- Bob, as you and I know,
and I think our viewers know.
As we age, our hands typically
become a little more stiff
- Unfortunately. - And painful.
It's not unusual at all.
We are going to show you
a very simple exercise program you can do daily
to keep those hands nimble, pain-free
and to keep you moving.
- This is especially for you, Don and Margaret.
- Exactly right. We're gonna help you out.
- Hi! - But first,
our famous jingle.
(upbeat music plays) ♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapist ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- All right.
So there's actually a real logical reason
why our hands do become stiff and painful.
- Why is that Brad?
- Well, Bob, as you know, arthritis,
whether it's rheumatoid or just typical osteoarthritis-
- Good ol' art.
- That is in the joints
and there is actually 27 bones and 27 joints
in our hands, in our wrists.
So, they're just-
- How many muscles?
- Ah, 34 muscles. - Right.
- And a lot of those are little muscles.
They can fatigue quickly
and they can be a source of pain as well.
So as we know,
motion is lotion. - Is lotion.
- In other words, you put some lotion
on your hands to make 'em feel better.
All is we need to do is get things moving.
It's going to help things on better.
So we're gonna show you how to do it, right?
There's no problem coming up.
So hold on.
Okay. We're going to show this exercise stretching program
for the hands and wrists in two sections.
The first section is gonna be one
that you can do to yourself, an independent one.
And then you may have someone that needs assistance
with stretching the hand for whatever reason
and we're gonna show that at the end.
So, you can fast forward if you want to get to that.
So, first of all, a simple hands out
and whatever position you're comfortable with
and simply up and down,
keeping the forearms relatively still
like you're waving hello or goodbye.
But the idea is go up as high as you can go down.
It's not a quick motion.
It's meaningful motion.
Five to ten repetitions is all you'll need, okay?
And then open and close the fist.
Now you may have problems
not being able to close your fists all the way right away,
'cause they're stiff and painful, that's okay.
Just go as far as comfortable, same with open.
And we're gonna address that in just a little bit.
Okay, good.
Now we're gonna go on to the next.
And if you happen to have hands
that do not open up flat or extended like this,
they may be at a position like this.
- I got this figure.
- Yeah, if it's all the fingers or just one,
you can go on a table,
put a towel down
and say your hands cannot flatten out
and simply just put gentle pressure down.
And what the towel does,
it allows it to slip on that smooth table
and just pressure down until you get it flat.
- How about if I take your hammer?
- Yeah. Well you take a hammer in your hands
but our viewers aren't gonna do it.
- Okay.
- Just gently with the other hand, okay?
And some people may only get that far
but if you get that far,
the next step is we're going to do what we call extension.
So, the hands really should go back like this
and the wrist should go back.
So what you're gonna do is-
This is the hand I'm stretching.
Take the other hand and mirror it
and go over and stretch back like this.
Now you may only go like this,
you may mirror it like this.
Now you'll find if only one,
like Bob's got one finger that is really flexed.
- Right. A problem top.
- Then you can just do the stiff finger or thumb
and push it back.
Now, one thing I like to do is take my thumb,
put it on the back on the knuckles here and then use that
as a fulcrum point. - A lever.
- Yes. And then you can really, and that was-
- Oh, that really works. - Yeah, it does.
This is an another thing you may wanna do
if you're able to is just use a table, stretch like this.
You can put your fingers.
We'll take the towel off.
That's not needed over the edge.
So there's a variety
and as you work with you,
you'll find out which is better for you.
You could do one finger at a time.
Now, you're not gonna get too aggressive
with these stretches.
A little stretch pain is okay.
Sharp pain, that's too much. - No, bad.
- You're just gonna flare things up
and you're gonna be upset with us.
So, make sure you do not go too aggressive.
This is something that'll come with time.
Okay, next we wanna work on closing the fist,
which can be a problem
when the fingers don't get into the palm as tight.
This is an option you can do.
If you want, put a pillow and just let your arm rest.
It's up to you.
- Be good to yourself.
- Yeah, whatever makes you feel better.
Okay, so let's make the fist.
Now what you can do,
and this is what I've done with myself
is just over the top of the fist,
close all four fingers at once.
- You're hoping the fingertips are actually going down
into the crease.
- Right. So, they make a full flex like that.
If they don't right away, that's okay.
Just bring 'em down, whatever works.
If there's one or two stubborn fingers,
you can work on.
