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How to Use Therabands for Arthritis Grip Improvement

If your doctor recommends gentle exercise to help improve your grip strength, consider using a Thera-Band Hand Exerciser. These are simple, soft devices in the shape of a ball. They may even be heated or cooled for heat or cold therapy to ease your muscles. You may perform exercises using these devices in just a few minutes a day. Before beginning any exercise program with a medical condition, however, get your doctor's or physical therapist's approval.

Things You'll Need

  • Thera-Band Hand Exercisers
  • Refrigerator
  • Microwave
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Instructions

    • 1

      Ask your physical therapist if Thera-Band exercises are a good choice for you. If so, ask him to recommend an appropriate resistance level for you. Thera-Band Hand Exercisers are available in five different resistance levels. In order of increasing resistance, the Hand Exercisers are available in yellow (least resistance), red, green, blue and black (highest resistance).

    • 2

      Prepare the Hand Exerciser for either cold or heat therapy, as recommended by your physical therapist. For cold therapy, allow the device to chill in your fridge for about 1 ½ to 2 hours. For heat therapy, microwave the device for no longer than 5 seconds at a time, checking the temperature after every interval. The Hand Exerciser should feel warm to the touch, rather than hot.

    • 3

      Squeeze the Hand Exerciser in one hand. Try to compress the ball to about 50 percent of its size. If you are unable to compress it this far, try switching to a Hand Exerciser with a lower resistance.

    • 4

      Compress the Hand Exerciser several times in a row, or for as many repetitions as your physical therapist recommends. If you feel pain, stop immediately. If your hand or wrist begin to ache, stop compressing the device and rest.

    • 5

      Repeat the compressions with your other hand. Build your hand and wrist strength slowly to avoid injury. When you notice that it becomes easier to compress the Hand Exerciser, consider switching to a device with a slightly higher resistance.

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