Sitting down at your desk to write your annual family holiday letter can be a daunting task. Not only can it be tough to sum up the family’s year in a quick letter to go with a holiday card, for anyone living with carpal tunnel symptoms, typing it out can be a real pain. Actively using your wrists is an important part of life, but doing so can aggravate the syndrome and make life more difficult for you. Fortunately, there are some simple stretches and other basic remedies that can alleviate your discomfort at home.
Carpal tunnel is a problem with a pinched nerve in your wrist. It’s difficult to manage and can require surgery if it progresses too far. Stretching and physical therapy, however, can help prevent the problem in healthy wrists and alleviate symptoms for people already suffering with the condition. Here are a few of those stretches for you to try at home:
- Finger spiders – Touch all of your fingertips together. Press your palms away from each other while keeping your fingertips touching. Then bring your palms together. Repeat multiple times.
- Wrist shakes – Keeping your hands completely loose below the wrists, shake your arms. Your hands should flop around. Do this for a couple minutes.
- Wrist stretches – Extend one arm straight in front of you. Your hand should point toward the ground. Use your other hand to grab your fingers and pull them in toward yourself. You should feel the stretch along the back of your forearm.
- “Stop sign” stretch – Extend your arm in front of you and make a flat “stop” sign with your hand. Use your other hand to grab your flexed fingers and stretch them back toward your body. You should feel the pull in the underside of your forearm.