Repetitive stress on the
wrist can lead to a number of different injuries, like tendonitis, bursitis, carpal
tunnel syndrome, etc. They all have similar symptoms, mainly the wrist, hand
and arm hurting. And although some conditions can have other primary causes,
they are all aggravated by wrist overuse. With that in mind here are the top 10
tips to prevent repetitive stress injuries of the wrist.
1. Stay Healthy
Maintain a healthy body weight and a good
cardiovascular system. An unhealthy body causes stress everywhere. Add that to
any environmental stressors and you may have a problem.
2. Stay Strong
Keep your wrist, arm, hand and fingers
strong. It is harder to overuse something if it is normally worked harder.
Strengthen the muscles involved and increase flexibility through stretching.
3. Don't Break the Wrist
Lay the outer part of your
forearm on a hard surface. Let it rotate inward naturally. Keep your wrist
straight. That is the natural wrist position (see image above).
Notice that the palm is at
a 30-45 degree angle and that the fingers are curled. Keep that position
whenever possible. Flexing and twisting of the wrist causes all the tendons and
nerves to rub over leverage points at the joints which can cause a lot of
problems.
4. Use Your Muscles
Control the movement of your hand and fingers
through muscle use not tendon/ligament use.
One big problem with typing
on modern keyboards is the lack of strength needed to press a key. This causes
you to simply start a motion of the finger and let momentum carry it through.
This can cause minor hyper extensions and wear and tear on the tendons and
nerves.
Musicians are prone to this
as well, due to the speeds they need to achieve. Developing strong fast twitch
muscles is a better alternative.
5. Take Breaks
Take regular breaks to
relieve stress. Take this opportunity to stretch and increase blood flow. You
should break for at least 10 minutes for every hour of continuous work with 30
second micro breaks every 10 minutes. Performing a warm up and cool down
stretch will help as well.
6. Change Positions
Change your position and posture regularly.
Change of position will call in different muscles, kind of like a relief
pitcher, letting the first group rest.
7. Get a Good Grip
Use a proper sized grip for your hand.
Look at your natural wrist
position again. Now bring your thumb and fingers together until they are
separated by the width of two quarters. That is your grip size for holding
things. That is your ideal grip for things like handrails or screw guns.
Now continue to close your
hand until the thumb overlays the first joint of your index finger. That is
your grip size for manipulating things with your wrists, things like hammers,
shovels or golf clubs.
8. Maintain Your Distance
When working with your hands keep them in the
middle ground, not too far, but not too close to your body. This allows muscles
in your arms, shoulders and trunk to help share the load.
It also keeps your joints
in the middle of their range of motion, which increases blood flow and reduces
the flex of tendons/ligaments/nerves over those leverage points at the joints.
9. Don't Go to Extremes
Just because your joints
can pivot that far does not mean yours should. Do not flex your joints to the
edges of your range of motion while working.
Most muscles can not
maintain control of your body at these extremes which can lead to hyper
extension and muscle pulls. It also flexes the tendons and nerves over those
leverage points of the joints. For more on range of motion see this discussion
on body links.
10. The Low Down
Do not flex upward. The hand is designed to
grip, so most muscle control and joint range is aimed at a downward flex.
There's less leverage on an upward flex so the body has to work harder to move
that way. The tendons and nerves also have harder leverage points to stretch
over.
Keep palms and fingers
somewhere between flat and the grip position.
Keep your typing and mouse
click upstrokes as short as possible. Do not use the scroll wheel as that
motion is almost entirely upward flexing.
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