Healing Hands: 7 Helpful Ways To Curb Carpal Tunnel Symptoms
Whether you're wrapping presents, changing a diaper, clicking away at the keyboard or simply trying to get a sound night's sleep, carpal tunnel symptoms can really cramp your style. Here are seven ways to heal your aching hands and get back to a relatively pain-free life.
1. Relax!
Ever notice how tightly some people grip a pen or pencil between their fingers? That type of death grip puts a lot of pressure on all the muscles and nerves of the hand, creating undue tension, which, over time, can lead to permanent pain and even disfigurement. Loosen your grip and try to lighten up with whatever you do with your hands, particularly repetitive tasks. Additionally, don't forget that ordinary stress leads to muscle tension that can linger in your fingers, among other places, contributing to painful joints and aching muscles. If you have no doctor-ordered restrictions on movement, consider hand yoga to seriously de-stress those digits. …show more content…
Support Your Wrists Whenever Possible
Braces and supports may go a long way in helping you meet the demands of your job, without getting in the way of productivity. Support your wrists if you are always on a keyboard and try a brace that keeps your fingers and thumbs from pulling too much on internal nerves, which are likely to be compressed if you're experiencing frequent wrist pain. If you're permitted to make purchasing decisions at your company, see that people have the right equipment to hold up their wrists, right around elbow level; otherwise, they're likely to periodically need time off to recuperate, as are you.
3. Sit Up
Whether you're wrapping presents, changing a diaper, clicking away at the keyboard or simply trying to get a sound night's sleep, carpal tunnel symptoms can really cramp your style. Here are seven ways to heal your aching hands and get back to a relatively pain-free life.
1. Relax!
Ever notice how tightly some people grip a pen or pencil between their fingers? That type of death grip puts a lot of pressure on all the muscles and nerves of the hand, creating undue tension, which, over time, can lead to permanent pain and even disfigurement. Loosen your grip and try to lighten up with whatever you do with your hands, particularly repetitive tasks. Additionally, don't forget that ordinary stress leads to muscle tension that can linger in your fingers, among other places, contributing to painful joints and aching muscles. If you have no doctor-ordered restrictions on movement, consider hand yoga to seriously de-stress those digits. …show more content…
Support Your Wrists Whenever Possible
Braces and supports may go a long way in helping you meet the demands of your job, without getting in the way of productivity. Support your wrists if you are always on a keyboard and try a brace that keeps your fingers and thumbs from pulling too much on internal nerves, which are likely to be compressed if you're experiencing frequent wrist pain. If you're permitted to make purchasing decisions at your company, see that people have the right equipment to hold up their wrists, right around elbow level; otherwise, they're likely to periodically need time off to recuperate, as are you.
3. Sit Up