Arthritis, How Does Grip Training Help?

[Mr. Gripster]

Hi Everybody, I was wondering......

Does anybody have any solid proof about what benefits grippers and general hand strength training have in the way of arthritis? This question would apply to some of the older guys (who might be old enough to have arthritis, or who had it) mostly, but I would appreciate everyone’s input!

Questions about health benefits from grippers for arthritis! 1. Will grippers totally remove all risk of arthritis for/from the trainee? 2. If the “trainee” doesn’t start his/her grip training until he/she already has arthritis, will the training simply help, or will it completely remove the arthritis? 3. (If the answer to the 2nd question is “it will help” then this is a follow up question) How high in the gripper ladders would the said arthritis patient have to go before seeing results? For somebody my age (15 yo) after having done grip training for almost a year, and having the ability to close the Coc #2, (and having goals to close the #4) what are the chances I would/could EVER get arthritis? If I could get arthritis, how old would you suppose I would be, before it set in? What is the bare minimum I could get by with, if my goal was to solely avoid arthritis?

I don’t expect the grip-board to answer ALL of these, but I thought this would be a good discussion, since (to my knowledge) it had not been addressed amongst us!

I don’t know about you..... but I have several relatives (some in their early 60's) that are subject to arthritis, and it gives them a great deal of trouble! My great grandmother, going on something like 85+ suffers from it greatly, what do you think, if I got her, say the Guide and Sport Coc’s, would the arthritis go away, subside, or do nothing?

This is one of the things that gives me comfort in long range benefits, for what I am doing now... “you won’t have arthritis... till you’re 90 or older!” Anyway, that is just a couple questions I had! Thanks grip board enthusiasts, looking forward to your input,

Mr. Gripster

[Teemu I]

First of all, I'm a physical therapist and I work with elderly people.

Grip training doesn't " take away" arthritis, but older folks will/would benefit of grip training, because more strength means that you'll be able to conserve your efforts in activities of daily living, therefore making your life easier with arthritis. Sore joints hurt more when they are under heavy loading, so lighter the load feels, the better you'll do. That is why maintaining decent strength levels is so important if you are suffering from arthritis.

Grip training won't act as a surefire way to prevent arthritis. But young people who are active strenghten their bones, joints, ligaments and tendons as well as their muscles. At older age your active lifestyle let's you keep those hard earned qualities longer. You'll reduce the risk of arthritis by proper amount of versatile training. On the other hand people who do plenty of same kind of movements in their work for example for years and years are often likely to develop overuse injuries which sometimes leads to arthritis-type of symptoms.

Point is that if arthritis is to come it will come, some people are genetically more likely to get it, but with training you can fight against it's immobilising effects. If you don't use it you'll lose it. Sore joints tend to shorten the surrounding muscles, therefore causing restriction for a movement. Often times you can't do anything useful to sore joint itself, but you can take care of the surrounding sof tissues; tendons, ligaments and muscles by proper physical training. That's what my job is about, every day.

There is no surefire way to predict whether you are to develop arthritis or not and how old you will be when that happends.

Grip strength is one of the most important aspects for beeing able to live independently at old age, right after memory and leg strength. I'm allways putting old folks I train to do grip strength and hand dexterity exercises. Even slight increase in strength is beneficial. Old folks are well able to gain strength. They can even double their strength, if their starting level is low.

Edited April 27, 2006 by Teemu I

[Teemu I]

And guess what, most of the old folks I train find grip training to be fun! They look so motivated and concentrated when they are doing challenging exercises like finger walking with broomsticks.

[Biggerfoot]

Arthritis is what got me interested in grip training (in fact my first post here was asking about it!).

I have it in my thumb area and after 4 months or so of training, the pain is just about all gone and I have some noticeable increased strength in my thumb. I am already closing the IM #2 and am working towards the #3. I also noticed that I do not have any pain lifting weights anymore.

I also have chronic golfer's elbow and between levers, extensor training, and other goodies I learned here, that pain is also almost gone. Plus, I can curl my normal weight again.

[Teemu I]

Good for you! You are one living proof of how things can be turned around with proper training.

[s_aloisio]

Along with training don't forget to do joint mobility exercises, keeps your joints lubricated and healthy.

[RogerSteffens]

Along with training don't forget to do joint mobility exercises, keeps your joints lubricated and healthy.

Amen to that. I just had ulnohumeral arthroplasty, a fairly uncommon procedure, on my left, nondominant, elbow. Pay attention to diminished range of motion and don't let it progress too far without intervention. I don't think I'll regain full range of extension due to progressive tightening of ligaments, et al.

I was happy I elicited an "oh my god" from the physical therapist when I did the dynamometer test, though.

Edited April 28, 2006 by RogerSteffens

[4lbhammer]

I dunno how old is old, but hanging around here makes me feel ancient at 56! And puny! I am not a lifter, I just do a bit for general fitness. I find that I can still gain strength and grow muscle just like I did when I was in my 20s. But I take longer to recover. Injuries happen easier(staying flexible is very important) and take longer to heal. I train my hands (and other muscle groups too) just once a week at high intensity and low reps. I do a lot of work with hand tools and I find that grip training has substantially improved my skill!

