oh my goodness! hey everybody it's Doctor Jo in pretty Kali, and today we're gonna
show you my top seven ways to relieve peripheral neuropathy in the hands. so
let's get started.
So the best way to treat peripheral neuropathy in the hands, and in the feet, is to keep
them moving. exercise, stretch them give them a lot of feedback. so the first
thing to do is just kind of do some curls with your fingers, and I like to do
them at each joint segment that really just kind of helps get everything
loosened up. so I like to start close and then work my way out to the end. so
you're just gonna do a full bend at that joint and then come back up. so this
might be a little bit difficult but if you can try and keep the fingers
straight and then just bend at that joint. you don't necessarily have to hold
it. this is just kind of an active motion, curling the fingers. do about 10. you can
do two sets of ten a couple of times a day. these are really easy to do you can
do them anywhere, even if you're at work. then you're gonna move to the next joint
and kind of curl down like this. I like to curl these in so it's almost like a
claw move while you're doing it, but then just kind of curling them in like that.
so same thing, do about ten you can do two sets of ten as long as it's not
increasing any pain in there. and then going to the the last joint. sometimes I
feel like you have to hold on to them a little bit depending on how much
flexibility you have in the joints or the other ones might try and start
curling. so just kind of curling in like that. so the same thing, just doing about
ten of those and then coming back out. you can add in the thumb if you want.
then come into a whole fist going open and closing just like that. curling the
fingers in. so after you get those done, then you're just going to do a finger
tap and this kind of helps give the finger some feedback as well. a lot of
times with that peripheral neuropathy, those nerves are kind of dying away
those peripheral nerves, but if you give them feedback and
sensitizing and desensitizing the area, that kind of helps with it. so just doing
some finger taps. taking your thumb and tapping each finger making sure that you
come back open each time you do it that helps as well. so usually with these I
say go all the way through each finger, maybe five times, but the biggest thing
is really make sure you're opening those fingers back up like that when you're
doing it. so you're getting a good motion through all those fingers. you might get
some tingling while you do it and that that's okay as long as it's not tingling
that stays once you stop doing the exercises. so then after that one, you're
gonna start getting your wrist moving a little bit because all this is kind of
connected that peripheral neuropathy depending on how severe it is, it might be
coming back up into your hands and your wrist area. so I like just kind of making
a fist, you can bend your elbow you can put it out straight putting out straight
is a little bit more stressful bending the elbows less if you want to prop it
up on a table if your arm is a little sore or tired or your shoulder you can
do that as well. I just kind of like bending it in like this and all you're
gonna do is go in to flexion, and then back into extension of the wrist. so in
like that, get a little stretch. this one you can hold for maybe three to five
seconds to get that little stretch on the end and then coming back in that way.
so again it doesn't have to be a long hold, but just going until you feel a
good stretch in there. so I'd say maybe three to five each way with that little
bit of a pause in between. and then so once you get that done you're gonna go
into stretching doing a full stretch of the wrist extensors out here, the ones
that pull them up, and the wrist flexors in here that pull those fingers down. and
again since they're all connected if you're working those that will help with
that peripheral neuropathy. so with this you want to keep your arm straight
because that's going to help get all that stretching in there. so for those
extensors on the outside, what you want to do is bring your wrist in and you
should feel that stretch there. so you if you curl in your hand, that's the biggest
stretch. if that's a little bit too much for you, you can just
keep your fingers straight. if the fingers, if you're kind of in between and
you want to do this stretch with the fingers, you can put a little bit of
pressure over it to give it a stretch, but if you want a really big stretch
curl in your fingers and then give it a little bit of a push with your other
hand. so with this one being a full stretch, you're going to hold it for 30
seconds and do that 3 times. most likely if you've got the peripheral neuropathy
it's going to be in both hands, so I'd recommend doing all these on both sides.
so I like to alternate back and forth. so if you're doing this stretch, then take a
little break and then go into your wrist flexor stretches which is kind of going
up into a stop sign. so this one's a little bit different. if you curl in your
fingers it's less this time, and if you open up your fingers, then it's more. so
if you want that big stretch, keep your fingers open and then give it a nice
pull there and you should feel that stretch underneath there. so again 30
seconds and then after that then if you want to switch, so you give it a little
break in between, you can do that. that really is just nice because that gets
everything just kind of loosened up in there and then you can feel a little bit
better get a little bit more circulation in there to help with that peripheral
neuropathy. then the next one you can either roll up a towel or if you have
like a tennis ball or a racquet ball something that's a little bit squishy,
you can do a towel or a ball squeeze and so with this one this is really just to
give you something comfortable in your hand, and it's just like it sounds, you're
just gonna squeeze it. so this one you want to hold for about five seconds. so
I'm just squeezing get working those finger muscles in there nice big squeeze,
and then relax. and so you're probably just going to do this one five times for
five seconds. so that nice squeeze you can use something like a lacrosse ball,
but it's a little bit firmer. I like the balls that give you a little bit more of
a squish and gives a little just because I feel like you can give a better
squeeze on that, but if you just have something like a lacrosse ball,
that's okay to do as well. and then you're going to strengthen in the
opposite direction. so an easy way to do that is just take a rubber band.
it doesn't really have to be a special band, it can just be something
that was wrapped around your mail or a newspaper. and you're gonna put the band
just kind of at the tips of your fingers all around right there, but put it in
enough so it's not gonna pop out on you once you start to open up. and you're
just going to open up your fingers like that. now you probably won't be able to
open them all the way up and that's okay but the biggest thing is to slowly come
back in. so you're not just letting it pop back in like that, you're really
controlling it both ways so you're getting that exercise going out and
you're getting that exercise by controlling it back in. so this would be
one where you go back to maybe doing ten of them, two sets of ten, a couple times a
day. and then the last thing I like to do is just to kind of stretch it out with a
prayer stretch. and a prayer stretch is a lot of times for carpal tunnel syndrome,
and the reason I like to add this one in is because sometimes that peripheral
neuropathy might actually be carpal tunnel syndrome, or it might be
misdiagnosed, but either way it's helping kind of stretch that carpal tunnel in
there. so if there's some nerve issues, if some nerves or you know kind of getting
pinched and tingling in there, this is going to be a nice way to end with
stretching. so with the prayer stretch again is kind of like it sounds, you're
gonna put your hands together like you're praying, and then you're gonna
bring your hands down and then push your elbows outwards. so you can see I'm
getting a big stretch through here in that carpal tunnel area, and so again
since this one is a full stretch you would hold that for thirty seconds and
just do that three times. and a lot of times even if it is a true peripheral
neuropathy, even with this stretch once you relax it does feel a little bit
better because you're just increasing the circulation you're getting some of
that tightness out of the area. oh yeah. so those are my top seven ways to
relieve peripheral neuropathy in the hands. if you'd like to help support my
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by clicking down there, yeah. and remember be safe, have fun, and I hope you
feel better soon.