Alleviating Hand Pain From Writer’s Cramp

Everyone has heard of writer’s cramp which can happen when a person writes, plays a musical instrument or does some other repetitive activity for long periods of time. This can cause a person’s hand to cramp up and lead to hand pain….but why does it happen?

If one studies the anatomy of this region it becomes obvious. The wrist and hand contains 27 tiny bones. Surrounding these bones is soft tissue which consists of over 150 muscles, ligaments and nerves that all work together to allow the hand to bend, move and thus function as it was designed to do.

Repetitive activities can take their toll on the hands, altering the normal alignment of the 27 bones and stressing much of this soft tissue.

When the bones of the hand become misaligned this places the muscles, ligaments and nerves in abnormal positions.  Then when a person begins to write, play the guitar or engage in another tedious hand activity they will likely experience extreme tightening and spasms in the muscles and ligaments of the hand, as well as pain which is caused by nerves being compressed.

As you may already know, our chiropractic clinic is very unique in that we treat the spine but we also adjust the hands and feet, as well as other extremities throughout the body.  There are many people who suffer with hand problems, and don’t realize that specialized chiropractic adjustments to the bones of the hand can provide relief.

I’ve found that many people take their hands for granted. When a person sits down to write for long periods, type on the keyboard for hours, or engage in any other potentially stressful activity requiring sustained hand positions or repetitive movements, it is always a good idea for them to take a break every 45 minutes or so to stretch out their hands and forearms.

I have always been a BIG advocate for stretching and there is a simple one people can do for their hands. Begin by bending the fingers into a fist and holding this for a couple seconds. Then extend the fingers out straight for about five seconds. This should be repeated 3 to 5 times in each hand. This particular stretch can be done as much as needed throughout the day and will provide a good stretch to all the soft tissues of the wrist and hand.