Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, ARNP, EdD

Arthritis, repetitive movements, carpal tunnel syndrome and more can lead to sore, painful or cramped hands. This article examines hand exercises you can do to keep your hands flexible and pain-free.


*Every day rotate clockwise and counterclockwise your wrists, and each finger.

*Squeeze your fingers together and hold, then expand them as open as you can. Repeat several times.

*Play the piano or keyboard or just pretend you are, moving your hands from starting position together, allowing your right hand to move quickly, finger by finger up the scale and your left to move down the scale.

*Massage each finger with the thumb and index finger of the opposite hand.

*Massage the back and front of one hand and wrist with the thumb and fingers of the other hand.

*Hold your hands in front of you or rest them on a table and picture healing energy, perhaps as a color, flowing through them.


The American Chiropractic Association suggests these exercises for fingers:

* with your palm flat on a table, raise and lower your fingers one by one
* make an "O" by touching your thumb to each of the other finger tips, one at a time
* crumple a sheet a newspaper into a small ball with one hand
* squeeze a small rubber ball or sponge
* pick up coins or buttons of assorted sizes
* keep time to music with each finger by drumming with extended fingers
* rest your hand on a table and spread your fingers wide and then bring them together
* flip balls of paper with your fingers or flip a lightweight book or folded newspaper off of extended fingers.

If you can't do the exercises yourself, ask a friend or family member to bend and straighten the affected fingers gently. Never force movement. Whether doing these exercises alone or with an assistant, stop if any movement causes severe pain or if soreness persists for more than twenty minutes and consult your health care practitioner promptly.

For more exercises, see: Arthritis: What Exercises Work by D. Sobel and A.C. Klein (St.Martin's Press, New York, l995).

This article is for information only. For treatment, consult your health care practitioner.

Source and for more information go to www.amazon.com and look for:

Carolyn Chambers Clark, The American Holistic Nurses' Association Guide to Common Chronic Conditions: Self-Care Options to Complement Your Doctor's Advice, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2003.

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