Carpal tunnel syndrome can cause numbness, stiffness, and pain in the fingers and hand. There is no known way to prevent carpal tunnel, but exercise can lower your chances of needing surgery. Here are three basic moves you can do any time of day. These stretches and exercises are simple and don’t require any equipment. You can easily do them before you start work, sitting at your desk, during your break, while waiting in line, or whenever you have a minute or two to spare.
1. Spiders doing push-ups in a mirror
Start with your hands together in prayer position. Spread fingers apart as far you can, then “steeple” the fingers by separating palms of hands, but keeping fingers together. This stretches the palmar fascia, carpal tunnel structures, and median nerve, the nerve that gets irritated in a carpal tunnel syndrome.
2. The Shake
This is as straightforward as it sounds: shake hands like you’ve just washed them and are trying to air dry them. Do this for a minute or two every hour to keep flexor muscles of your hands and its median nerve from getting cramped and tight during the day.
3. Stretch Armstrong
This last exercise is the deepest stretch of the set: Place one arm straight out in front of you, elbow straight, with your wrist extended and fingers facing the floor. Spread your fingers slightly and use your other hand to apply gentle pressure to the downward-facing hand, stretching your wrist and fingers as far as you’re able. When you reach your maximum point of flexibility, hold this position for about 20 seconds. Switch hands and repeat. Do this two to three times on each side, and try to do this stretch every hour. After a few weeks of doing this multiple times a day, you’ll notice significant improvement in your wrist’s flexibility
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