Hand exercises, stretches, and maintenance
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 23,955
I am hoping to exchange information.
I am not a large person by any stretch of the imagination. I am well-toned, blah blah blah.
Anyways. I am going to school for massage, and as you may guess, I depend on my hands a lot.
So, I hope for a good exchange of information, and also to be corrected in a respectful way.
The first thing I am working on is hand-strengthening. I used to be an aerialist, and that has helped my hands immensely. I have a very strong grip, but I am not that good with keeping my fingers straight. I do tiger-claw push-ups or when I am not in the mood for that, I will simple hold and keep myself on a tiger-claw. On my more adventurous days, I will tuck my knees under me and hold my whole body weight on my finger tips.
I have very large anterior fore-arm muscles, to the point my flexor pollicis are are well defined to my wrists.
The problem would be working on my extensors, especially on pollicis longus and brevis, as I have jammed up thumbs. I don't know of any exercises that would develop those muscles.
2- hand stretches.
I do about 30 minutes of hand stretching a day, use cold and lymphatic drainage.
I begin by doing the classic carpal-tunnel test, then reverse that. I bend all my fingers forward, then backward as a group, then continue extension and flexion stretches on each individual finger. Finally, I do radial deviation stretches.
Blarg told me to look here to find a FAQ on grippers, but I can't find it. I am thinking of buying some of those and and also boading balls.
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,013
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,854
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 53,529
Dave, you can work the extensors pretty well with rubber bands. Get a bag at an office supply store with some thicker ones and mix and match sizes as needed. Put your fingers in the middle and stretch.
By all accounts, grip fanatics have found this very useful in rehab and in preventing injury.
