Re: exercises

In Reply to: exercises posted by Maxine on February 02, 2004 at 03:37:03:

Hi Maxine,

I've wondered the same thing! even after surgery I have some pain, not excruciating, thank goodness. what I do is get up and run cold water over my hand. I used to soak it in cold water but that made the skin sensitive to heat. and instead of an ice pack I take a bag of rice to bed to lay my hand on. it will stay cool for a couple of hours, after being in the freezer.

before surgery it seemed to help some to raise my hand in the air and shake it. also with it held there you can do some exercises; opening and closing the hand.

if you find any trigger spots that send sensations down your hand you can work on those. and if that's the case notice whether your shoulders are rounded forward. pulling them back a few times then squeezing a pillow between your knees can help your arm and hand. a link--
http://www.amtamassage.org/journal/fall02_journal/scalenes_pg2.html

: Does anyone know of any exercises to relieve the pain of CTS? Like when I wake up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain and numbness I shake my hand, or stretch it out--but I don't know what I'm doing and I'm wondering whether there might be some exercises that could help.

: I noticed a posting about post-op exercises--would this also apply for people who have never had surgery?

: Thank you.

: Sincerely,

: Maxine