How to do hand joint exercises for arthritis

  In clinical practice, patients with arthritis often ask about hand joint health exercises. The following and four simple hand joint exercises commonly found in the literature can be used as adjunctive non-pharmacologic therapy to help improve joint function during the remission phase of arthritis.  Each joint exercise consists of several steps, each of which can be held for 6 seconds and then relaxed before proceeding to the next step, and try to achieve the greatest possible swing, with the number of exercises depending on the individual patient.  First, the up and down swing method (1) hands straight forward, palms facing down, with the wrist joint as the fulcrum, palms up slowly; (2) palms gradually lowered and below the wrist plane, the posture is similar to greeting others.  Second, the left and right hand method (1) elbow joint support on the table, the back of the hand to face themselves, with the wrist joint as the fulcrum, the hand to the pinky direction; (2) with the wrist joint as the fulcrum, the hand to the thumb direction crooked, the posture is similar to shaking hands.  Three, one by one to finger method (1) with the index finger to contact the thumb; (2) with the middle finger to contact the thumb; (3) with the ring finger to contact the thumb; (4) with the little finger to contact the thumb.  Fourth, the fist flattening method (1) five fingers flexed, clenched fist; (2) five fingers released, straighten.