Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/15024
CHAPTER NINE Self-Care Hand Maintenance R egardless of the passion you have for your work, if you don’t take care of your hands, you may lose the tools that allow you to practice. You can reduce the risk of developing repetitive use injuries by modifying the way you use your hands. To avoid injury to the thumbs or other body parts, practitioners should avoid becoming overly tired and be conscious of their overall body mechanics. Teacher, therapist, and author Shogo Mochizuki suggests practitioners do not apply pressure with the thumb when it is bent. He feels this hand position places pressure on the joint instead of on the client. Keep the thumb straight and apply pressure perpendicularly without hyper-extending the thumb. Some therapists feel that stress to the joint is reduced when pressure is applied with the thumb slightly bent. Each practitioner is different, so it’s important to pay careful attention to the hands and how they feel. Avoid any technique that causes undue stress to the hands or leaves them tired and achy. Mochizuki also offers the following advice: the thumb and use the rest of your hand to stabilize it. Rotate by using the whole hand from the shoulder or from the elbow. • Don’t overextend the fingers backward to apply pressure. Instead, support the fingers by slightly rotating your wrist and placing adjacent fingers behind or alongside each other. Spend about five minutes stretching and massaging your fingers, hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders before and after each treatment. • Don’t stroke or apply pressure with the side of the thumb or allow it to hyperextend as you stroke. Change the angle of the thumb so you push into the stroke with the hand. Mochizuki suggests therapists perform a daily maintenance massage on their own hands and forearms. He says when working for several hours at a time, it is essential you massage and stretch your hands frequently. This is especially important when you feel tightness in your forearms and hands. Make sure you properly warm and loosen the muscles before performing a service. Spend about five minutes • Don’t rotate with your thumb while applying heavy pressure (rotation from the metacarpals). This causes significant wear on the thumb joints and cartilage. Instead, apply pressure with www.ascpskincare.com stretching and massaging your fingers, hands, wrists, arms, and shoulders before and after each treatment. Mochizuki teaches his students a routine of 25 techniques to maintain the hands. Following are four of the most important: • Palm rotation on the forearm. Place your arm on the treatment table, palm up. Grasp the inner (medial) successful business handbook 193