Curing Wrist and Thumb PainWrist and thumb pain can appear while lifting weights, or when doing such mundane activities as typing & carrying laundry. But no matter what you're doing, you can not overwork yourself & use massage to manage and/or cure the pain. This way, you can keep getting stronger or keep typing without pain. Both are important: lets solve them now.  Grip Strength Training Frequency Your grip strength training frequency should be the same as any other muscle group. Work your forearms hard 2-3 days a week, as part of your normal workout. This means that for those days, you need to go hard. Get an intense hand gripper and weights that are hard for you to lift, and work. Hand exercise equipment that advertises, "You can use it Everyday!" won't give you the kind of strength you want. For Chores & Errands If a single chore gives you pain, try to break up when you're doing it. 3 Hours of typing will have a much greater impact on your muscles the 3 different 1 hour blocks of typing, with rests in-between. And if a specific movement gives you pain, avoid it or substitute another kind of movement. It's simple, but if it hurts then don't do it. In either case, try these steps first. If wrist and thumb pain are really interfering with you, check with your doctor about it. Massage Massage is important, since it's easy to over-stress your forearm muscles, especially when you're starting a new activity. Then you're in pain, and you need to kneed, massage, & relax them so you can lift at full strength again. Anatomically, when your forearm muscles are over-stressed they form trigger points, little 'muscle knots' that are really painful. If you've ever had someone massage your shoulders and they found a particularly tight and painful spot, you know what I'm talking about. For your forearms, whenever you have wrist and thumb pain you should start at your elbow and start massaging all the muscles from there to those in the flesh of the palm of your hand. Take your time, and you will catch any and all of the muscles that are creating pain. Whenever you find a knot of tight and painful muscle, kneed and massage it for 30-60 seconds and then move on. Multiple massages through-out the day are better than one intense, horribly painful massage. And try not to massage with your other hand! Use your body and lean against a wall corner, use your elbow, or lean against an irregular object. Using one hand to massage the other will just keep the cycle of severe wrist pain going. Here's a diagram showing the locations of the extensor muscles in your forearms and where they refer pain (ex: Muscle point 1 sends pain to the red locations labeled 1). Use this as a starting point for your massage, and then work all over your forearm. Catch every tight muscle!  If you want more info I recommend The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies. It has indexes of all your muscles and where they can send pain, as well as tips for getting them to relax. It's an awesome book if you have lots of aches & pains, and I personally use it all the time. Stretching Stretching will keep your finger joints limber & help relax the muscles causing your wrist and thumb pain. Flexible joints are healthy, and work better than tight ones. You should stretch your hand foreword towards your forearm, back, and turn your hand to each side. The stretches, and their variety, will keep your wrists limber and ready for whatever you have to throw at them. Winding Up... That's how to go about banishing wrist and thumb pain, whether you're training grip strength, playing tennis, or doing swordsmanship. Wrist strengthening exercises, coupled with massage, stretching, and rest will give you strong & healthy wrists and forearms. And oh yea, this should not be taken as medical advice or an excuse to not go to a doctor. You're in your own hands. Though I hope I've helped a bit :-) So, get out there and try it! • Click HERE to leave 'Curing Wrist and Thumb Pain' & learn more about hand grip exercise! OR • Click HERE to go back to the Home-page!
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