Say, this one is stubborn,
I'm gonna start at this joint, push down
and then work individual joint.
And that's one of the things you have to do on each finger.
Again, if it's a global problem
and otherwise a whole hand is stiff,
you may be able to get 'em all at once.
- We call those as the 'Brad fingers.'
(Brad laughs) They're stubborn.
- Right. If you happen to have a trigger finger,
we do have a video specific for trigger finger
and you should watch.
- That's a whole different story.
- It is.
And in the thumb, that's a little bit different story.
You're gonna need to work the base first
and kind of work it forward and backwards.
It moves differently than other fingers.
It's the opposing finger. - Right.
- And work the joint here.
- It circumducts. - Yeah.
- Actually goes as circle.
- Yeah, I always get confused with the thumbs.
But work that as well.
Now we're gonna get into, we've got that.
And when you finish, just work 'em out,
shake 'em out a little bit, whatever.
And then you're done.
Now, after you do this a few times,
you'll find that you can get through this whole thing
in a matter of one to two minutes.
And you wanna do it at least once a day,
probably two to three times a day,
depending on your needs.
Now we're gonna go through how to assist somebody else
with this who needs assistant.
Okay, if you're doing it to another person for assistance,
the first thing is to be aware
of how aggressive you are.
Now, the person, whether they had a stroke,
they have some dementia, Alzheimer,
and they're unable to communicate pain very well,
what you need to do is watch their eyes.
The eyes will communicate pain.
They'll start to open up,
you'll know- - Or cry.
- Yeah. Or cry.
You listen to 'em.
But 'cause a lot of times people won't say "Stop, it hurts"
for whatever reason,
depends on their level of cognition.
So make sure you don't overdo it
by being aware of their facial expression.
So again, now this is nice.
If you can put something like this
and we're gonna keep the forearm stable,
you don't have to do it that way.
You could put it on your lap if you want.
- [Bob] Or a pillow.
- [Brad] Yeah. But with Bob, I don't care about his comfort.
Just kind little humor.
But this can be okay.
It all depends on the individual support here.
I'm gonna grab here.
And I like to have my thumb back.
So when we extend, we go back like this and down.
So again, feel the joint.
After you do this with a person once or twice,
you'll get a feel for where they go and-
- So the thumb works as a lever.
- Yeah, right there.
And that works well, 'cause that motion is important.
And then when you go down, you can do this.
But again, gentle, everything is very gentle.
- [Bob] Look at them eyes.
- [Brad] Yup. When those eyes start to open,
oh, that's enough.
And the first time you do it,
better to go easier than more aggressive.
And if you're like a big burly person
and your easy is their extremely hard,
you really have to be careful with that.
You can work at this direction.
This is something we did not do on the individual one
but it does come with it.
And then the fingers,
I'm gonna support on the wrist
and work the fingers here.
And a lot of times you'll get these fingers rounding here
and you can work up real gently here, gently, gently.
You can do one finger at a time
if you have that stubborn finger.
Or even if you don't, you can work.
You notice I have my thumb here on this joint.
If this is the problem joint,
and then it's not extending,
put the thumb there and work on that.
And if you wanna pull on it gently,
a little traction can sometimes loosen up the joint.
- [Bob] Feels good.
- [Brad] Yep. A little rotation can help.
When I say a little, a little. - [Bob] Right.
- [Brad] It's very gentle.
All this is gentle and you can go with between each finger
and again, the thumb,
you may wanna turn it up this way
and you can start this direction.
Just get a feel for how it's going at first
and feel which joint,
'cause there's a joint way up in here.
That's the big difference with the thumb.
And then this joint actually doesn't move a lot
but there's some motion there.
And then of course, flexion on the end,
the distal joint part above.
And then again, just do some gentle.
You can pull little traction, gently work that hand around.
- [Bob] Don't pull the hand off. (Brad chuckles)
- [Brad] Be careful.
Talk to the person while you're doing it.
- Sing to them.
- Yeah, if you've got a good voice, sing,
otherwise, don't torture them.
That would be my situation.
So that will take a little bit longer.
But once you do it a few times,
the another person should enjoy it,
who's getting the stretch.
And it should go very smoothly
and it'll only take a few minutes.
- Peace.
- Enjoy, have good healthy moveable wrists and hands.
And, is that way you can play cards, go golfing.
All those things.
- Shuffle.
- Shuffle?
Oh the cards, absolutely.
Enjoy.
(upbeat music)