grip strengthening to measure improvements and range of motions.
