Once upon a time we didn’t have to think about body alignment.

 

It was about the same time frame when we never thought about tight muscles, sore joints, or fatigue.

 

 

It’s a simple fact that poor body alignment causes pain, tightness, and increases your risk of injuries.

And if you think body alignment is something that’s only important for athletes, think again.

 

 

Body Alignment is important in every factor of our daily activities.

 

How we work, how we play, and how we live.

 

 

When you’re at work, especially if you’re generally in a static position, body alignment is even more important because you want that position you’re holding – that you’re subjecting your body to for a long period of time – to be the best it can be.

 

If it’s not an aligned position, that’s when symptoms start.

 

 

And when wrist pain starts, whether from writing, keying, or using the mouse, it can increase very quickly because there are a lot of small muscles in the fingers, hand, and forearm and they don’t have a lot of endurance.

 

Symptoms include:

1) a puffy feeling in your hand, like it’s swollen

2) numbness or a loss of feeling

3) pins and needles

4) decreased grip and pinch strength

5) forearm pain and tightness

 

 

These are symptoms that can first appear at the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome. So it’s extremely important to reduce the risk factors causing these symptoms.

 

 

BODY ALIGNMENT HELPS RELIEVE PAIN

The #1 thing you can do to decrease the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome – and wrist pain in general – is to improve your body alignment.

 

Don’t think that body alignment is just about the spine. I’m talking about the alignment of your wrist.

 

WRIST BIOMECHANICS

The wrist has four ranges of motion so it’s got amazing mobility but lacks in stability. 

 

So ensuring neutral posture about the wrist while working is extremely important to decrease risk factors as well as alleviate carpal tunnel symptoms.

 

 

 

 

 

Even outside of the office, when you’re using your phone, channel surfing with the remote, and brushing your teeth (try this!) improving your wrist positioning with better body alignment is the most important step for both decreasing symptoms as well as avoiding injuries.

 

HOW TO IMPROVE BODY ALIGNMENT

As an additional step to decrease wrist pain and carpal tunnel symptoms it’s important to look at the joints surrounding the area of concern.

 

 

 

So check the mobility of your shoulders, elbows, and fingers. If these joints aren’t moving properly, your wrist may be compensating.

 

 

 

For example, a tight shoulder may make it difficult to reach for items and perform certain tasks. Your wrists may help out – especially because of the good mobility – and take over for movements that the shoulder should be doing.

 

 

For the elbow, I want you to focus on supination and pronation. Look at the range of motion for these movements and see if you may be lacking in some end range for these.

 

 

If you need to work on elbow mobility, here’s a great exercise for you to try. Just click the link below.

 

 

IMPROVE ELBOW MOBILITY WITH THIS EXERCISE

 

Joints seldom work on their own. Functional tasks have joints and muscles as well as other soft tissue like ligaments and fascia work in tandem. 

 

 

That’s why it’s important to not just focus on your wrist (or any body part that has symptoms) without evaluating your biomechanics and body alignment.

 

 

Improper positioning in joints away from the pain can be the cause of your symptoms.

 

 

Check out this great resource for your body alignment and office biomechanics with the link below.

 

 

DECREASE CARPAL TUNNEL SYMPTOMS BY IMPROVING BODY ALIGNMENT

 

If you’ve got questions about wrist range of motion and body alignment or looking to learn more about how to get into better alignment so you move better and feel better, reach out to me via email or DM.