[climber511]

I dunno how old is old, but hanging around here makes me feel ancient at 56! And puny! I am not a lifter, I just do a bit for general fitness. I find that I can still gain strength and grow muscle just like I did when I was in my 20s. But I take longer to recover. Injuries happen easier(staying flexible is very important) and take longer to heal. I train my hands (and other muscle groups too) just once a week at high intensity and low reps. I do a lot of work with hand tools and I find that grip training has substantially improved my skill!

56 is not old - or at least I sure hope not Welcome to "Geezerhood" !

Edited May 4, 2006 by climber511

[4lbhammer]

56 is not old - or at least I sure hope not Welcome to "Geezerhood" !

Thanks!

Well Sears was selling their 300# olympic set for $150 so I got two. Think I will start doing some heavy (for me) lifting in the back yard. I plan to weld up a squat cage. I am always looking for interesting activities to stay fit and I figured if I am going to hang out here I may as well tag along for a while and see how this goes. Also going to weld up a grip machine

[capgripguy]

Hi Everybody, I was wondering......

Does anybody have any solid proof about what benefits grippers and general hand strength training have in the way of arthritis? This question would apply to some of the older guys (who might be old enough to have arthritis, or who had it) mostly, but I would appreciate everyone’s input!

Questions about health benefits from grippers for arthritis! 1. Will grippers totally remove all risk of arthritis for/from the trainee? 2. If the “trainee” doesn’t start his/her grip training until he/she already has arthritis, will the training simply help, or will it completely remove the arthritis? 3. (If the answer to the 2nd question is “it will help” then this is a follow up question) How high in the gripper ladders would the said arthritis patient have to go before seeing results? For somebody my age (15 yo) after having done grip training for almost a year, and having the ability to close the Coc #2, (and having goals to close the #4) what are the chances I would/could EVER get arthritis? If I could get arthritis, how old would you suppose I would be, before it set in? What is the bare minimum I could get by with, if my goal was to solely avoid arthritis?

I don’t expect the grip-board to answer ALL of these, but I thought this would be a good discussion, since (to my knowledge) it had not been addressed amongst us!

I don’t know about you..... but I have several relatives (some in their early 60's) that are subject to arthritis, and it gives them a great deal of trouble! My great grandmother, going on something like 85+ suffers from it greatly, what do you think, if I got her, say the Guide and Sport Coc’s, would the arthritis go away, subside, or do nothing?

This is one of the things that gives me comfort in long range benefits, for what I am doing now... “you won’t have arthritis... till you’re 90 or older!” Anyway, that is just a couple questions I had! Thanks grip board enthusiasts, looking forward to your input,

Mr. Gripster

Hand health exercises would be better it seems for people that have joint problems such as arthritis. Anything that increases blood flow and cirrulation. The more blood that flows through your hands the better they will heal. It works on knees. I spent two weeks in a CPM after my ACL reconstruction to keep good blood flow and cirrulation so everything would heal better and faster.

Once older people get full cirrulation and flexiblility get them to tackle some real strengthening drills. I've heard of people that have just jumped into grip training at older ages and have hurt their hands pretty bad.

[rying]

This isn't arthritis, but a good observation anyway:

With a new job as a desk jockey, and plenty of overtime, I developed the dreaded "mousewrist". I thought I wouldn't be able to train at all, as it felt truly debilitating. But one good gripper workout cured me--after a few good squeezes I went as heavy as ever, and finished with some pain-free levering, something that would have seemed ludicrous an hour before! My wrist pain only comes back if I stop grip training for more than a few days, otherwise it feels great.

Since I gave the thumbs up to frequent training, I'll also say that generally it helps and doesn't produce overuse injuries, even if you do the same lifts daily. Even heavy, high volume training is nothing in terms of overuse injuries compared to doing the same easy, repetitive tasks literally all day long! (I'm certainly not implying that too much training doesn't have the potential to cause problems).

[Jim Bryan]

If I work grippers too hard it aggravates my arthritis in my fingers.

[s_aloisio]

If I work grippers too hard it aggravates my arthritis in my fingers.

I think training in moderation would be somwhat benificial in preventing arthritis. Provided you are taking/getting all the proper vitamins and nutrients required to keep your bones/tendons healthy. I don't think the Heavy training most of us do will really help but I'll tell you for sure when I turn 65 or so.......

I know many people who have worked with their hands their whole lives. Some have horrible arthritus and some have perfectly healthy hands.

I beleive that Joint mobility/ Range of motion exercises are the most benificial long term in avoiding all sorts of problems, including arthritus, If the joints are well lubricated and used in a full ROM thy don't detiriorate(barring some diesese) or build up deposits. If you want more info on this area check out the following books: Super Joints, Warrior Wellnness, and another program called Zhealth(zhealth.net). I use superjoints and Warrior wellness and like them both.

Edited May 7, 2006 by Shawn