Hand in Hand: Aching Fingers Improve with Exercise

Adults with hand osteoarthritis saw modest gains with targeted exercises

Squeezy, squishy hand stress balls may increase your grip strength and relieve pain in your hands while you’re taking out your frustrations about traffic and kids on them. A study of 76 adults with hand osteoarthritis (OA) found a modest increase in grip strength and pain relief over not using them or substituting the therapy balls for a placebo cream.

The study subjects ranged in age from 55 to 93. Almost 60 percent reported using pain medication more than four days a week for hand pain. The Arthritis Institute of America (ARIA) completed the study, which is only the second ever written on the topic of exercise and hand OA.

“There’s much evidence of the benefits of exercise and we know it improves OA in the knees and other sites,” said Matt Rogers, MS, one of the study’s authors and ARIA’s exercise director. “Hand strength is essential for daily living skills such as opening jars, turning keys in locks and holding objects. Even a modest increase can make these tasks easier.”

Rogers, a doctoral candidate, co-wrote the paper with Frances Vaughn Wilder, Ph.D, ARIA’s executive director. It was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Hand Therapy.  Arthritis is a group of different diseases whose symptoms can range from and conditions, its symptoms can range from stiff joints to complete immobility and pain. The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, the "wear and tear" type that affects more than 27 million Americans after the age of 50 as their joints begin to age. 

Since 1988, the Arthritis Research Institute of America (ARIA) has been studying thousands of participants to learn more about osteoarthritis.  The 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit research organization is based in Clearwater, FL, but its findings have been published worldwide.  ARIA’s x-ray database is globally acknowledged as one of the most complete sources of information about the progression of osteoarthritis. For information, call (727) 461-4054.


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