Table of Contents
Introduction
From its broad capacity to store different data and information to its ability to perform or support almost all human tasks, it is evident that people nowadays are fully dependent on the efficiency of computers.
Businesses, especially large companies and corporations, store vast amount of facts and figures to the extent that jobs for just encoding these data have been opened for people who have good typing skills. These employees, including the other typical white-collar workers in companies, spend most of their working hours facing their desktops records.
If you’re one of them, you had probably experienced at some point in your working life an excruciating pain on your wrist due to the tons of encoding work waiting at your desk at work and even in your home. Did you know that this might lead to a very serious condition known as carpal tunnel syndrome?
It is estimated that each year, more than 250,000 carpal tunnel surgeries are performed in the U.S. alone, and 47% of these are work-related. So if you’ve been feeling a little tingling sensation, a sudden numbness, or a sharp shooting pain on your wrists lately, keep your worries away. There are some simple wrist pain exercises for mouse/keyboard users that you can do even though you are facing a ton of typing or encoding work on a daily basis.
Effective Wrist Pain Exercises For Mouse/Keyboard Users
Wrist wrestling
Wrist wrestling is one of the most effective wrist pain exercises for mouse/keyboard users who have developed wrist tension and wrist pain. From the name of the exercise itself, it is simply like your hands with one another in a wrestling match.
First, you have to link your fingers together. After that, squeeze your left hand with your right hand and start making large wrist circles as if you are wrestling your own hand.
Wrist wrestling works like this: one hand pushes and the other hand pushes against it. At this point, both of your hands must be slightly tensed. Then, relax your hands and leave your fingers linked. Do some more circles and make sure that this time, it must be completely relaxed. Repeat the same steps while circling on the other side, either clockwise or counter-clockwise depending on the first circling motion that you have made. Remember that one hand must be pushing the other and the other one should be pushing back. Again, the hands must be slightly tensed. The movement of the circling gesture must be slow but strong.
After this, bring your hands to your lap and relax them for a while. After a moment or two, link your fingers again and make relaxed wrist circles as fast as you feel comfortable for about thirty seconds or until you feel a bit tired. Then, repeat it but this time, in the opposite direction. After that, make your hands rest for a moment.
Finally, to complete this specific wrist pain exercise for mouse/keyboard users, you have to raise your right wrist upward slightly while both of your hands are linked together. Softly drop your right wrist and then do the same with your left wrist dropping against your right wrist. Repeat this over and over alternately. Then, relax your hands and repeat the same pattern a little bit faster than your first attempt.
This is important to activate the wrist’s acupressure point. It also activates blood flow to the wrist and releases tension and energy block due to prolonged working with computer input devices, such as the keyboard and mouse, for a very long time. This exercise must be done in a strong manner for about half a minute. For the last time, relax your hands and let it rest on your lap for a little while before continuing your unfinished typing works.
Read also: How To Avoid Wrist Pain While Typing
Aside from wrist wrestling, there are also other wrist pain exercises for mouse/keyboard users which you can do to protect your wrist.
Other wrist pain exercises for mouse/keyboard user
Here are other wrist pain exercises for mouse/keyboard users which you can perform even while you are sitting in front of your office table:
- Hold out your arms in front of you. Raise your wrist upward with your fingers pointing above the ceiling. Then make your fingers point to the floor. Repeat these steps ten times.
- Open both of your hands and stretch your fingers as wide as possible. Then, close them to make a ball of your fist. Repeat these steps for twenty times.
- Lay your forearm on a flat surface (such as your office desk or table) and rotate your wrist on a full clockwise pattern five times. Then make the movement again, this time, on the opposite direction to make five full counter-clockwise motions on your wrists.
- Lay both of your wrists and palm on a flat surface and use your wrists to rotate your hand so your palm is upwards. Perform this drill ten times.
- This last wrist pain exercise for mouse/keyboard users is somehow similar to the first one. First, you have to stretch out your left hand in front of you with your fingers pointing upward. Then use your right hand to pull the fingers of your left hand to stretch your wrist. Make sure that you do not stretch your fingers too much. A good stretch will do, don’t push your wrists to its limits. Repeat the steps with your other hand and then do it all over again for five times, alternating your right and left hands.
Remember that prevention is always better than cure. If you are experiencing an extreme kind of pain on your hands and wrists because of working with computers all day long, it is better to consult an orthopaedic doctor rather than just performing these wrist pain exercises for mouse/keyboard users.
Aside from that, maintaining a good posture is also a vital part in keeping your wrists safe and sound. Taking a sufficient break is another factor. Always keep on your mind that you’re only human, do not overuse your physical parts. Even though there are tons of work, keeping your health is more important.
