‘Handy’ Help For Arthritic Hands
Hand arthritis is the most common type of arthritis. It affects the fingers, leaving the joints inflamed. Hand arthritis is particularly painful because each hand has 19 bones in it, eight of which have small joints. There are multiple types of hand related joint disorders, including osteoarthritis, post-traumatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis of the hands is most often caused by wear and tear of using your hands everyday, but it can also be caused by a specific injury.
Surprisingly, exercising your hands can help. This basically means that you can reduce joint pain by regularly moving and stretching your hands. The Mayo Clinic provides readers with 5 simple exercises that can be helpful to your aching hands – bending your fingers, making a fist, opening your hand wide, touching your finger tips, and walking your fingers. Dr. Best’s instructional YouTube video on hand exercises that can ease arthritis pain is also quite informative.
And if you’re big on gadgets, this might interest you! Titled simply, “The Hand Exerciser,” this invention won a Medical Design Excellence Award. It can basically be worn like a glove while you stretch and exercise the joints in your hands.
Arthritis of the hands can challenge anyone who has to work for a living, including people who spend hours and hours typing, stocking grocery store shelves, cutting hair, etc. Everything we do, we do with our hands. It’s helpful to know that there are some simple things you can do to reduce the pain at least a little…
