By Laura Gordon
With the cold winds and fringed temperatures of winter coming soon it can mean chapped, cracked, stiff, painful hands to many. This is a good time to learn or review and get into the practice of self hand massage. Since it doesn’t take much time, money or effort, it can be done in a quiet moment like while you are watching your favorite TV program!
Supplies: massage lotion, cream, gel or oil
Technique:
1. Apply lotion into the palm of one hand (no more than the width of a dime)
2. Begin rubbing your hands distributing the massage lotion on both sides of 
the hands and along the fingers.
3. Now return to the palm of one hand and using circular motions massage the heel of your hand from base of thumb to the outer edge.
4. Encircle the wrist with your fingers and palm and apply pressure. It should feel comforting. Use your thumb to make small circular motion around the carpels as the base of the palm.
5. Return to the palm and work around the base of the thumb. Using your thumb and forefinger massage from the web of the thumb and forefinger along the muscle at the base of the thumb (the Thenar Emminence) to the wrist and back. These helps
relax and release the tension of that muscle – particularly helpful for massage therapists.
6. Next with circular motion massage the muscles and joints at the base of each finger.
7. Be
sure to gently work between the metacarpals on the back of the hand.
8. Lastly using your thumb and forefinger twist, stretch and squeeze eac
h finger starting with the thumb and work toward the pinky finger. Be sure to work around the nail and tips of the each finger to prevent painful cracking of the cuticles.
9. Repeat the same procedure on the other hand. Finish by shaking your hands out for few seconds.
You will not only enjoy the hand massage you will also be working on reflexology points. Health issues this mild, relaxing therapy improves: Digestive Disorders, Arthritis, Tension Headaches, Stress, Stress Related Conditions, Constipation, Sports Injuries, Digestive Problems, Back Pain and PMS.
Follow this technique and let know us your initial impression. Or try it right before you sleep and tell us how wonderful your hands felt in the morning.
Nice post… and I also stretch the fingers and thumb of each hand individually away from each other.
I LOVE this technique. After working on the computer doing my take home tests last night and my crosswords tonight my hands were exhausted and sore. I did this exercise this morning and it really helped me get moving and ready for the day. Now I just did it and it is time for bed and totally relaxed my hands and helped release the cramp that I had in my right hand. Thank you!
I have been dealing with a lot of tightness in my thumb lately. I have noticed that since I started doing this before I go to bed it doens’t seem to bother me as much. When I wake up it is much easier to get it stretch and warm up to beging my day.
The steps for moisturizing your hands work really well, especially if you can put on gloves overnight so it can soak in. I wish it work on my cuticles though.
That was a great article and felt nice to perform as well.
I will definitely be doing this technique, I want to keep my hands from being overused. Plus it feels great!
This feels great after working with my hands all day. I will start to include this when i’m just putting on moisturizer. I hate the dry cracked hands that come with winter =(
i really enjoy putting lotion on my hands frequently threw the day, especially in the cold months, but i love the idea of adding a massage to my nightly routine. thanks for the tip!
These are great techniques! Not only can I do them to myself but it also gives me a great idea on what I can do to my client’s hands. Before trying this on myself, my hands felt tight and cramped. Afterwards, I could tell my hands were more relaxed and they felt stretched out. This would feel great to do after a paraffin treatment.
This feels so good. I really do practice some of this on a daily basis. My husband also does this and has noticed a difference in the tightness/soreness of his hands as well as his dry skin. Love it!
What a way to relax while watching stressful football. After long hard days at work and then coming to school four days out of that week as well the hands get a lot of work and the massage technique mentioned is a great get-away for them. I loved this!
I really enjoy this, i neglect my hands a lot during all seasons being a hairdresser. They are constantly in water shampooing hair, doing pedicures, manicures and now adding massage to my salon i don’t take a lot of time for myself, however i did get a great candle moisturizer and massage oil all in one last week that has been working great to help with my intense neglect and was only 5$ adding these techniques while watching big bang tonight made my roommate and fiance jealous so i got double the practice in.
YES! On of my all time favorites. I have some issues with my fingers and hands, so when i did this massage on them, it felt really good. My fingers get swollen because of the issues I have, and actually, but massaging them and my hand, the swelling went down a smidge, and they feel better now after writing for a long time. it also helped the cramp i had in my hand from writing. I will definitely do this again.
This is really good stuff. It make my hands feel so much better. I never have applied lotion in this way but will from now own because it helps your hands feel so good.
My hands get so dry inthe winter, no matter how much lotion and moisturizer I put on them. I think that hand massage is one of my favorites to receive, especially since I am a massage therapist and we use our thumbs a lot. With that being said, this technique felt amazing!
I love hand massages! Since I work with my hands a lot. I use my palm and it really gets overused and the hand massage really helps release tension and just gives a great relaxation to your hand. I would recommend getting one from a therapist.
I like this massage. I found that it was hard to do on myself, but it did feel good. After doing dishes and cooking at work my hands feel so much better and they don’t hurt because the water dries my hands out really bad in the winter time. Thanks
These are great tips for both massage therapist & client especially with the winter coming. I neglect my hands so bad the only massage I get is here at school so my hands don’t feel as bad the next few days. 🙂
One of the things we massage therapist must take care of, our hands. This is a wonderful habit to start and continue for the life of our career. Not to mention our whole life. We use our hands for everything, not to forget our feet. We can apply this technique to our feet too.
Thank you Miss Laura!
I really like this, my thumbs have been sore and this technique seems to really help them as well as makes my entire hand just feel better and more relaxed.
these are great!! i love hand massages! i’ve been doing these in the evening before i got ot sleep they seem to help alot!
This is a great technique!! I love to moisturize my hands and its hard to keep them that way during the winter months. The massage technique is awsome especially on the Thenar Emminence.
Great way to moisturize hands during the fall and winter months, as well as relieving them from soreness. Getting into the routine should make it an easy habit. Thanks.
This is a great treatment for me, it was very nice. My hands are for the most part always needing attention, this I have done during the day and as well at night before bed, both were very relaxing, and also it helped me get back on track with the reflexology points, win win technique. A few of my clients that work with their hands all day on the computer also have reported back that they love it as well.
I usually try and do my hands when I have the time but with school work and work in general sometimes no time. When I do treat myself it feels awesome.
I am going to keep this technique in mind because my hands always get dry in the winter. Hopefully this will keep them moisturized.
This was a great technique! It feels awesome & it’s easy!
I never thought about giving myself hand massage. It was amazing.