In this video we're going to look at
some myofascial exercises to help with
pain and other symptoms that you may be
feeling in your arms and your hands.
Lots of people suffer from problems here
And, depending on where they mainly feel
the problem, they may get a diagnosis of
a specific condition. Pain felt mainly
in the forearm and elbow could be
diagnosed as golfer's elbow or tennis
Elbow, if it's felt more in the wrist it
could carpal tunnel syndrome or
Tendonitis, and if it's felt more in your
fingers or causes problems with movement,
it could be diagnosed as trigger finger.
All of these conditions are also
contained within the umbrella term RSI
or repetitive strain injury and that's
exactly what it says - repetitive strain
injury is caused by doing too much of
one thing, in particular anything that
involves fine movement of your fingers
and thumbs. Computer work is a very
classic example of something that can
start to cause problems like pain and
other issues to develop in your hands
and forearms. A lot of the time the problems
actually come from further upstream in
your neck or your chest or your armpit,
but lots of people do specifically find
that they have problems with their
forearms which can feel tight and sore.
This area is really important
because you have lots of little muscles
on this side of your forearm,
and on this side, which between them work
your fingers and your thumb. And so
because they're small muscles they can
get irritated and tired very easily and
as they get irritated the fascia around
them starts to change and thicken and
sticks together. Instead of having
lots of mobile little muscles in here,
you have what feels like a solid lump.
These exercises can help to undo some of
this restriction and give you more
movement and freedom in your fingers and
Thumbs, and reduce the pain and other
symptoms that you may be feeling. The
first exercise we're going to do can be
done on the floor and this is to help
stretch your forearms. To stretch the
underside of your forearms, place your
hands flat on the floor close to your
Knees, and then come up on your knees and
just start to lean forwards. You will
feel a stretch in the back of your
forearms which will come right from your
hand, over your wrists and up into your
arm. Only stretch as far as is
Comfortable, never stretch into pain, and
don't put all your body weight on your
Hands. You're just using your hands on
the floor to create a little bit of a
lever for the stretch. Be in this
stretch for at least a couple of minutes
to feel things start to release and then
come out. To work on this side of your
forearms then turn your hands over so
that the backs of your hands are flat on
the floor and then just gently start to
lean back. Again, you'll start to feel the
stretch that comes over the back of your
hand, your wrists and up into your
forearm.
Only stretch as far as is
Comfortable, waiting for a couple of
minutes for things to release. Some
people find that that version of the
stretch is too much for them because
they already have quite a lot of pain,
especially around the wrists. If that's
the case for you, then you can also do
this stretch just by having your arm out
in front of you and then just push
the back of your hand back towards
the forearm to create a stretch into
this side of your wrist and into your
hand. To work on the other side, turn your
hand over and then just gently pull your
fingers back towards you and you will
feel a stretch
starting to come into your wrist and
forearm. Again be here for at least
a couple of minutes to allow time for
things to start to stretch and let go.
Some people find doing the stretch with
their arm held out in front of them is
quite tiring if your arms are already
quite tight and sore holding
them up can be quite tiring for you. In
which case you can use a table or a
chair arm to support your arm making
sure that your hand just drops over the
Edge, and you can then create a stretch
without having to hold your arm up as
well. And then you can turn your hand
over and do the same thing on the other
side. This is actually quite a good one
to do on a chair when watching
TV or just relaxing. You can also work
on your forearms using a myofascial
ball. You can only use a larger
inflatable ball like this, or a smaller
trigger point ball like this. If you
place it on a surface like a table
top or a kitchen work surface and then
just very slowly roll your forearm over the ball,
stopping on any areas that may feel a
bit tight or sore and waiting for
these to release. You can work
anywhere from your elbow to your wrist
and you can even come over your wrist
onto your hand, just allowing time for
the tissues to release and let go. To
work on the other side of your forearm,
just turn your arm over. Again place the
ball on a hard surface and just roll
your forearm very gently and slowly over
the ball, waiting on
areas that feel tight or sore. By
doing these exercises regularly you can
help to gradually loosen some restrictions
in your forearms in particular that will
be contributing to pain that you might
be feeling in your hands and your arms.
You can find these and many other
self-help myofascial release
exercises in our Living Pain Free online
programme which you can find on our
Website. along with our myofascial release
Kits.