Persistent stress on your wrists contributes to various health conditions, such as tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. The primary symptoms of these disorders include pain, tingling, numbness, weakness, and reduced range of motion. Various tactics can help you to prevent repetitive strain injuries and alleviate wrist pain.
Protecting your wrists on a daily basis is also important when recovering from a sports injury or similar damage. Here are a few tips for wrist protection from human factors engineer and ergonomics expert Chris Adams:
Optimize general wellness
Exercise and improve your diet so your weight is within a healthy range. Aerobic exercise is particularly important since it enhances circulation and respiration.
“An unhealthy body causes stress everywhere,” said Adams. “Add that to any environmental stressors and you may have a problem.”
Keep your muscles strong
One of the basic principles of injury care is to get sufficient rest to the affected area. However, you want the muscles throughout your arms and hands to be kept as strong as possible so that reinjury is less likely.
Stop for a break
One of the most essential ways to reduce stress and alleviate wrist pain is taking a break periodically from any activity. During your breaks, you can stretch to maintain your flexibility and keep nutrients flowing through your body. Adams recommends a 10-minute break each hour, which really should be considered a minimum. It’s also wise to stretch before you start working in the morning and at the end of the workday.
Vary your stance
You don’t want your body to stay in any one position for too long, whether you are recovering from repetitive strain or a sports injury. Either way, “change of position will call in different muscles,” explained Adams, “kind of like a relief pitcher, letting the first group rest.”
Engage your muscles
You want to move your hands and fingers with your muscles rather than your tendons or ligaments.
A standard PC keyboard requires very little effort to press a single key. We can just set our fingers in motion and let momentum do the rest; but that ends up damaging the body via a series of small hyper-extensions, gradually degrading the nerves and tendons.
Musicians often seek wrist protection for the same basic reason, since they are quickly moving from one note to the next. You want to be sure that you are engaging your muscles so you can interrupt the cycle of chronic pain.
Get help
Whether you need repetitive strain or injury care, the above tips can help. However, you can best make progress with a trusted and experienced partner: Advanced Wellness & Rehab.
Get a free consultation with the doctor today!
