Attention all keyboard users. One day you might get stiff fingers because of osteoarthritis, and it’s pretty likely that it’s not helped by overuse of keyboards. I am an example – I have been using typewriter/computer keyboards since I was 17 and still am, and that was way before we had phones we took everywhere.
So have a look at these videos on YouTube: Effective exercise for osteoarthritis in the hands; Arthritis hands; Boosting flexibility for hands; Keyboard hands.
Osteoarthritis (usually called arthritis) creeps up on you as you get older and often finds its way into joints we have overused. So if you have run a home, cooked meals, done any gardening, in fact almost anything you are likely to overuse your hands. And think about the number of times you have to push buttons with your thumb to open them so the thumb often suffers more than others.
How do you know you’re getting OA in the hands (the most common place to get it)?
- Finger and thumb joints become bigger and you can’t get your rings on or off easily.
- They can become knobbly and painful.
- It’s not so easy to use them, as they may hurt when you try to.
You might benefit with some hand exercises to keep your fingers fit – at the least this could help delay the problems. As with many things when you’re young you feel invincible and don’t believe it will happen to you. But the excessive amount of use thumbs and fingers get nowadays sending messages and watching everything on phones, this problem is likely to get bigger and bigger.
And there isn’t a simple fix pill. In fact, the first line of advice from GPs now is to exercise, so I rest my case. Post by the author of One Step Ahead of Osteoarthritis, available from book stores, online and at Amazon.