Hello, I'm Dr. Robert Fenell with HandandFootPain.com, and today, I'm going to show you how to do the straight fist stretch for relieving carpal tunnel syndrome pain. Let's talk about carpal tunnel syndrome. I'm going to use this wrist model to describe to you what carpal tunnel syndrome actually is. The carpal tunnel is actually a passageway in the wrist area, right where the wrist bends like this. The carpal tunnel has four sides or four borders to it. Three of the sides are made up of eight bones arranged in a horseshoe shape, and the fourth side to the tunnel is made of a ligament that connects those bones together, and spans across. The tunnel, the carpal tunnel itself, is about the size of an index finger. Through that tunnel, you have nine tendons, and one large nerve known as the median nerve. Due to repetitive trauma and stress to the wrist, these eight bones can lose their healthy alignment, and when that happens, they can impinge or pinch upward into that carpal tunnel space, and that pinches that median nerve. It flattens the nerve against this ligament that overlaps and connects the bones together. The classic signs and symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome can include pain, numbness, tingling, and burning symptoms into the fingers of the hand, and also, weakness, or loss of grip strength. Now, I'm going to show you how to do the straight fist stretch for relieving your carpal tunnel syndrome pain. Keep a relaxed hand, you don't want it be tight, and you're very gently and smoothly just going to close your hand into a fist without closing the full fist. You're going to keep the last two finger joints straight. So, this bone and this bone, that joint is going to be as straight as possible. You're not gripping tight, just closing the wrist, closing the hand into a fist like that, and then opening it back up. When you get to full opening, an extra add on that I like to do that a lot of people don't teach, but this really helps to enhance this stretch, you're going to straighten your fingers as far as you possibly can. Pretend that your fingers almost like antennas. Imagine them stretching and extending outward as they can. You're going to feel a stretching force between the webs of the fingers, and that helps to improve circulation and blood flow, to really enhance this stretch for you. Then, close the hand gently, into the straight fist position, not bending these knuckles or joints, and open it back up, and stretch. Do this for five repetitions to ten repetitions. You can do this a couple times throughout the day. This is a great exercise to do at your work station just to improve circulation, to give you that relief and relaxation throughout the day. Again, my name is Dr. Robert Fenell with HandandFootPain.com, and I want to thank you for watching this video today on how to do the straight fist stretch for relieving your carpal tunnel syndrome pain.
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