How to Improve Your Hand Dexterity (and Why It’s Important)

Over the past few months, it has occurred to me that at the age of 30, I have lost some dexterity in my hands. I used to be able to hold my iced coffee and phone safely in my hand, but these days, my mitts are limited to one function at a time—and I don’t like being candid about my mortality. What to say Fortunately, there are ways to improve dexterity, so let’s ignore the creepy road of all time and our impending aging and focus instead on helping our hands get their best.

What is proficiency?

To start with the basics, dexterity is the skill to perform tasks, especially with your hands. “You need to react to everyday tasks and to anything that happens throughout your day,” said Sam Vascones, a New York-based personal trainer.

When you think about how much you do with your hands throughout the day, from making yourself scrambled eggs in the morning to doing laundry in the evening (and everything in between), it becomes clear how much to daily life. Skill is important. Kendra Vander Waal, an occupational therapist in Colorado, also said that in addition to essential activities of your daily life, dexterity also helps you have fun. You need it to play games, for example, or to use a remote or video game controller.

According to Stephanie Verauch, a physical therapist and vice president of dexterity, loss of dexterity can be the result of many things. American Physical Therapy Association of Connecticut, Those causes can include osteoarthritis, stroke, or trauma, but can also be attributed to simply not promoting it properly. As an example, she pointed to someone who played a musical instrument in high school—if they stop playing later, they may still struggle to play once they get back to it in adulthood.

“That means our brain has some effect on dexterity as well,” she said. “Practice makes progress. The more we use our hands to do something, the easier it becomes.”

Vasconces said a lack of flexibility, a lack of mobility or a lack of strength can also affect dexterity.

How can you improve skill?

For some specific tips on improving dexterity, we turned to Wereuch and personal trainer Abdias Rojas. “Crap,” Rojas said (very enthusiastically), “there are a number of movements you can actually do to improve not only the strength of your hands but the flexibility in your hands.” Here’s what they recommend:

• put rubber bands on your fingers, Then expand and contract them. Rojas said this will contribute to myofascial release “and to make your hands feel more comfortable.” this video Demonstrates how the rubber band technique is performed.
• Doing sitting finger dip prom Slowly bend your finger while pinching the end of your finger on the last knuckle and using your other hand. Per Verouch, this can be done every day, 10 times per finger, and for 10 seconds in each dip.
• seated finger pip prom movements, which is done with the same frequency and duration as the one above, involves gently pinching your finger on the middle knuckle, then using your other hand to bend each finger there. (it’s kind of hence,
• one seated multiple digit internal stretch Begin by sitting up straight with your elbows on the table. Bend the fingers of one hand and grasp the middle and upper joints of all the fingers with the other hand. Gently squeeze your fingers until you feel a stretch. Do this 10 times a day for 10 seconds.
• try wrist tendon gliding Place your elbows on the table, keeping your fingers straight, then bend your fingers over your lower knuckles so that your fingers look like a “tabletop.” Straighten them, then bend your bottom and middle knuckles, straighten your arm, make a toe fist, straighten again and make a half-fist before straightening once more. Do this daily in sets of two, 10 reps each.
• To get a better idea of ​​how much pressure you should apply when touching things hand drill in sand, “It sounds strange,” warns Rojas, but “when you hand drill inside a sandbox, put your hands in a box of sand, you can literally learn to sift the sand and understand who Slight joint or which finger is exerting more pressure or less pressure.” While keeping your wrist straight, try pinching a ball of putty with your thumb, forefinger and middle fingers as well.
• do something Oppose, which means you touch your thumb with each finger on the same hand, working at different speeds. (It came from Rojasso And Weyrauch, so you know it’s a winner.)
• To strengthen your sense of touch, Avoid working with gloves,
• For better grip strength, Rojas suggests heavy isolated hold “Where you stand with a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell, See if you can use your grip to catch it.”
• Rojas said there is another option for grip strength forearm workout “Because a lot of the muscles in your hand are actually contracted by the muscles that are in your forearm.”
• to strengthen your wrists wrist mobility exercises: “Practice leaning in with your palm down on the floor. Then, practice leaning in with them the back Putting your hands on the floor, rolling on them, as you raise and lower the weight [the wrist]Rojas said.
• Finally, try seated eccentric wrist extension, Sit straight with one arm on a table, holding a dumbbell with your hand hanging by the edge and your palm facing down. Use your other hand to rotate your wrist up, down, and repeat. Do this in sets of two with 20 reps each day.

Beyond exercise, Rojas suggests hand massage and even acupuncture. Vasconces also suggested that someone who has a hard time managing multiple objects in their hand, for example, should work with vice grips and not skimp on their forearm workouts, but ” If it’s a mobility problem, you may need to extend the arm and forearm. Or work on flexion and pronation of your hand.” Per Vander Wall, you can even make it fun: “Leisure activities like working with clay and putty, spraying water bottles, or cutting with scissors can also work on building dexterity.”

When it comes to improving dexterity, don’t overlook the value of overall body health. Verauch explained that “without the optimal gross (which requires larger movements and more muscle groups) and fine motor (which requires greater precision) skills that make up the dexterity of our hands, we are unable to perform daily tasks.” will be unable”.

If you’re struggling with your dexterity to a detrimental degree or exercise on its own isn’t helping, consider seeing a medical professional or physical therapist. Vander Waal notes that there are a few different assessments a trained pro can perform, such as using the O’Connor finger dexterity test. Identifying the cause and severity of the problem can help you create a better plan for improvement—and replay your keys and phone or leave behind a high score in a video game in no time.