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SELF MASSAGE FOR THUMB ARTHRITIS

WELCOME. WE ARE CONTINUING OUR CONVERSATION ABOUT THE THUMB, THE HEALTH OF THE THUMB, AND THE TENDENCY FOR ARTHRITIS TO DEVELOP IN THE THUMB.

We’ve gone over stretching that will benefit your thumb and now I want to go over self-massage techniques and simple self-awareness techniques that will help you with your thumb.

First, it helps to have a wine cork. If you don’t have one I’m sure your neighbor does. To use it, you can position it and from one hand to the other you roll the cork and you roll it on the thumb joint. Get the palm and the whole wrist area between the thumb joint and the pinky finger. All that gets rolled out. And if you want more pressure, you can put your weight and drop it on there. The thumb really enjoys this.   Also, if there’s any tendency for arthritic fluid and stagnation of bursa sac swelling in there, this will roll it right out. And speaking of which, also, a wonderful tool is this Power Puddy. You can get the softest type, it’s not how hard it is. Actually, by using the puddy you can reposition this very important bone in the thumb as it relates to the wrist, this area where arthritis tends to be. So, in the stretches we’ve mobilized, and now we use something to help and physically push the fluid and the thumb bone into the correct position.

For those of you who are using cell phones, who are cooking, who are holding your children or grandchildren, individuals who are in the garden. All those different tasks. If you’re using the computer. All those tasks can be done, and the tendency is for our hands to stay closed, to grab things and forgetting that the hands, and the health of the hands and their well-being happens because we keep the hands open. So, when you’re doing different tasks around the house, grabbing objects, be aware from the inside edge of the palm to the outside edge of the palm – see how much space you can have. Remember, the tendency for the palm is to close down. We want to open it up. Keep the space. Reduce the compression. Mobilize the thumb and keep your thumb healthy forever.