3 reasons to exercise your hands

If you're a parent, a child caregiver, or have been around a toddler or preschooler for even just five minutes, you've probably heard this question.

"WHY???"

Kids are curious little beings, soaking up their world. And they, or at least my own kids, tend to follow through with instructions when provided with the 'why.'

"Please put your dirty shirt in the hamper."

"Why do we do that?"

"You're going to school today."

"Why do we go to school?"

Or, just last night's, as we are tucking our 5 year old in:

"Why is it still bright outside?"

(Daylight savings / time change, you are the absolute worst for all parents of young children lol)

I have found that when I proactively include their 'why,' kids are probably 50% more likely to actually do the thing I am asking them to do.

Now you may be asking...

~WHY are you sharing this Corinne?~

(see what I did there 🤣 I often crack myself up at 5am)

It's important for YOU to understand why when it comes to exercising your hands, {first_name}.

When you know why something is important for you to do, you are way more likely to follow through with it.

It's not just YOU, it's ALL of us. It's our human nature to need to know why, so we can then prioritize it.

So here are 3 top reasons why you should exercise your hands:

1. Strong muscles act as joint supports.

Your joints need the support of your muscles, so exercising your muscles correctly will build up strength and increase joint support..

...which in turn, DECREASES YOUR PAIN!

In a similar way to a flexible hand support such as kinesiotape, having strong muscles surrounding the joints that are painful or unstable can truly make a difference in your hand function and pain.

2. Joint mobility improves your hand function.

What does drinking coffee from a mug, turning your car key in the ignition, and literally wiping yourself on the toilet all have in common??

These (& countless others) are all tasks that require a certain amount of range of motion from your fingers.

If you have hand stiffness of any degree, doing regular hand exercises can improve your finger flexibility so you can *actually* do the things you need to do with more ease.

3. Out with the bad, in with the good!

Movement can improve your lymphatic and blood flow...

...which can, in turn, help your cells to get rid of toxins (the 'bad stuff'), & bring in the good healing agents to decrease inflammation and promote pain relief!

Exercising your hands is also very much backed by many, many, many studies.

"Exercise has been found to be effective in decreasing arthritis-related pain, increasing blood flow, and improving cartilage health."

(Beasley, J. & Lunsford, D. (2021). The arthritis hand: conservative management. In Skirven, Osterman, Fedorczyk, Amadio, Feldscher, & Shin (Authors) Rehabilitation of the Hand and Upper Extremity, 7th ed., (pp. 1209-26)

"Patients need to understand that therapy, especially exercise, is not going to cause more pain or tissue damage."

Carrillo, P., Taylor, K. A., & Fedorczyk, J. M. (2021). Pain management: Principles of therapist's interventions. In Skirven, Osterman, Fedorczyk, Amadio, Feldscher, & Shin (Authors) Rehabilitation of the Hand and Upper Extremity, 7th ed., (pp. 1354-1367)

So there you have it. 3 reasons + 2 studies stating why exactly you should care about exercising your hands.

I absolutely love exercising my hands as I watch a TV show in the evenings.

And if you are craving more support when it comes to exercising your hands, come join me in The Exercise Vault - it currently has 35+ hand exercises (soon to be 50+ later this week 🙀).

I will help you begin and maintain a hand exercise routine you are absolutely obsessed with.