The hands are often a neglected part of the body despite using hands for almost everything we do. It is important to make sure you loosen the hands because it may help you with your daily tasks, prevent injuries in the hands for the future, help hand-related conditions, and help you fight tightness and inflammation in this part of the body. As muscular dystrophy can impact the muscles in the hands, doing this may help reduce muscular damage in this area. Again, since you use your hands for many daily activities, I strongly recommend supporting your hands with self-massage techniques. This blog will cover two videos that go over the hand massage technique some of my therapists have taught me over the years.
The first video by myfatpocket is called “Massage: Relax & De-tense the Hands,” and to follow through with the massage, watch the video, but I will be providing a summary here also:
- To begin, clench your fists and release them three to five times.
- Next, shake your hands about ten times, followed by flicking your fingers ten times.
- Then, rotate your wrist ten times in each direction, followed by rotating your thumbs in each direction ten times.
- Next, on each finger, rotate your fingers five times in each direction.
- After this, flick your fingers and shake your hands around ten times each.
- The next thing to do is to press the tips of each finger for about five seconds each.
- Then, do the same thing for the sides of your finger (you can massage the fingers as you do this) for around ten to fifteen seconds.
- After, press the spot at the bottom part between your fingers for five seconds each.
- Using the thumb, massage the top, middle, and bottom parts of your hands in a circular motion. I do this for about seconds on each hand section (to clarify, you are massaging the palm).
- After you do this, press the center of your palm for 5 seconds.
- Then, I would recommend massaging the other side of your hand. To do this, start by massaging each finger at the top and then move to massage the three sections of your hand in a circular motion.
The second video I will be covering is by applemyli and is called “Self Hand Massage.” Again watching the video will be more helpful, but I will provide a summary here as well. If you are using both videos for reference, you do not have to repeat the same motions.
- The video starts with the person applying cream or a massage product to help them massage their hands. Do this in slow-motion.
- The next part involves them massaging the front part of the hand (the part of the hand with the nails) and going up to the wrist. Do this circular motion around ten times.
- Next, use your thumb to massage the other hand’s thumb muscles in the front and the back of the hand.
- Following this, massage the palm of your hand on the top, middle, and bottom sections.
- Next, the person once again slowly massages the top part of their hands.
- After this, move the joints of your finger by grabbing your nail and moving the finger up, down, and pressing it towards your hand.
- After that, press and massage the sides of all your fingers.
- Next, do a gentle massage to all parts of the hand, and you finish the massage technique.
These massage techniques have helped me release tightness in my hand after typing on my computer, holding a book, eating food, typing on my phone, and so much more. My hands are still tight, but it has improved over time, and I rarely feel my hand strained for any activity. It also feels better when your hands are loose as you are free to move them however you please. I would highly recommend massaging your hands for minor improvements and tightness. If reflexology is correct and many points in the hand are connected to various areas in the body, you may be helping your whole body. Please find the time to release tightness in your hands, and you will be thanking yourself.
