Ergonomic Wrist Exercises

You do not have to do hard manual labor or lift heavy equipment to injure yourself at work. As more and more office workers spend their days typing on computers, wrists are taking a beating and showing signs of fatigue. In fact, tingling and numbness of the fingers and wrist--a condition known as carpal tunnel syndrome--is a recognized worker's compensation disability. But there are exercises that you can do to keep your wrists functioning and healthy.

Bend a Little

• When typing for long periods, take breaks at least once every hour if possible, and do some ergonomic wrist exercises. Hold up one wrist and gently bend your palm back while pressing your wrist and fingers back with the opposite hand. Stretch it well and hold for several seconds. Relax and repeat on the other hand. You should do this exercise five times on each hand several times a day.

The Wrist Twist

• Stretch both arms straight out in front of you. Make fists with both hands. Circle your fists clockwise 10 times. Now circle in the opposite direction. Keep your arms completely still. You should do this exercise several times a day if you are working a full day on a key board.

Extend a Hand

• Place your elbow and arm flat on a table or desk. With the palm facing down, lift it a couple of inches off of the table. Now extend your fingers tightly. Keep your palm flat and parallel to the desk surface. Now clench that same hand into a tight fist. Do this exercise five times with each hand.

The Table Top

• This is a variation of the extended hand exercise. Rest your arm flat on the desk--palm facing down--but this time the edge of your wrist should line up with the edge of the table. In other words, your hand hangs just off the edge. Now bend your hand at the knuckles so that your fingers bend into an upside down "L" and are flat like a table top. Now extend the hand flat again. Do this exercise several times on each hand.