The Central Orthopedic Group of Long Island are your general orthopedic pain management specialists. We work with patients in multiple locations, including Plainview and Rockville Center, to relieve their Carpal Tunnel pain and bring back function to their hands. Through our specialty services, such as orthopedic surgeries, non-surgical interventions, physical therapy, pain management, and more, we can find a solution to whatever is causing you physical distress. To help you, we put together this blog post with exercises you can do at home or at work to help relieve pain from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
Do These Exercises at Work!
Your entire body will benefit from these movements, including your mood and productivity at work as you increase the circulation in your body, making everything work better. The best part is that they are very minimal and can be done while sitting up straight at your desk. Some are even so minimal that your coworkers wont notice you’re doing them, such as the first, “Mirrored Fingers Carpal Tunnel Exercise.”
Pain is always unwanted, but pain at work that keeps you from performing at your peak is truly unacceptable. To avoid pain in your hand and loss of function while at work you can incorporate one of these into a two minute break once every hour, or as works with your schedule.
Mirrored Fingers Carpal Tunnel Exercise
1st Place your palms together and your fingers pointed outward, away from you.
2nd Then spread out your fingers, with each finger pressing the other (ie. right thumb presses left thumb, right pointer finger presses left pointer finger, right middle finger presses left middle finger, right ring finger presses left ring finger, and right pinky presses left pinky.)
3rd Now this is the repetitive motion part: bring your fingers in to the center (like the ASL signing position for “more”) and then slide them outward again. This should feel like your fingers are gliding, as if sliding over glass or a mirror.
4th Repeat this motion for about 30-60 seconds.
The repetitive sliding of the fingers in this mirrored stretch effects the carpal tunnel structures. The median nerve gets irritated when carpal tunnel syndrome is affecting a person’s body, and this stretches it out. The palmar fascia is also stretched by this exercise.
Wrist Bend Exercise Exercise
1st On the side that is causing you pain, straighten your arm and hold it out in front of you. Extend your fingertips out straight
2nd Then use your opposite hand to fold your wrist forward, allowing your fingers to point down (not towards you unless you want a really deep stretch, just be careful not to over stretch.)
3rd Hold for about 3 seconds. Then release the wrist so the wrist moves to point straight again with the fingers outstretched forward again.
4th Repeat the folding, holding, release movement a few times and then repeat on the other arm.
This exercise is a little more intense and deeper than the first, and can bring more immediate relief. You can really feel the stretch in the top of your wrist.
Contact Us
At Central Orthopedics of Long Island we are here to help you manage your pain and return your body to its peak of functionality. You shouldn’t have to live in pain: we can help. For pain management on long island, contact us today to start your road to recovery with one of our orthopedic surgeons.
Along with exercises and therapy there are non-surgical options available to relieve carpal tunnel syndrome pain such as cortisone shot injections. Should you and one of our doctors decide surgery is the best option for you, an open release would be performed to relieve the pain and increase muscle function. Our orthopedic surgeons are some of the best at what they do. We are positive that we can help you find relief from your carpal tunnel pain through physical therapy or orthopedic surgery.