Healthy Hands, Healthy You: How to Keep Your Wrists Healthy

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If you experience wrist pain on a regular basis, you’re far from alone. In fact, damage to the wrist bone, joints, and tissue results in 16.8 lost workdays for every 10,000 American workers.

Even if your wrist isn’t hurting yet, you’ll want to know how to keep your wrists healthy so that you can take preventative measures to stop hand and wrist problems from developing.

Here, we’re going to talk about some of the ways that you can have healthier hands for a healthier you, so read on to make sure that you can live every day to the fullest!

Take Breaks From Your Keyboard

If you’re like most Americans, you spend a huge amount of time typing. Whether you use the computer for work or for recreational purposes, too much time in front of the keyboard will inevitably begin to strain your wrist eventually.

Experts recommend that people limit the amount of time that they spend typing. Ideally, you shouldn’t spend more than a couple of hours every day in front of your computer. However, since most people use computers for work, this is usually not feasible.

Instead, you should be taking breaks from typing throughout the day. For ten to fifteen minutes out of every hour, you should strive to do activities that aren’t intensive on typing. If you work in an office, you could use this time to sort papers or make calls.

No matter what you use the computer for, this is an essential part of maintaining your hand and wrist health. If you don’t take breaks, you could develop carpal tunnel, which is not only painful but will also limit your mobility (and productivity).

Exercise Your Hands Regularly

During the time that you’re taking breaks from typing, you should consider doing simple hand and wrist exercises. These exercises strengthen your wrists so that you can use them for longer periods of time without pain.

Extended arm stretches are especially subtle and effective. While sitting, extend your arm with your palm facing upward. Gently press your fingers down toward the floor with your free hand and curl your fingers toward your body. Hold this position for ten seconds before repeating with the other arm.

In addition to performing these exercises during your short typing breaks, consider doing them while sitting in front of the TV at home. This especially applies to the exercises you need to stand for. They’re easy and you won’t need to take your attention off your favorite shows as you do them!

Wear a Wrist Brace

Wearing wrist and arm braces, especially while performing activities that put a strain on your hands, is a good way to take a bit of pressure off them. Not only does the tight squeeze of the brace feel amazing and stop you from feeling pain immediately, but it also ensures that your bones and joints retain the position that they should be in.

Basically, a wrist brace serves to immobilize the wrist (while your hand is still being used.) It limits movement that might irritate inflamed tendons so that your hand will not be strained any more than it needs to be.

If you suffer from wrist pain already, you may want to consider wearing your brace full-time (not while you sleep, though.) This will help soothe sore ligaments and keep your wrist in the proper position. However, if you are not already experiencing pain, you can just wear a brace while typing or doing other strenuous activities.

Take Bone Strength Supplements

While you can strengthen bones and joints by drinking milk or eating fruit rich in Vitamin A, taking natural supplements in the form of tablets ensures that you’ll get the appropriate amount of minerals for healthy bones.

One of the best ways to keep your ligaments, tendons, and bones from becoming painful and brittle is by taking calcium supplements. Calcium is a naturally-occurring mineral that helps to build bone density so that they stay healthy. It also works to enable our muscles and ligaments to contract in the way that they need to.

Vitamin A and B6 supplements are also essential for wrist health. Taking these vitamins kills the pain in your tendons and stops them from becoming more strained than necessary. By building muscles and tissue, these supplements can work wonders for wrist pain.

Drink the Right Teas

It may sound strange, but drinking the right teas can help your bones and muscles to stay healthy. Those in your wrists are no exception. Since your wrist is not made up of one bone or joint, but rather of dozens of them that work together, this is an especially important thing to focus on.

Tea is not only delicious, but it’s a beverage that works wonders. If you have any health problems (or want to prevent them,) then there’s a tea out there that’s perfect for you.

When it comes to strengthening bones and arm health, green tea is the right choice. It’s been shown to treat and prevent arthritis and osteoporosis as well as other issues like carpal tunnel. So, brew a delicious pot of peach-flavored green tea or ice some Jasmine green tea on a summer day!

More on How to Keep Your Wrists Healthy

There are a lot of ways that you can maintain healthy hands and wrists, but nothing can compare to natural supplements and remedies.

Now that you know how to keep your wrists healthy and prevent pain from developing and growing, it’s time to get started. Stretch out your wrists, brew some green tea, and then contact us to discuss your hand issues. Our experts will be happy to point you in the direction of some natural supplements that can help strengthen your joints and bones.