3 Easy At-Home Exercises For Wrist Pain
Wrist pain occurs unexpectedly – and is, unfortunately, not discussed often. We commonly hear about headaches, neck and back pain, hip and knee pain… but not a whole lot about the wrist.
According to research, however, about 4.2% of people whose job did not require lifting heavy loads and about 24% of people who were required to work with heavy weights or were athletic, experienced wrist pain in a medium term.
I am Dr. Jon Evans from ProTailored Physical Therapy in Fort Wayne, Indiana & in this article I will teach you 3 exercises that will help ease wrist pain, at home!
Exercise #1: Gentle Wrist Mobilization
To create movement and space in the wrist, we will perform a set of motions that will help not only ease the pain but get the hand moving. The steps are as follows:
- Straighten your arm out in front of you.
- Using your other hand, firmly grip your wrist between the hand and the bony section.
- Squeeze and pull away from the hand.
- After pulling away, immediately bend your wrist downwards.
You’ll want to repeat this process 5 to 8 times, or until you start to feel decreased wrist pain.
Exercise #2: Elbow Stretching
- Position your body so that you are facing a wall
- Reach out in front of you to place your fingertips on the wall (about shoulder height).
- Straighten out your elbow and flatten your palm while it is against the wall.
- Turn your wrist 180 degrees, away from your thumb (your fingers should now be pointing down towards the floor).
- With your palm is against the wall and your hand rotated – open up your chest by turning your body away from your hand.
- Hold this position for 2 seconds.
- Rotate your body back towards the wall, turn your hand back up, so it returns to its original position.
You’ll want to complete this one, going back and forth through this motion at least 30 times to get the best benefit.
Exercise #3: Wrist Scraping
For this activity, you will need a knife with a dull side, and some lotion. This exercise helps increase blood circulation.
- Start by putting some lotion on your wrist.
- Hold the dull part of the knife at a 45 degree angle.
- Scrape the back side of your wrist.
- Make sure the strokes are long.
- Don’t do this on the front side, as there are important nerves located there.
- Do this method for 30 to 45 seconds.
- Your skin should start turning red.
- Relax and stretch to see how you feel.
With this technique, you should be feeling better in no time! Be careful not to overdo it, however, as scraping this area can cause serious muscle soreness!
Follow through with these exercises strictly, to see promising results. If you’re interested in scheduling an appointment at ProTailored Physical Therapy in Fort Wayne, Indiana, you can call us at (260) 739-0300 or Schedule an appointment via our website.