Flextend Week 1
I'm going through the Flextend program, and I definitely feel it's applicable to this blog, so I'll be posting on my progress.
First, a little background information on Flextend...
Flextend is a glove designed to exercise and stretch the muscles in your hands, specifically the extensor muscles which can become underdeveloped in proportion to the flexor muscles. As I understand it, this imbalance in is responsible for the pain that accompanies RSIs in the hand/wrist/forearm; the nerves in that infamous carpal tunnel area become trapped which causes inflammation and soreness, and can lead to permanent damage. (Ok, doctors, did I get it right? If not feel free to ream me in the comments.) So, the point of Flextend is to strengthen the extensor muscles and stretch the flexor muscles, thus restoring the balance and allowing the nerves freedom to move in their little nerve sheaths (Come on, I used the proper names for the muscles... what more do you want from me? =)
So basically, Flextend caters to people experiencing pain from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, RSI, and a number of other repetitive stress injuries that effect the hands, wrists, or forearm. (Although it's something you'll probably only think to look for when you're already experiencing pain, I'm sure it could be used as part of a preventative program as well.) Flextend seems to be applicable for not just computer users but musicians, athletes, and any one that deals with repetitive hand/wrist activity on a daily basis.
Ok, enough background blabbing. You can get all this from the Flextend site. What you want to know is DOES IT WORK?
Well, this week I've started the program, and I intend to follow it faithfully to find out if it works for me. (For more on my, ahem, issues see my RSI post )
I'm doing, twice a day/three times a week, 3 sets of 12-20 reps of a sort of exaggerated hand opening exercise (with resistance), and starting in my second week, I'll be adding a couple of different exercises and some extra days. So far, so good. They have variations on the exercise program depending on your problem area. I'll give you more details on the exercises and program next time I post.
My results are of course pending (the program suggests you will see some improvement within a couple weeks, but does come with 12 weeks worth of exercises, so it's obviously not an overnight solution--nothing is), so if you're looking for answers now, I suggest you try it for yourself. They have a money back guarantee and people available (trained clinicians they call 'em) to help make sure you are doing the exercises correctly.
Update 9/10/04:
Flextend Week 5
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