Four tips to reduce arthritis pain in your hands

Opening the refrigerator to get out some leftovers for lunch. Driving around on errands. Playing with your grandkids. Arthritis pain in your hands can turn these and other normal daily activities into real chores. 

A lifetime of wear and tear on your hands means that most people are at risk for hand osteoarthritis. One medical study found that 44.2% of the women and 37.7% of the men surveyed had osteoarthritis in their hands. This type of arthritis tends to cause pain, but physical therapists can offer several tips that can help reduce and treat arthritis pain in your hands. 

These four tips can help decrease the arthritis pain in your hands

Most people with hand arthritis are looking for effective ways to reduce the pain of their condition. One way to meet this goal is to take steps at home to reduce your pain, and there are certain self-care tips that can help with this, such as: 

1. Limiting repetitive movements — Moving your fingers and hands repeatedly can often lead to increased arthritis pain. Unfortunately, such repetitive movements are needed for many commonplace activities, like typing. Finding ways to limit the number of repetitive finger and hand movements you’re doing in a day can help decrease your arthritis pain. 

2. Resting your hands frequently — If you can’t avoid repetitive movements completely, then taking frequent breaks can help your pain. Such breaks can give your hands the chance to rest. In turn, you may find that these rest breaks lead to a decrease in hand pain. 

3. Doing hand stretches — Often, tightness in hand and forearm muscles, tendons and ligaments can increase arthritis pain. Doing hand stretches several times a day helps reduce this tension and can also lead to less daily pain. 

4. Applying cold or heat — Icing your hands can help ease the joint inflammation of arthritis. Applying heat to your hands can help decrease soft tissue tension and increase joint flexibility. Both options can be done at home to reduce arthritis pain. 

Find effective help for the arthritis pain in your hands at Armor PT

Need more pain relief for hand arthritis than at-home tips can provide? Our physical therapists at Armor Physical Therapy can help you find even more ways to treat your pain. We offer free screenings that can reveal underlying issues that are increasing your arthritis pain. In addition, our specialists excel at constructing therapy plans that are personalized to your needs, and your unique therapy plan could include therapy methods like: 

• Therapeutic exercises
• Joint mobilization
• Ergonomics recommendations
• Soft tissue mobilization
• At-home care
• Virtual therapy

Contact us today for more information about how we can treat your hand arthritis or to schedule an initial appointment.