
If you think that you may have to hit the gym for practising hand therapy exercises, then you will be pleasantly surprised that most of these exercises can be easily performed at the comfort of your home without shelling out extra bucks. A small investment in hand exercise balls like Squegg, the smart hand gripper, can help improve your fine motor skills and dexterity of the hands. Such tools can help to strengthen your grip and make your hands strong.
Before proceeding with the top 5 hand therapy exercises, let’s read the benefits attached with performing such exercises:
- Hand exercises help to build a strong grip and pinch strength.
- The exercises are aimed to help overcome hand joint pains and aches.
- If you have any hand injury, your physiotherapist will also prescribe a set of hand exercises to improve post-injury recovery.
- Good coordination between fine motor skills and dexterity.
- It also empowers hand endurance.
So, here we are. Let us find out the top hand therapy exercises to help your recovery:
Wrist extension
This is a gentle hand exercise and should be performed gently too. Keep your forearm on the table with your hands hanging off the table-side. Allow your palm to face down. Now, move your hand up and down gently and carefully bend your wrist. Now, repeat the exercise with your palm facing up. You can easily repeat this exercise 2-3 times.
Radial Deviation or Wrist Ulnar is another food exercise allowing you to ease wrist movement. Rest your forearm on a towel on the corner/end of the table. Now, allow your wrist to swing up and down just like you bid adieu (bye). Swing in full motion and repeat a couple of times with both the wrists to get the best results.
Flexion and thumb extension
For this exercise, you need to start with open palms with your thumb stretched out. Now, bring your thumb closer to your fingers, as if you are signalling the number 4. Allow the thumb to touch the base of your little finger. The trick is to move the thumb back and forth in the position allowing palm stretching.
You can include two more flexion exercises:
- Composite Finger Flexion: Stretch the fingers and make a fist. Give support to your fist with the other hand in C-position. Hold the position for 10 seconds. You can now stretch and bend your fingers and thumb into your palm. Repeat the exercise 10 times.
- Hook Fist Intrinsic Flexion: Stretch all the fingers and make a claw position. Keep the knuckles straight while bending the finger joints as much as possible. With the other hand, push the fingertips to remain in the position until you feel a stretch. You can repeat this exercise also 10 times.
Power grip
Clothespin pinching
Rolling movement
Final thoughts
These are simple hand exercises that can be performed whenever you feel comfortable. The idea is to empower your hands with a strong grip and allow mobility of the fingers and the thumb. A sea of reasons can account for the complexity of hand movement. Hence, the above-mentioned set of simple exercises can allow you to overcome hand mobility and grip issues with complete ease and comfort.