- Do you have arthritic pain in your hands?
- Arthritic pain can be scary,
especially when you first experience it.
However, we're gonna show you some simple ways
to alleviate it and deal with it,
so the progression is much slower.
(bright upbeat music)
- [Mike] At the end of the video,
we will show you how to make something
that anybody with hands will smile.
- Ba ha ha.
One of the single best ways
to alleviate and control the pain
is protect the small joints,
particularly in your fingers and hand.
All right, there's three ways to do this.
First of all, we're gonna talk about,
you're only gonna wrap the joints that hurt.
So example, if my thumb or thumb joint hurts down in here,
what we recommend is using this product called
Coban, C-O-B-A-N.
You can get it online, you can get it at stores.
It's stretchy and it does not stick to your skin,
but it sticks to itself.
So I'm gonna start, if my thumb was achy,
I'm gonna wrap it around here and you can see it stretched,
so you're not gonna get it too tight,
just tight enough to offer support.
And you can go around here to get the the joint way low,
if that's a way to put it, down low, proximal,
that's it, to the wrist.
Mike, show 'em how to do the finger joints.
- Oh, you can use it between different finger joints,
like Brad said, don't go too tight,
just wrap it around.
If your fingers are turning red, it is way too tight.
Just go to the painful area,
and you can simply just rip it off,
it sticks to itself, no tape is needed.
- You may even do the, you know, two joints,
and wrap it all the way here.
Whatever works for you.
Yeah, it'll prevent your knuckles from bending
and using that area too much.
The second tip is to transfer stress
from a smaller joint to a larger joint.
Basically meaning your shoulder,
taking it away from your hand.
So the first tip is to use a purse on your shoulders,
and not your hands.
This'll put the stress more up high,
and take it away from the arthritic pain
you're experiencing in your hands.
- Another nice way to do this is, for example, luggage.
Make sure you have luggage that has wheels on,
you can extend the handle,
and wheel your luggage easily on the nice wheels.
- The third option is to use a padded steering wheel,
or heated steering wheel if you happen to have one.
Just having that extra layer
could take some of the grip pressure
off of that arthritic hand.
- Another common example
is when you're pushing off of a chair,
don't push with your fingers on the armrest.
Get the palm of your hand and push.
And that goes for other things as well.
When you're opening a door,
or pushing and pulling on a broom, whatever it may be,
get the palm to accept the pressure, not the finger joints.
- The third tip for hand arthritis
is to do some range of motion exercises.
So the first one Brad is demonstrating
is called the tabletop.
So you're gonna leave your fingers straight
and bend at your proximal knuckles.
The next exercise is called the claw.
(Brad growling) So it's shaped like a claw
when you're trying to
grab those toys out of those machines.
So you're just bending your fingers
and keeping your palms straight in a nice vertical fashion.
- Grandkids like this one.
- [Mike] Ooh, the claw.
Next is full flexion.
It's basically just making a fist.
So close down and open all the way up.
See, Brad is going one joint at a time
to get nice, proper, oh, his finger stuck.
- Trigger finger.
- [Mike] You need this.
- Mm-hmm.
- [Mike] Next is finger abduction and adduction.
So make a high five and just open your fingers,
spread 'em apart, and then bring them back together.
And last is called opposition,
or touching each fingertip with your thumb.
So he's just going second finger, third, fourth, fifth,
and just going back and forth.
You could do 10 repetitions of each,
or whatever feels comfortable for you.
- It's very fun. I'm enjoying myself. Thank you.
- And a bonus tip is to use heat
when you have arthritic pain in your hands.
So this is a homemade hot pack.
It is uncooked rice in some socks.
So what you do is put this
in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute,
depending upon how strong your microwave is,
and then take it out, and you can hold it
or wrap it around the hand that is problematic.
- Good.
And you can do gentle squeezing with it as tolerated.
In regards to how to make that, there's a trick.
Simply take a glass, put the sock on your hand like so.
Put it in, pull it over like this, get your bag of rice out.
There we go. Get that in there.
And you can pour the rice in there.
Pull it up, up, up.
Now Bob did this.
I didn't actually do this,
but he said it works absolutely wonderful.
Once you get one sock full, then take another sock,
And you put the empty other sock
over it the other direction.
So you can see in here,
you have the socks oppose each other.
It works out really well, so you don't make a big mess.
Now if you have cats and dogs,
do not let 'em chew with this.
All right.
Unless it's warm, then they'll like it for their teeth.
- Now.
- Oh yeah, we've got a wonderful deal here.
- If this seems like too much work,
we are giving away a Bob and Brad hand warmer.
- [Brad] It's a giveaway.
- It is a giveaway, so enter to win down below.
Otherwise, if you wanna purchase one,
they are for sale on Amazon, and we'll have a link.
- Yeah, they come with three different heating levels.
They really work well.
You can put it in your glove if you're outside,
there, well that's what Bob does with his,
and my daughter loves it for skiing, she has one.
And I just come back inside quick,
and warm 'em up with my sock.
- I'm taking this one home. I'm not giving it back.
- Okay, once again, be
helpful, helpful. - [Bob] Helpful.
- And be careful.
(Brad chuckles)
(bright upbeat music)