Hand exercises for massage improve strength and agility and help reduce the risk of injury. Some massage practitioners develop repetitive-stress disorders, carpal tunnel syndrome or other overuse injuries. Rehabilitative hand exercise helps protect the hands. Keep your hands and wrists strong, flexible and healthy to provide strong massage and care for your own well-being. Beneficial exercises for giving massage include strength training, stretching and shaking out.
Strength Training
Weight training provides a basis for strengthening any muscle group. Start out by using light dumbbells to do wrist curls and for twisting your wrists gently from side to side. Perform general strengthening exercises such as lateral raises, biceps curls and overhead presses using hand weights. Gradually progress to heavier weights to build up strength in your hands. Improve your grip and finger strength for massage by using flexible resistance bars, grippers and squeeze balls. The American Massage Therapy Association Healthy Hands program suggests doing fingertip pushups against a wall for strengthening. Confer with your medical provider before undertaking a weight-training program.
Stretches
Stretching releases tension and helps to limber up your hands, just as a pianist stretches his fingers to achieve a greater reach on the keyboard. For a basic hand stretch, spread your hands wide to stretch your fingers to their farthest extent. For an assisted stretch, gently press the palm of one hand back toward the outside of your forearm using the fingers of your other hand. Stretch your wrist and finger joints by curving all your fingers forward toward the inside of your wrist and gently pressing down on the fingers with your other hand. Stretch the sides of your wrists by applying pressure to one side of your hand with the other hand to bend the hand directly sideways in a straight line; performing this stretch in both directions balances the stretch. Ease hand tension by squeezing your hands into fists and then relaxing your fingers. Rotating your hands from the wrist in a full range of motion while allowing the fingers to remain loose eases the wrists and promotes lubrication in the wrist joints.
Shaking Out
Shake your hands in a loose, gentle way to improve sensation after long massage sessions. Shake your hands using your arms all the way from the shoulders with your elbows loose. Allowing the fingers and arms to remain limp as you shake gives a feeling of relaxation and relief. Animals in the wild shake themselves--it's a basic form of release.
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