Find Arthritis Relief with Effective Hand Therapy Exercises

Feb 20, 2024

Arthritis

Arthritis relief exercises could be the key to improved quality of life!

Maria was 53 when she began to experience severe symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Every morning, her finger joints were so stiff that she struggled to brew coffee or brush her teeth. Her hands were frequently swollen, and she struggled immensely with the pain–even after her joint stiffness faded, she often couldn’t complete basic tasks because her hands were so tender.

Maria’s grip strength weakened. She frequently dropped her keys and other objects and couldn’t use her phone to make calls, much less text or surf the Internet. Furthermore, she worried that the continued progression of her condition would lead to deformity in her hands and fingers, limiting her mobility even further.

While Maria had been utilizing medication to control her pain, she decided she wanted to take a more proactive approach to managing her arthritis. She found a certified hand therapist who showed her different exercises to help reduce her pain and improve her hand’s mobility.

Maria knows that rheumatoid arthritis has no cure. But with regular hand therapy, she managed her symptoms much more effectively, increasing her independence and improving her overall quality of life.

Our hand therapists at Libra Occupational Therapy can help you manage your arthritis symptoms. No matter the type of arthritis you’re living with, we’ll develop a customized program of arthritis relief exercises to help you alleviate your pain so you can do what you love!

If you want to learn more about the role of hand therapy in managing arthritis symptoms, keep reading–or call our TX clinic to schedule an appointment!

Living with Arthritis: Types and Symptoms

Arthritis is an umbrella term covering over 100 conditions that cause joint inflammation. The two most common types are rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition, and osteoarthritis, a degenerative condition.

While arthritis can happen to any joint in the body, hand arthritis is fairly common, especially as we get older. In fact, nearly half of all women will experience symptoms of hand osteoarthritis by the time they’re 85 years old. Rheumatoid arthritis is less common but still affects up to 1% of the population worldwide.

Hand osteoarthritis occurs due to the degeneration of cartilage in the affected joint–in this case, the hand and fingers. The primary symptom is joint pain that worsens when using your affected hand. You may also notice joint stiffness and, over time, may struggle to open and close your fingers.

The most common places to experience hand osteoarthritis are at the base of the thumb, the joint closest to the fingertip, and the finger’s middle joint. One or both of your hands could be affected.

Rheumatoid arthritis also causes joint pain, stiffness, and loss of mobility. Unlike hand osteoarthritis, however, it’s caused by your body’s immune system attacking your joints. You’ll generally feel symptoms throughout all the joints in both hands.

It also causes symptoms elsewhere in your body. You may feel more fatigued or notice reduced muscular strength and endurance.

Fortunately, our therapists can help no matter what arthritis you’re living with! These arthritis relief exercises will help get your joints moving, easing your symptoms and possibly delaying the disease’s progression over time.

Arthritis Relief Exercises To Help You Manage Symptoms

Dedicated hand therapy at Libra Occupational Therapy is one of the best ways to manage arthritis symptoms. Movement is crucial for good joint health, and that’s true in the hands just as it is elsewhere in the body.

When you come in for your appointment, one of our hand therapists will start by conducting a thorough assessment to help us understand your condition and symptoms. We’ll take a complete health history and ask you to complete some simple movement, strength, and dexterity tests so we understand any limitations on your range of motion.

From there, we’ll develop a customized treatment plan to help you address and manage your symptoms. While hand therapy can not cure arthritis, a dedicated hand exercise program can help you maintain independence and reduce pain. It’s just important to recognize that the process does take time. No one exercise will eliminate all pain overnight, but as you work through the program, you will start to see improvements.

While every program will look different, here are a few of the arthritis relief exercises we might try:

Make a Gentle Fist: You’ll start with your fingers straight and your palm down. Next, curl your fingers into a loose fist, then repeat. This simple movement can help you increase your fingers’ range of motion.
Roll Your Fingers: With this exercise, gently bend each finger joint until you curl your hand into a ball, then release and repeat. This is a slightly more challenging version of the fist exercise!
Create Shapes: Creating shapes or letters (such as an “O” shape or an “L” shape) out of your fingers helps improve strength and dexterity. No matter which shape you create, you’ll hold it briefly, rest, and repeat.
Stretch Your Fingers: In addition to strengthening your fingers, you’ll want to stretch them out. Lay your hand on a flat surface and stabilize your wrist with the other hand. Then spread out your fingers as far as they can go. Repeat.

These arthritis relief exercises illustrate what you might expect from your TX hand therapy sessions. Our hand therapists can let you know which might benefit you while ensuring you perform the movements safely and effectively.

We can also help with pain management if your prescribed hand exercises are too difficult to perform at first. Manual therapy and passive exercises can help prepare your hands for movement.

Get Your Own Arthritis Relief Exercise Plan Today!

At Libra Occupational Therapy, we understand how painful and limiting arthritis can be. We’ll develop a personalized treatment program of arthritis relief exercises to help you get the results you’re looking for!

Request an appointment today to get started.

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Find Arthritis Relief with Effective Hand Therapy Exercises