hey everybody its doctor Jo and the pups, and today we're gonna show you the top
five stretches and exercises for carpal tunnel syndrome. so let's get started.
The first stretches are just more of a
warm-up. so just make a fist with both hands. most the time it's usually in both
hands. if it's not it's still pretty good to do both. and once you make a fist you
can keep your elbows bent. if you want to put them straight out you can, but this
is more of a warm-up, so I usually keep them bent. and just bend them down as far
as you comfortably can and then up as far as you comfortably can. so almost
like you're revving a motorcycle up, but just to kind of a continuing to stretch
back and forth. so this is a little bit more just getting it as a warm-up
instead of a full stretch, but you'll feel that stretch in there, so I would
say maybe ten each way. but just going up and down just kind of getting those
wrist moving a little bit. especially if you've got that carpal tunnel syndrome
in there where that that numbness is coming down into your hands and you feel
it and your fingers and in your hands, that's a good way to kind of warm it up.
then you're going to turn your hands up this way where your thumbs are on top,
and then you're going to go into radial and ulnar deviation. so just up and down.
so same thing, this is really just to kind of get that wrist loosened up. it's
kind of a continuous motion going up and down. you don't have to go super fast. you
don't have to go super slow. just kind of a continuous motion just to get
everything nice and loosened up in there. and again that you know that carpal
tunnel is right here, so that median nerve that comes down through there is
the one that usually gets compressed and giving that nerve pain. so if you're
having nerve pain up here and even up into your neck, that's not carpal tunnel
syndrome, that's something coming from your neck or your shoulder. if it's
higher up sometimes it radiates a little bit this way, but it's not going to
radiate all the way up into your shoulder if it's just carpal tunnel
syndrome. so then the next ones are going into a full stretch. so this is going to
be for your wrist flexors and your wrist extensors. so the first one, this time
you're going to put your arms straight out. you can do kind of a
modified version and then you can do it a little bit more. so you're going to
kind of come up into a stop sign position like this. this is the bigger
stretch here. if you don't want quite as much of a stretch you can start off with
your fist straight out, but if you want a little bit more of a stretch under here
for those wrist flexors then put your hands up into that stop sign position. if
you need even more of a stretch you can put a little bit of over pressure with
the other hand. and alternate back and forth, or you can go up against a wall
and put a stretch in there, but this one's a full stretch. so you want to hold
that stretch for thirty Seconds, and you want to do that three times. what I like
to do is alternate back and forth between your wrist flexors and your
wrist extensors, so instead of doing all three at one time, now you're going to
come down, but it's gonna change. so if your fingers are straight out you're
just gonna have a little bit of a stretch on those extensors up there, but
if you want more of a stretch curl them in and you'll really feel that stretch
through there. and then if you still need more of a stretch you can either push on
each side, or take your hands and kind of push them up against the wall and just
get some more pressure in there. so again thirty Seconds, three this way.
so if you just alternate back and forth there'd be a total of six times, three
each way for that thirty seconds. so that really gets it nice and loosened up. then
the next one is going to be a prayer stretch. that really stretches into that
carpal tunnel area, so what I like to do is put my palms together. to start off
with with my elbows kind of close together and then keeping your palms
together, bring your elbows out and your hands down. so it kind of looks like
you're going into a prayer. but you really want to push those elbows out and
you're going to get a really really good stretch in there. now this going all the
way down. if you have carpal tunnel syndrome this might be just a little bit too
much. so bring it up a little bit if you need to. thats stretching, you want it to
be tension. you want to be that good hurt, hurt so good feeling, but you don't want
to just be pain pain. you might get some of that numbness tingling feeling in
your fingers when you're doing this. you're putting that compression on that
nerve, so as long as if you let it up it goes away that's fine, but if you're
stretching and you feel it and you let it up and it's still getting that numbness,
some tingling, you might be to doing a little bit too much. but this is another
one where you're holding it for that 30 seconds and then you're doing that three
times. so really just getting that good stretch. if you need to take a break in
between and shake them out and again, if it's a little numb, but then it kind of
goes away if you move it a little bit that's fine, but if it stays numb that's
when you probably really need to check in with a doctor or physical therapist
because it might be something else. it might be coming from your neck, your shoulder,
your elbow, or your wrist. so that's why it's really important to find out
exactly what's causing it first. so the next one is going to be for your pecs to
stretch out those because even though this is the carpal tunnel syndrome, that
whole chain goes all the way down. so sometimes those tight PEC muscles in
there do cause that numbness and tingling. so if you're not quite 100%
sure, doing a PEC stretch is really good stretching out that chest area. and an
easy one to do while you're sitting down is just take your hands and clasp them
behind you. and so basically what you're gonna do is you're gonna push down and
out and then just push your chest forward as you stretch. and you should
really feel that stretch right through there. so again if you feel a little bit
of numbness and tingling while you're doing it, it's okay as long as once you
let go that numbness and tingling goes away, but if it continues after you hold
that stretch, don't keep doing it because that might be something else going on
that you really need to get checked out. so pushing down and out and then pushing
your chest out and for it and again holding that for 30 seconds doing that
three times. so then another good one to stretch is your anterior scalene muscles
in the front and again if these are tight a lot of times it will pull up in
this area and put pressure on the nerves going out
this way. so sometimes it's like a thoracic outlet syndrome pushing on the
brachial plexus something like that where you're having that numbness and
tingling in your hands that you might think it's carpal tunnel syndrome, but it
might not be. so another great stretch to do is to stretch out those anterior scalene muscles.
so what I like to do is just kind of place my hand on my collarbone here, that
just helps kind of hold it down to get a little stretch, and turn your head the
opposite way. so if I'm stretching this side and then bring that ear up towards
the ceiling. so I'm stretching right through that area right there, and I get
a nice good stretch. I feel it again it should be super comfortable, not painful.
holding that for 30 seconds. and then I would actually do each side even if
again you're only really feeling it on one side, I'd stretch out both sides just
to get everything nice and loosen up. so again 30 seconds, three times on each
side. holding the collarbone or that clavicle turning away and then looking
up pointing that ear towards the ceiling. so there you have it those were your top
five stretches and exercises for carpal tunnel syndrome. if you'd like to help
support my channel, find out how by clicking up here, and don't forget to
subscribe by clicking down here. And remember, be safe have, fun and I hope you
feel better soon.