Hand Strengthening with Osteoarthritis.
Painful and stiff joints can often make it hard to strengthen the hands. Naturally, as we age, we lose muscle tone which eventually leads to the loss of strength and function. Often times I will have patients that will come in looking for a strengthening kit, or bring me one that they have already found online on Amazon. A lot of these tools are not only painful for them to use, it’s not beneficial for functionally strengthening the hands. Promoting a strong pinch, wrist and cylindrical grasp, can often give a patient a lot more function rather than traditional non-purposeful gripping exercises. It is important to comprehensively strengthen the upper extremity to help with arthritis symptoms and to use joint protection strategies in order to decrease pain and torque on joints (excessive force promote deformity). Hands on Neurorehab now offers a specialized hand therapy toolkit with evidenced-based strategies, and equipment to help with improving strength post injury or for those with arthritis. This tool kit includes a protocol from a certified hand therapist and orthopedic manual therapist curated to make a difference in patient outcomes.
