Thirty sesións.
Twelve minutes each.
Hands that hold on.
Five phases, 180 different movements, no repeats — from tendon and nerve glides to loaded carries, weight-bearing and dexterity. Written for carpal tunnel, thumb-base arthritis, De Quervain’s, trigger finger, wrist sprain and post-fracture stiffness.
Before you start
See a doctor first — do not start — after a fall on an outstretched hand with tenderness in the hollow at the thumb side of the wrist; with a hot, red, swollen joint and fever; with visible flattening and weakness of the muscle at the base of the thumb; with symmetrical swelling of the small joints and morning stiffness lasting over an hour; with a hand that turns pale, blue or cold; or with any deformity after an injury.
The scaphoid warning. That hollow at the thumb side of the wrist is the one place a fracture hides — it can be missed on the first X-ray and it does not heal well if it is walked on for weeks. Tenderness there after a fall is not something to train through.
Numbness that wakes you is a nerve, not a muscle. Carpal tunnel symptoms are worst at night because the wrist curls in sleep; a splint holding it straight changes many people’s nights, and the glides in Fase 1 are slid gently, never stretched.
Thumb-base pain is one of the most common hand problems after forty. The fastest change is to stop pinching things open — use two hands and the whole palm — and the muscle beside the index finger is trained in every Fase 3 sesión.
A wrist fracture from a low-energy fall is often the first sign of thinning bone. It is worth asking about bone health.
The pain rule: up to 4/10 during, back to your normal by the next morning, no worse week to week.
Kit: a table, a towel, an elastic band, a ball or putty, coins or beans, a hammer or bottle, a jar, and a loaded backpack or two water jugs.