Carpal tunnel and wrist issues are a result of a lot of typing or working with the hands in a repetitive motion. Your hand is mostly spent gripping, and we hardly get any extending, which leaves the muscles very weak or one-sided. Always start with the root of the issue. The muscles up top in the neck control anything wrist, elbow or shoulder-related below. Always start with an x-ray of the cervical spine to ensure there’s no damage there first. After that, there are 3 things you can do to help the muscles in your wrist and relieve the symptoms.
Stretching
- Extension – With arm straight out, extend fingers up toward the ceiling and stretch back. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.
- Flexion – With arm straight out, fingers face the floor and you’ll pull the fingers back toward you. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.
- Brachioradialis – with your arm straight out, make a fist with the thumb towards the ceiling and and tuck your thumb into your balled up hand. Extend your wrist forward to stretch the Brachioradialis. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.
Strengthening
We do a lot of gripping, so to counteract that – we need go strengthen the muscles that extend. You can do that with a simple rubber band and while watching TV.
- All fingers – With a rubber band around all fingers, extend your fingers in and out until your hand fatigues. Make sure the rubber band is tight enough for good resistance (you can double up if needed).
- Thumb & pinkie – With a rubber band around your thumb and pinkie, extend your fingers in and out until your hand fatigues. Make sure the rubber band is tight enough for good resistance (you can double up if needed).
- Index finger & thumb – With a rubber band around your index finger & thumb, extend your fingers in and out until your hand fatigues. Make sure the rubber band is tight enough for good resistance (you can double up if needed).
Stripping
Stripping is going to help get the inflammation out of the muscle and really help it relax because i’ts just so overused. You can use anything hard – a round a piece of wood, a pencil, backside of a butter knife, or there are even stripping tools online for purchase. Press against the muscle and start stripping in an upwards motion towards the heart. You’ll find tender areas, and you’ll want to stay on those to really help work those tendons. Strip 30 to 60 seconds up to five times.
