After recovering from a hand injury, you will feel relieved to get back the function of your hands. In many cases, your hand treatment may have involved immobilization of your handthe whole time for it to heal better. The immobilization means that your hand muscles are not getting the required exercise, making them weak. You will realize that you may not be able to do all the things you used to do with your hands as easily as before.
After the bandages and slings are gone, your doctor will recommend therapy in order to strengthen the muscles. This will include a series of exercises that target the individual muscles of the hand, allowing the muscles to get the required exercise and therefore ease how you use them. You will find some easy hand exercises for rehabilitation that you can do on your own each day until your hand muscles get back to normal. Some of these exercises may require some aids such as stress balls.
These exercises may seem passive, especially those that do not require any aids. However, they are instrumental in strengthening specific muscles of your hands, wrists and fingers. They are beneficial in the following ways:
Increase range motion
An injury or muscle degeneration can impair how the muscles and tendons control the joints through arcs of motion. You will need to carry out specific exercises that will support this muscle action needed to bend or straighten fingers. You will notice that when you cannot effectively do this, you will find ordinary actions such as opening a bottle lid to be troublesome.
These exercises work by having your wrists and fingers moving through their specific ranges of motion. This way, the related tendons are able to carry out the functions they specifically support. You can carry out these exercises with the help of stress balls and other aids.
Reduce pain
Sometimes after injury, your hand may still ache. This can go on even after a while and really interfere with your life. You can use simple exercises to manage the pain. These exercises can be as simple as clenching and unclenching your hand in phases. You will notice a reductionin the pain. You can also incorporate stress balls and such other objects.
Pain reduction exercises work by focusing the action on your tendons and muscles. These exercises not only reduce pain by increasing blood flow but they also make the muscles stronger. They help reduce the stress that causes pain by stretching the muscles.
Strengthen muscles
Muscles and tendons become weak after lying dormant for some time. Exercises to strengthen these muscles allow you to go back to your normal routine. You will find it easier to open jars and grip objects. You can carry out these exercises by doing gripping exercises with the help of stress balls. You can also improvise with items around your home. Using exercise aids for your hand exercises helps when you need to create resistance. This resistance helps in strengthening the muscles. You will find that your hand will gradually be able to carry out functions normally.
Bio
Mercy McCain is a renowned physiotherapist. She believes, using simple hand exercises for rehabilitation in between appointments with your therapist allows you to get back the function of your hand faster.
Thanks for sharing!! This is very helpful.