Life is demanding.
And especially demanding on our body.
While we can’t change the demands on us, we can try to protect ourselves from injury.
Here are five tips to take care of your hands and wrists while you live your life!
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- Change something about the activity you are doing every 15-20 minutes.
Our bodies were not made to sustain an activity or to do it repetitively for a long period. Even if the activity seems easy or very minimally stressful to the body, we still need to change the activity in some way every 15-20 minutes!
The change should be that you either REST, CHANGE HOW YOU ARE DOING THE ACTIVITY or DO A DIFFERENT ACTIVITY ALTOGETHER.
- Keeping the hand and wrist aligned as much as possible.
The body was also made so that it is able to give the most power with the least amount of effort when it’s joints are aligned. When they are NOT aligned then we are forcing our body and it’s parts to over exert itself.
How this tip is helpful is that the more we try to keep our hands in a straight-ish line with our wrists when we are doing our tasks, the less stress the activity is on our hands and wrists and the less likely we will develop injury
- When holding objects, try to keep your thumb close to the rest of your fingers.
In the same way that keeping your hand aligned with your wrist takes the stress of the activity away from the smaller muscles of your hand, keeping your thumb close to the rest of your hand when doing an activity takes the stress away from your poor little thumb.
- Strengthen the larger muscles of your upper body including your core.
Your hands and wrists are not isolated. They are an extension of what it is connected to-your arm, your shoulder and, yes, your core! So, making sure these parts of your body are well taken care of and strong helps to lower the risk of injury to your hands and wrists.
- Listen to your pain.
Pain is our body’s way of communicating to us. It is our alarm. It is telling us something needs to change. So, let’s get into the habit of not ignoring it, but rather take a moment to do a quick assessment of our body and see what it might need at the moment.
Try out these tips and let me know how it goes!
And if you need more support, reach out. I would love to be a part of your recovery!