Fall is truly here. The mornings have become cold and crisp, the leaves are turning and every farm-stand in sight has put out some acorn squash along side the last of their summer fair. Over the last weeks of August and these first few weeks of September I have done the one thing that will keep summer with me all winter. Put up as many jars of tomatoes, pickles, jam and peaches I can muster. As my cabinet fills with the bright colors of this summers harvest I smile to know that peaches in my oatmeal in February will be so worth the steam burns and stiff hands. The process of putting up food for the colder months is a task that requires lots of pealing, chopping and packing. All of these fine movements are powered by the wrists and the stress can end up in the hands. So today's post will be all about wrist and hand care and ways to keep them from cracking, popping and aching.
When all said and done the thing that will help you prevent inflammation and aching in your hands and wrists is to warm them up. If you are out harvesting the produce you're about to process then your hands may be warmed up already. Even so, there are 27 joints in each hand that should get a some fluid into them before you begin your chopping marathon.
Start with the fingers. Touch the tip of each finger to the tip of your thumb one at a time then reverse it. Do this just 3 times to increase the fluid in each joint and to get the ligaments ready for work. Another good warm up for your fingers and hands is to press the tips of each finger on one hand to its corresponding finger on the other hand and gently push them together. Alternate this stretch with making a tight fist. By alternating this stretch with the contraction you open up the ligaments and muscle fibers then fill them with fresh blood. This gives your hands lots of fuel for the receptive motions in canning. When you make the fist your forearm will also contract and this will wake up your wrist. Follow this with a set of gentle wrist rolls to open up the 3 carpal joints, make sure you do them to both sides! Next, stretch out your wrist by pushing your hands flat away from you trying to point your fingers as straight up as you can. Then point your fingers down at the ground, alternate up and down a few times. End your warm up with a shake out of your hands to bring even more blood into the wrist, hands and fingers.
This simple warm up will do wonders to help your hands stay pain free. If your hands get stiff fast or your knuckles are prone to popping repeat all or part of the warm up throughout your work. By starting a task with properly warmed up hands you greatly reduce your chance of injury... except for the occasional pesky steam burn! Avoiding that just take practice, happy canning everyone!
