The Importance of Hand Health

Nicholas Larios
Jul 2
4 min read

Updated: Oct 14

The hand health of an individual is based on the well-being of the bones and muscles in your hands, which helps perform daily tasks and activities. Hand health generally promotes the strength and flexibility of the hand in order to manipulate objects with the force of it. Not only does hand health focus on the strength of your hand, it also focuses on the hygiene of it in order to prevent the spreading of diseases and germs. While hand health is a large concern amongst an older demographic, many teenagers can still face problems with their own hands if there isn’t proper hygiene and care for hands taken into action. Even if you may not be in any specific activity that affects hand health, even just typing daily for homework or texting friends on social media daily may affect your hand health in the future (Britton).

Good hand hygiene can lower the chances of the hand coming into contact with germs which can prevent further harm, such as diseases. This removes the worry of potentially spreading germs to friends through hand contact and reduces the likelihood of catching a sickness. By having good hand hygiene, this prevents the body from receiving viruses in other parts, such as the eyes and nose, by reducing the risk when touching either with your hands. Taking care of the hygiene of your hands also avoids receiving rashes which irritate the skin and could also affect your daily activities, such as sports and playing instruments, due to the irritation of the skin or even just writing every day for school. This will reduce the likelihood of having to go to the doctor for an illness related to your hand rather than being able to effectively maintain the health of it (National Library of Medicine).

There are many signs to be noted when concerned about your own hand health and whether or not you see any negative changes occurring with the function or appearance of your hand. Stiffness in the hand due to constantly repeating daily activities can cause more harmful conditions to occur, such as arthritis, which can be from activities such as constantly typing on a phone or computer. This can also slowly cause pain in the hand, creating a constant feeling of numbness or tingling, which may harm the ability to complete simple daily activities such as buttoning clothes and writing, as the fine motor skills of the body become affected if not treated. If this reduced range of motion isn’t treated, the stiffness will ultimately cause the hand to lose the ability to grab objects and damage the nerves to be able to control specific movements. If left untreated, this will become chronic pain, which will continue to affect daily activities due to the increase of pain in any activity (John Hopkins Medicine).

There can also be negative physical changes that occur to the hand, such as having a large amount of swelling in the knuckles, that may also indicate arthritis or a lack of protein. Hands can also be filled with bumps and blisters if not taken care of properly or even have poor circulation, causing the hand to feel cold. These physical changes can be caused by the roughness or irritability of the skin from handling activities such as lifting heavy objects or working in the dirt with insects. These types of activities hurt the hand by causing it to feel significantly weaker, which changes the outside appearance of the hand if not treated properly, or create infections that worsen if not treated. If an infection starts on the hand and isn’t treated, this can cause skin diseases on the hand, which can further spread around the body from the constant touching of the face using hands (AARP).

In order to maintain good hygiene over your hands, it’s important to wash your hands thoroughly when coming into contact with something that may create an infection or sickness. This can be through daily activities such as handling food, using the bathroom, and coughing or sneezing; this reduces the chances of creating an infection or spreading it. When handling other activities with your hands, such as treating a cut, handling any animal, or changing children, it is important to continue using the method of washing your hands to reduce infection. It’s important to completely wet hands and lather them completely first before actually running them under the water for at least 20 seconds. Hands should be rinsed under clean water and then dried thoroughly before finishing cleaning them completely (CDC).

Being able to monitor the food you eat and exercise regularly can help strengthen the bones and flexibility of the hand, as well as prevent injuries. Calcium and vitamin D both provide the right nutrients, which are needed for the hand to maintain the strength of the bones. Other nutrients, such as protein, are able to make the flexibility of the hand more prominent, which strengthens the motor skills of the hand to control the grip and manipulation of objects. Simple activities such as swimming and dancing are able to help strengthen the bone as well as heighten the density of it. More strengthening exercises that involve weight and using the muscles of the hand are ultimately able to strengthen it by using workout gear to make the muscles stronger against weight. Using gloves in situations that require it and being careful around slippery ground are able to avoid the possibility of fracturing or even breaking a bone in the hand (Mayo Clinic).

If you are concerned about the hand health of your friends or even those in the same environment, you can properly promote the health of other hands in your school. Encouraging others who are also interested in or care about self-care to join a club could help promote the importance of thoroughly washing hands and taking care of them properly. It can also be helpful to place reminders near school bathrooms with graphics to help show the routine of washing hands as well as encourage the benefits of it at the same time.