Home Treatment for Repetitive Stress Injury

Some time ago, I wrote about the benefits of using Chinese medicine balls as therapy, particularly for hand pain such as carpal tunnel or deQuervain’s syndrome/tenosynovitis of the thumb.  The practice of twisting the balls around one another, using the fingers, helps to build dexterity and restore range of motion.  Also, the weight of the balls helps to massage the muscles in the hand and stimulate the pressure points.  This in turn helps increase circulation and reduce swelling and pain.

Many sufferers from carpal tunnel and related injuries suffer not just from stiffness and pain, but weakness too.  Here’s a new trick for using Chinese medicine balls to build back some of the hand strength you might have lost from an injury.

• First, master the practice of spinning the balls around one another in your palm, using your fingers to prevent the balls from touching one another.
• Make sure you are able to spin them both clockwise and counterclockwise, in both right and left hands.
• Then, try out this twist — slowly begin tilting your elbow when you practice.  Learn to spin the balls without dropping them at a 30 degree angle toward the ground, then 45 degree, then 90 — until finally, your palm is facing the ground and it is just your fingers holding the balls up as you spin them.

Don’t worry if you don’t get it right away, though — I’m sure even the strongest athletes, with no injuries at all, would need some practice to do this trick.  I bet it would be a great exercise for rock climbers in particular.

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