Wrist Pain – Avoid These 2 Stretches If You’re Developing Wrist Pain And Carpal Tunnel Symptoms
January 6th, 2011 | Published in RSI Tips | 6 Comments
Is your work or hobby hurting your wrists? If you get carpal tunnel or wrist pain, there are 2 stretches which will create it worse. You would possibly assume that stretches are sensible for your wrists, to relieve muscle tension. However while not knowing specifically which stretches are therapeutic for your condition, you’ll truly be increasing your pain.
Wrist extension and flexion
When there is not a straight line from your elbow to your fingers, then your wrists don’t seem to be flat. They’re bent, in either a flexed position or an extended position. When the hands are moving downward, they’re flexed. When the hands are lifted up, they’re extended.
Repetitive Stress Injuries
When your wrists are kept in one position for too long, you’ll develop a Repetitive Stress Injury, or RSI. This can be sometimes caused by repetitive movements due to work or hobbies.
Your hand and forearm muscles are affected. And the surrounding structures, like your joints, connective tissue (fascia), and therefore the carpal tunnel in your wrist, can be shifted out of alignment.
When surrounding tissues are imbalanced, they restrict fascia, nerves, and blood flow. This results in your pain.
Stretches for natural pain relief
Certain, stretching will loosen muscles and fascia, relieving tension that causes you pain. But it is important to understand which stretches can facilitate, and that will hurt.
Extension movement commonly causes wrist pain and carpal tunnel symptoms. Typing, as an example, keeps your wrists slightly extended for long periods of time. This is additionally common with crafting and construction work. In time, the carpal tunnel shifts out of place, restricting nerves and alternative tissues. Ouch!
If prolonged wrist extension is causing your pain, then you wish to avoid extension stretches. There are 2 ‘unhealthy stretches’ that patients commonly follow, however mistakenly suppose they’re doing themselves sensible after they are, after all, doing additional harm. Here are the 2 extension stretches to avoid:
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Reach one arm straight out in front of you. Flip your palm up, as if to inform someone ‘Stop!’ With the other hand, press against the fingertips, pulling them back toward the forearm.
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Just like the first stretch, straighten an arm in front of you. Flip your arm over, therefore the hand is palm-side-up. Using the opposite hand, press against the fingers, pulling them downward toward the forearm.
Do you see how each of those put the wrist into further extension? If your problem were thanks to prolonged flexion, then these would be therapeutic. But carpal tunnel syndrome and wrist pain are additional commonly due to prolonged extension.
Till your orthopedist or physical therapist approves them, avoid wrist extension stretches. Instead, work on therapeutic exercises that relieve your pain and correct your imbalances.
About the Author:
Writers Cafe has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Hand Wrist Pain, you can also check out his latest website about: Engagement Ring Mountings , which reviews and lists the best Engagement Ring Styles.
January 10th, 2011 at 3:28 pm (#)
Thanks for the great article. I spend long hours each day working from my PC and it is important for me to take care of my wrists in order to avoid carpal tunnel.
January 30th, 2011 at 7:22 pm (#)
ah jeez, these are my two “go-to” stretches when I’m feeling bad. My physical therapist actually recommended them. Is there actual evidence that these are bad stretches? This is the first I’ve heard these are bad…
February 20th, 2011 at 5:17 pm (#)
I think you should really bold “to avoid” in the sentence before the examples. I came across this article a few weeks ago and, as I’m a “terrible reader” (I’m really not complaining about the quality of the article, I just tend to get bored after a few read words out of every kind of article) I jumped straight to the list of exercises, thinking those would be excersises to relieve CTS
) (and I tried them a few days). Call me stupid, but that list should say “don’t reach…”
April 30th, 2011 at 12:28 pm (#)
Fully agree with anonymous about making ‘avoid’ bold.
June 29th, 2011 at 1:49 pm (#)
Nice article.. I have started caring about my wrists after reading this article.
September 24th, 2011 at 4:55 am (#)
I agree with “sprayonnaise” above. Both my therapist AND my chiropractor recommended these stretches to me years ago to relieve the tension/pain of carpal tunnel. (FYI, I worked as a legal secretary – lots of typing – for 10+ years, did court reporting typing [typing up the transcripts from audio tapes, not the stenographer you see on TV who sits in front of the judge's bench and "reads back" things], plus did medical transcription for 6+ years. The last two had me at a keyboard for over 10 hours a day, 6-7 days per week!) As for bolding the word “avoid” in the article, I have to disagree. Top line of article says “Wrist Pain – Avoid These 2 Stretches….” – can’t get much more direct than that!