My hands are essential to all aspects of my life, and I put at the top of that list, my ability to make a living. So, developing hand pain that made it difficult to exert any effort without extreme discomfort and weakness was not good news!
About three weeks ago, I started to feel fairly constant pain on the dorsal side of my left wrist and hand and a little on the lateral side as well. Now, before you go ahead and say it’s because of 37 years of performing reflexology (and 14 actively practicing massage also), let me say this:
I am uber careful about body mechanics and ergonomics when working (and am always ‘on’ my students about this, too). Although I use both hands – thumbs and fingers equally, I am right-hand dominant.
I started on a serious self-care routine of almost constant massage and reflexology of the hand in question, paraffin treatments, massaging and stretching the muscles of the forearm, applying a CBD lotion a few times/day, and of course, resting it as much as I could. (In all honesty, I didn’t have much choice on that last one.)
Nothing was really making much of a difference though.
At my bi-weekly scheduled reflexology session about 10 days ago, I requested a paraffin treatment and hand reflexology. I also mentioned to my reflexologist, Julie Wesling, that I had noticed that my hand did not feel any better in the morning after a long night’s rest. In fact, I thought it felt worse. We both wondered if I was somehow placing my hand in an awkward position while asleep.
Julie suggested I try a wrist brace and I am sooo glad I followed her suggestion!
First off, it was not uncomfortable to sleep with. I don’t know that I was even aware of it once I fell asleep.
The first morning, I thought it felt a little better, but questioned whether I was just wishing that to be so. The second morning, there was no doubt. And the third; even better. It probably only took four or five nights of sleeping with an inexpensive drugstore wrist brace to bring my hand back to full pain-free function.
That experience reminded me of how fortunate I am to have chosen a path of bodywork for my life. I am so grateful for the fact that I have a good grasp of anatomy and kinesiology, and know so many self-care techniques to try before turning over the welfare of my body to an allopathic approach.
I think acting quickly also contributed to my speedy recovery. Waiting to see what happens might have developed into something far more serious requiring an invasive procedure to right.