This video will be helpful
if you use your hands a lot,
including typing and texting,
playing musical instrument
or any sort of intricate work.
These hand yoga exercises are great for text claw,
carpal tunnel and ganglionic cyst or baker's cyst.
I've even gotten rid of my own ganglionic cyst in my wrist
and worked with my own hand arthritis
through techniques like this.
Hey, my name is Ann Swanson.
I'm a certified yoga therapist
and author of SCIENCE OF YOGA.
And if you wanna see more videos like this,
make sure you click that like button.
And even better, if you haven't already,
download my free app, Wellness by Ann
for commercial free wellness videos to relieve pain.
Now let's get started and warm up.
So start by just opening and closing your hands
several times.
Focus on that open action,
'cause we tend to be in that closed and flexed position
in our daily activities.
Couple of more times.
Now interlace your fingers
and do the wave.
Once you get the hang of it,
actually, I'm gonna have you reverse directions
than whatever direction you're going now
is probably the more difficult direction,
but this is good for your brain.
Try to smooth it out.
And don't worry, this'll get better with practice.
So, definitely come back to this video daily for prevention
or whenever you need some pain relief.
All right, let's do some dynamic stretching.
So, bring your hands out and pull each finger back
gently, just like this.
One finger at a time,
moving through one hand
and then the other hand.
Of course you don't wanna have any increased pain
or tingling or numbness during any of these exercises.
So just adapt as needed.
Next exercise, bring your palms facing toward me.
And then you're going to flex your fingers
at this major joint here, right at the hand.
And you can imagine this kinda looks like a beak of a bird.
So we'll see this beak of the bird
and then we're gonna flex all the fingers
to come into a fist.
This is the body of the bird.
And then we're going to swoop down and fly.
So, beak, body, swoop to fly.
So, beak, body swoop to fly.
Beak, body, swoop to fly.
Beak, body, fly.
Let's do it two more times.
And then relax your hands for a moment.
And we will strengthen, which is really key.
It's not only about the stretching.
So bring one hand into a fist.
And then the other hand, it's gonna be flat.
Bring the fist into the palm of the hand.
Now you get to choose where you put the pressure
in order to not cause any more pain
and how much of an angle you have at your wrist.
So, find the place that's right for you
and bring your forearms to be paralleled to the floor.
And you're going to press the hand into the fist
and the fist into the hand
at whatever level is tolerable.
Once again, if you need to make an adjustment,
loosen up your fist a little bit
to relieve any tension, feel free.
What you should be feeling is
strengthening and activation
around your arms, your wrists, your hands,
even your shoulders are working here.
Keep those shoulders down.
Neck is long
Press for another moment.
We are strengthening on this side with the neutral wrist
and I found that to be really key for my wrist issues.
And then the other side here in extension,
is helping to prevent carpal tunnel.
But once again, you gotta find that angle
that's right for you.
May even help with your carpal tunnel symptoms
as long as you don't do it too much.
And then come out, let's shake the hands out.
We'll do the other side.
So other hand into a fist,
bring it into the palm,
find the angle of the wrist that's right for you.
Make sure that the forearms are parallel to the floor
and then put as much pressure as you'd like pressing.
You get to choose how much you do.
Sometimes I have to tell myself
to loosen that fist a little bit,
cause I don't wanna have any increased pain in my wrist
or in my fingers
but I do wanna feel that sense of strengthening.
So find the amount of intensity that works for you.
Couple more breaths here,
keep those shoulders relaxed, neck long.
And then shake it out.
And last thing is to bring your palms to your lap
and touch your thumb to your first finger
or toward it, wherever it can reach.
This is to cultivate a sense of calm.
Take a moment and allow a sense of calm to wash over you.
Acknowledging the calm that you have within you.
Touch the thumb to the second finger, that middle finger.
This is to cultivate patience.
Maybe there's something in your life
you'd like to set the intention to be more patient about.
Take a moment, setting that intention
and feeling and acknowledging the patience within you.
Take another breath here.
And then touch to your ring finger.
Confidence.
Take a moment.
Sit a little taller.
And feel confident.
What does confident mean to you?
What are you confident about recently?
And then to your little finger intuitive.
Acknowledging the natural intuition you have within you
with just a few moments of silence.
Release all of your fingers,
palms facing up and simply feel the resulting sensations
from all that you just did for yourself.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Now one more hand exercise, you can wave goodbye
with a radial deviation and an ulnar deviations.
Side to side a few times.
And now that you've refreshed your typing fingers,
comment below how you feel.
And if you haven't already,
make sure you download that app, Wellness by Ann
which has great videos, including more hand pain videos.
Thank you so much and be well.
(soft music)