Give Yourself A Hand

Hands

We have spent a lot of time talking about powerful, gross motor skill muscles with the hips, shoulders and back. Time to turn our attention to fine motor skills. Our computer and smart phone oriented life styles have led to a whole new arena of repetitive strain injuries. Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most familiar.

We use our hands to work, play, hold babies, stroke our pets, display jewelry and get pampered by our favourite esthetician (at Tranquility Day Spa, of course!)

The hands hold one of my favourite anatomy trivia tidbits. 

Our fingers have no muscles. 

All that dexterity, how our opposable thumbs separate us from other mammals… not one muscle. Only tendons that are connected to our hands, wrists and forearms. I have written before about how are muscles act on our bones like a puppeteer. That is even more apparent for our fingers. If our fingers had to contain all the muscles they needed for movement, they would have to be much thicker. Then we would not be nimble. It would be like wearing hockey gloves to put your contacts in. They also wouldn’t have much strength. The muscles would be tiny. By attaching to larger muscles via tendons, we can open that pickle jar.

Put your left hand on your right forearm. Now open and close your right fist, wiggle your fingers, rotate your wrist. You can feel all the forearm muscle moving. Put your palms down and pretend to type or play the piano. You can see the tendons moving on the back of your hand.

It is very common to have a thumb injury, from gripping tools, typing, sports, etc. One of the keys to our dexterity is how many different movements the thumb can make. In order to do this, the joint at the base of the thumb is called a saddle joint. It doesn’t have the deep socket of the hip or shoulder, so it is more easily displaced. Unfortunately, we always have to sacrifice stability to gain mobility.

There are 27 bones in the hand, an every one of them has ligaments attaching it to at least one other bone. With all those tiny ligaments, its no wonder that finger sprains are common. With all those tendons controlling movement, tendinitis is also common. And with all those joints… you guessed it, arthritis. With so many structures packed into a relatively small space, it can be hard to determine the “ground zero” of hand pain.

One way to narrow it down is hot and cold. Heat makes arthritis feel better, but will cause tendinitis or a sprain to throb. Strains (muscle) and sprains (ligaments) usually have a point of injury, a fall or an awkward catch of a ball, that you can pinpoint. Tendinitis is repetitive strain. Something you do regularly, and the pain builds over time.

This seems like a good time to go over when to use ice and heat.

Hot or Cold

One of the biggest areas of confusion with treating tension and injury is when to use hot and when to use cold. The key is understanding what hot and cold do to the muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Cold – reduces inflammation and decreases pain response

Heat – increases circulation and relaxes tissue

Contrast –dramatically increases blood flow to the area and promotes circulation

Use cold:

The affected area feels warm or is swollen

Injury just occurred

Chronic injury has been aggravated by activity

Use heat:

Pain is chronic, building over time

Muscles/movement feels stiff

Prior to activity

Use compensating:

Injury is on the mend

Chronic injury has “flared up”

How to use cold

Cold can be cold water, an ice pack, ice cubes, a frozen water bottle, snow, etc.

Never apply ice or an ice pack directly to the skin. Wrap in a towel or apply over clothing

Apply for 5-20 minutes

How to use heat

Heat can be a bath, shower, hot tub, sauna, wheat bag, heating pad, etc.

Apply 15-20 minutes at a time

Have a layer of cloth between skin and a heating pad or hot water bottle

How to use contrast

Use hot for 3 minutes and cold for 30 seconds, alternating for 30 minutes

(two basins of water or a wheat bag and ice pack can be used) 

** If you have congestive heart failure, any reduced skin sensitivity to temperature, or vascular disorders, consult with a medical professional before using hydrotherapy**

Putting This Into Use

Some of the muscles that control the thumb and fingers actually travel all the way up past the elbow. Any time there is an injury to the hand, the arm must be taken into account.

Tendinitis - Put ice on the area of pain, put heat on the forearm muscles to relax them so they stop pulling on the tendons. Rest, change activity, tools or techniques if possible.

Sprain - Put ice on the area of pain. Rest. If it's a finger, use athletic tape or bandage tape to tape a sprained finger to the finger next to it. Make sure its' not restricting circulation. If it becomes severely swollen, discoloured, or you can't move it - seek medical attention!

Arthritis - Keep moving to keep the joints lubricated. Apply heat and massage the affected area.