Both rock climbers and weightlifters will often talk about the importance and necessity of continually working on the strength of their grip. They are not the only individuals that need to pay attention to just how strong their hands are, as grip training is essential no matter how old an individual is, especially when it comes to seniors. As time passes, it is common for most seniors to begin to notice a somewhat steady decline in their grip strength correlating with their age.
There are three significant benefits that seniors will experience when they work on the strengthening of their hand muscles.
Day To Day Tasks Are Simpler
Stop and consider how often you use your hands throughout any given day. From reaching for your morning pot of coffee to opening your front door on your way to the grocery store, your hands perform a lot of pinching, twisting, gripping, and supporting. The funny part is that you do these movements multiple times throughout the day without giving them a passing thought. However, if you neglect your grip strength for too long, you will soon find those tasks that you rarely gave a passing thought to become more difficult. Keep in mind that if you want to maintain physical independence, your grip strength plays an integral part.
Minimalization Of Arthritis Pain
With routine and regular grip training, you will be able to significantly decrease the amount of pain you may suffer from the onset of arthritis. The one thing that you are least likely to want to do is move your already stiff and achy hands and fingers. However, through stretching and strengthening exercises routine, you will work towards improving your mobility, with the extra added benefit of reducing any inflammation. In turn, you will then find that you will experience less pain throughout each day.
There is another benefit of keeping a routine of stretching and strengthening exercises—you will gain relief from pain without using any type of medication. Through the use of daily exercises, you can forgo any anti-inflammatory drugs for the relieving of your symptoms.
Decrease In Risk Of Disease
Several diseases are directly correlated to grip strength, such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, heart attack, and stroke. Recent research has shown the risk of death due to heart attack increases seventeen percent with the decline in grip strength. The risk of a possible heart attack or stroke event increase by seven to nine percent. The reason being that there is a belief that the stronger the individual’s grip is, the more muscle mass they possess. This increased muscle mass signifies that the individual is much more active and presents with a much better overall health.
Tips For Grip Strength Improvement
When looking to increase your grip strength, several exercises can are beneficial from the privacy and comfort of your home.
- Stress balls, hand exercisers, and therapy putty are all excellent choices for hand strengthening.
- To improve both flexibility and dexterity, do opening and closing exercises such as finger-walking
- Farmer carries are great for improving your support strength. These involve the carrying of an item such as a weight/bag/suitcase across the length of your living room.
- To improve your strength in your wrist and forearm, wrap a rope around a dowel, or wring out a washcloth repeatedly.
By spending a few minutes daily on exercises such as these, you will be able to keep your hands and wrists strong. Keep a consistent routine, and soon you will notice the benefits that come with regular grip training.
