Single Best Stretch to Stop Wrist, Hand & Finger Pain
- 1 hour ago
- 8 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in January 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/G0c1iShj-x4
Brad: All right, today the topic is your hands, fingers, and wrists. We're going to show you the best stretches you can do to alleviate pain and keep them moving so you're functional on a daily basis.
Mike: So we wanted to fit everyone's needs, so we're actually going to go through five different stretches for wrist, finger, and hand issues. And you're just supposed to pick the single best one that works for you.
Brad: There you go.
Mike: Let's get to the five exercises.
Brad: Five of them. Yeah, so again, let's look at all of them. The very first one's a good general one. Most people will do well with it. It's simply open up those hands as far as you can. Some people won't do it very well immediately. We'll take care of that in a little bit. And then close. See if you can get your fingertips to your palms. I've had many mornings getting up where I cannot touch my fingertips to my palms. I'm getting much better with it because of these.
Brad: Do about 10 of those, five to 10.
Mike: You are getting old if you have trouble with that.
Brad: Well, I got gray hair, you know?
Mike: Anyway, I have no hair. Number two is wrist extension with finger extension. So you actually need to take one hand, push the other fingertips back this way, and extend the wrist in this motion. And then you're just going to kind of go back and forth. You can either do hands touching like this or just fingertips, whatever's comfortable for you. And if you're tight, you may not be able to get back very far. That's okay. Just do what you can and push as far as you can comfortably.
Brad: Yeah, now if you have just one finger that's really tight and flexed, you can just work that single finger back. If your fingers are fairly good, but your wrist is tight and stiff, just work the wrist and, you know, isolate it. Those kinds of techniques can really work out well. Boy, I like to do this and do the prayer one where you go like that for the wrist, and then I roll it into my fingers.
Brad: Let's go to the wrist. A good global one for the wrists is actually just circles with a loose fist, not getting it tight. Roll it as far as you can, big circles, and go both directions. This is one where a lot of people will have some of that crepitus, or the joint actually does that cracking. Now it's okay, especially if it doesn't hurt. If it's painful, be gentle with it. It should improve as you do more.
Mike: Now there's another one you like to do where you actually pull on your wrist a little bit.
Brad: Wrist decompression. So what I like to do, if it's my right one, I've done this many times. My wrist feels like there's a kink or a knot in it. And what I do is I relax this hand. I put it in a relaxed position. The left hand is going to do the work. The right is completely relaxed. I grab just above the wrist line, and I relax this hand.
Mike: You're including your thumb, which you can do. I can actually do it without my thumb.
Brad: Yeah, you can do it that way as well. I always do it with the thumb. And if you're on a chair, you rest it on an armrest or put a pillow on your lap, that's optional. Now I'm relaxed with my right arm in hand, and I pull. Can we get a close-up right here?
Brad: All right, we're going to pull and watch the wrist joint. If you look closely, it actually separates. It's not a big separation, but I can definitely feel it, and I'm relaxed. Now watch. I'm going to hold the hand still, and I'm going to rotate the ulna and the radius bone. You can see that right there. That really separates and gets that joint moving, gets that synovial fluid in where it needs to be. And you're going to do this, you know, maybe 30 seconds, just depends on how it feels. You can go longer as long as it feels good. Mine feels better as I do it more. There, and I'm going to follow up with some wrist circles. Is that good?
Mike: Oh, that's pretty good. I think you should name all the hand bones, though. Those are fun.
Brad: Oh yeah, we'll do that later.
Mike: The next one is individual finger motion, helping with the other hand. So this is for the people who maybe, number one, it's hard for. They can't make a fist or close very far. So, what you're going to do is whatever finger is bothering you more; use the other hand if it's in good shape. Otherwise, you may have to borrow someone else's hands and work on bending whatever joint is stiff. Maybe it's the first joint in the finger, the second, or even your knuckle. Just kind of work through what area is tight and slowly work that with your other hand to assist.
Brad: There you go, one joint at a time, all the fingers or the one that's tight. This has worked very well now. If they're all tight, and you can make a fist about like that, I'll take my whole hand, go wrap over all the fingers. And I'll just roll them down in and get them all to touch at the same time. That may be too much. You have to go one at a time, or, you know, use good judgment, do them all at once.
Mike: We should mention that if you are pretty stiff or in the morning, sometimes just warming your hands up under some hot water before these can really help.
Brad: There you go.
Mike: And tip number five is actually the thumb.
Brad: There you go. Now the thumb is that unique joint or unique finger because it opposes. It has a different motion. And you can do the same joint motions as the fingers. You can flex it in towards the palm, bring it out just like we did the fingers.
Brad: But there's a joint right here.
Brad: It's called the carpometacarpal joint. A lot of people forget that one, and that happens to be the one that really can cause pain, particularly with arthritis. So I'm going to actually grab here, and I'm going to move that joint individually. And I'm going to actually pull on it, give it some distraction like I did the wrist. Do a little rotation, flexion, and then also massage the muscles there and get those muscles to relax, and increase blood flow. Get it to relax. You can really do some good treatment on that joint, making your thumb functional without pain. Little practice is important.
Mike: Now, if you find all five of these functional and work well for you, you could certainly do all five, but just pick the one you really need to focus on and do that one each day.
Brad: There you go. All right, I hope this works. Be careful with your hands. We want to keep them working.
Mike: But wait. There's a bonus tip. You forgot what this thing is. It's been sitting here the whole time. So this is actually a hand massager.
Brad: Now there's a product if your hand has swelling, or you have particular problems getting it straightened out, or just you want to have it feel good. It's a self or a hand massager. Here it is. We like this one. That's why we put our name on it. And Mike has it on right there. It does compression distally to proximally. In other words, it starts at your fingers, moves to the palm, and finishes at the wrist. A lot of them don't do the wrist. This does that, adds heat. What else does it do, Mike?
Mike: You can change the mode so that it is actually working. You can change how much pressure is happening and the heat option on or off. Simply long-press the power button to actually turn the unit on or off. And also, it could fit most hands. You can see the top here is actually open, so if you do have a taller hand, your fingers can come through.
Brad: There you go, and this is something I like to use in a recliner or a chair. You can just leave it on your lap, very comfortable. Let it relax. And they also give this cute little finger massager, which I thought was a joke when I looked at it, pulling it out. But it really does a nice job on your fingers. It's very comfortable. It works some of that fluid. It's just one of those little tips or little extra things, extra bonus-ing, that is kind of cute and works.
Mike: It actually comes with some gloves, too. So if you want to use some type of skin lotion on your hands, and you don't want that everywhere within the hand massager, you can simply put a glove on and put it in there. Or if you share it amongst a lot of people, and people have dirty hands, you know?
Brad: There you go. It is one of those nice little things that, for some people who do like to use lotion, is really a nice thing to have.
Mike: I want to mention, it looks like it can be an oven mitt, but it is not, so do not try that.
Brad: Yeah, there you go. All right, well, now we've got another video that's going to give people more options for wrist pain in minutes, right?
Mike: So, watch "3 Stretches to Fix Your Wrist Pain in Minutes (Including Decompression)."
Brad: Yeah, there you go. Enjoy the day. Keep your hands healthy, fit, and pain-free.
Mike: And massaged.
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