Have you gotten home after a mini-shopping-spree from the grocery or department store and instead of making two or three trips to carry everything inside you simply lined up all of the bags at once, looping them over your fingers and hand? With each of your fingers and thumb acting as a hanger you may have felt the stress and strain of the heavy groceries pulling your phalanges in directions you never knew they could bend.
Well if you’ve been guilty of this you’re not alone. In fact more often than not with our busy lifestyles, when “the going gets fast”, most people tend to place a little too much stress on their hands.
Even though a bag of groceries may not be all that heavy by itself, with multiple bags pulling unevenly or at awkward angles, the hands may become strained and begin to develop symptoms of pain.
Maybe you don’t normally carry groceries into your home in such a compromising fashion but it’s probable that you can relate in some other area in your life where you commonly use your hands in a high-stress activity.
The hands are very versatile and because of that without realizing it you may use them in such a way that could cause undue stress and even injury. Many times it’s what you would consider a light-weight task that causes stress to your hands.
The best rule of thumb (no pun intended), is to always keep your hands in as neutral of a position as possible when performing enduring tasks, even such tasks as carrying bags of groceries or gifts for the family. Using your hands in unnatural postures is one of the most harmful things that you could do that may result in strain or injury to the hands and wrists.
One HANDy take-away-tip for the holiday season is that it’s healthier to slow things down a little if it means keeping those fingers and hands in a non-contorted, more relaxed position.
This is a great video that will show you how to improve hand and wrist tendonitis.