The Danger of Using Your Hands at Work

The other day I was visiting my local grocery store and noticed that the cashier was wearing a wrist brace on both hands. When I asked her about her wrist, she told me that she suffered from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. She said the right wrist started first, then her left wrist started hurting as well. She had been through 1 surgery on one wrist and 2 surgeries on the other and still she was wearing braces, why? This can cost her money from post work days and cost the employer money due to short staffing and lost production hours. There is a better way!

I see clients every week that suffer from carpal tunnel, elbow tendinitis, stiff hands, and the feeling that their hands are getting weaker as they age. The use of your hands will cause these things to happen as it is just how we work. The problem is we do not understand how to free our hands up at the end of the day. First let's look at what the inside looks like and then we will look at why there is pain.

From the elbow to the tips of your fingers are 26 muscles. Most of them are designed to move your fingers and hand. Some are designed to flex the wrist, while others allow you to rotate your hand. These movements made it difficult for robotics engineers to duplicate the human hand. The larger muscles that allow you to open and close your hand attach at the elbow and travel across the wrist to your finger tips. If you hold your hand palm down, the muscles on top allow you to open your hand, while the ones on the bottom allow you to close your hand. There are 2 bones in the forearm and there are muscles between these 2 bones that allow you to rotate your hand. Finally there are smaller muscles within the hand that allow to hold on to objects in your hands or move your fingers like in typing. That is a gross view of the anatomy.

Now what causes the pain! For elbow tendinitis, which can be commonly called golfer's elbow or tennis elbow, the cause is over-gripping Golfer's elbow is a pain on the bottom side of the elbow while tennis elbow is on the top side. It got these names because golfers will use more of the bottom muscles of the forearm during their swing and tennis players will get it from their backhands. In the workplace you can get elbow tendinitis from using a hammer, picking up packages, or pushing heavy items,or digging. Health care practitioners seem to be stumped with these ailments. Usually injections, braces, or bands are prescribed for temporary relief, then if a muscle tears, surgery.

Carpal tunnel syndrome has more to do with the over use of your fingers as in writing, typing on a keyboard, or any activity that requires the use of your fingers. The pain occurs when the forearm muscles become too hard and press on the median nerve that lies next to them in the carpal tunnel in your wrist. The brace just prevents you from bending your wrist which will cause the forearm muscles to atrophy and just starts the pain all over again. It can feel hopeless.

What can you do about it? Learn that your muscles should be soft and pain free from your elbow to your finger tips. You can visit my YouTube page, The Muscle Repair Shop, and see free videos about how to do this. You can visit my website at Muscle Repair Shop.com to speak to me or schedule an appointment.