i phone or blackberry in their left hand for long periods of time while keying in with their right hand.
What is It?
In your hands the little finger (pinkie) and the thumb are mainly served by muscles in the hand itself. The three middle fingers are served by muscles in the forearm. If you believe in design that is very clever because it gives you a palm to hold things with. The forearm muscles have long tendons that run through the carpal bones in the wrists. There are 8 carpal bones that glide over each other. With repetitive use the tendon sheaths might become inflamed (tenosynovitis - inflammation of the synovial fluid in the sheath), or become 'gritty' (tendonitis - inflammation of the tendons). If your muscles are held in a shortened state for too long they become 'ropy' and lose their ability to stretch. They pull strongly on the tendons that attach them to the bones in the elbow causing golfer's elbow (on the inner elbow), or tennis elbow (on the outer elbow.
Causes - gripping or holding something for too long, cocking the wrist back too far in the back swing for golf, holding a tennis racquet with too small a grip, very small repetitive movements.
Treatments include:
- Massaging the forearms very deeply and slowly yourself, or by someone else
- Placing an ice cube or two on the tender area until it melts
- Drumming with your hands and wrists to loosen them up and use the forearm muscles
- Acupuncture, laser or ultrasound
- Changing your habits to avoid static positions; muscles hate stressed inactivity
- Trying to learn to swap hands for different tasks
- Opening up your hands and fingers strongly e.g. ten times, numerous times a day
