Exercises For Autoimmune Arthritis Hand Pain & Stiffness

Hand pain and stiffness is something that I experience on a regular basis now a days. And it sucks.

Seriously, sucks.

It starts with hand pain and stiffness, then moves up my arm to a tingly forearm and can get all the way up to my shoulder. Somedays, if it’s really bad, I have to stop working and just rest my hands. I see that using my phone has profound effects on how my hands are feeling. If I use my phone for more than 5-10 minutes at a time, my hands will start to hurt and go numb. That doesn’t really help, especially when my job requires me to be checking social channels and to be on my computer. #arthritisProblems

Prior to this year, I would have the occasional problem with my wrist, but that was about it.

I remember when I was in high school I had “tendonitis” from scooping ice cream at Bruster’s ice cream in McMurray, Pa. I thought at the time it was a pretty shitty reason to have a wrist injury. And the worst part about it, I wasn’t able to get out of working because of it! haha

Fast forward a few years to when I was working 24/7/365. I would occasionally have problems with my wrist, but I just thought it was because I was ALWAYS on my computer. I remember thinking I was getting carpel tunnel and a coworker suggested I get a brace. I’d wear the brace at night when I slept and the I’d sometimes wear it at work. I never thought it was going to be a big problem. It would come and go. I’d go months without having issues, followed by a few weeks where it’d bother me.

I never put two and two together until the last few years. Of course, I had wrist and hand problems! I have autoimmune arthritis!

Now a days, there are many ways that I help manage my symptoms. Just recently I started wearing compression gloves while I’m working. I feel like they definitely help. I’m testing driving a few different pairs and will report back to which I think are the best!

But you should definitely check out these two posts I wrote for HealthCentral on ways I manage my hand pain and stiffness.

http://www.healthcentral.com/skin-care/c/357092/180604/tips-psoriatic-arthritis/?ap=423

http://www.healthcentral.com/skin-care/cf/slideshows/poses-psa-exercises-hand-stiffness-and-pain#slide=1/?ap=423

Have any tips to add? Comment with what you do below 🙂

Wishing You A Pain Free Day!