Wrist exercises for dentists

April 09, 2021

Each profession has its own setup, the surroundings of which need to be mastered by the professional in-charge. In the world of dentistry, the dental chair and the equipment attached to it are what the dentists need to know inside out. The usage of these technical elements when the patient is seated in the dental chair is yet another practical application that the dentist needs to know about.

The way a dentist positions himself around the dental chair with the equipment in his or her hands determines a comfort zone between the patient and the dentist. Being too far cannot give much visibility within the oral cavity and being in greater proximation can make the situation awkward. Hence, optimal distance, by respecting both the patient and dentist's positioning is an essential aspect of clinical dentistry.

Dental procedures can often be lengthy and the dentist needs to maintain his positioning on the chair such that he or she does not get a sore back. Over usage of the hand-held instruments can often result in pain in the hand muscles, especially affecting the wrists and fingers. This is because the dentist needs to access the tooth at various angles using a range of dental instruments specific to their use. In order to maintain the tone of the muscles of their hand, dentists need to perform exercises at specific intervals whose target areas are the wrist and fingers.

The exercises recommended for dentists utilize a stress ball made of rubber and elastic bands. To begin with, dentists can put the spongy ball between the first and middle fingers of their working hand and squeeze the ball. The effects of this are pronounced in the palms and wrists too. Next, the tips of each finger can be brought into play by grasping the ball and letting the finger tips squeeze the ball. This can strengthen the fingers themselves. A small modification of this exercise can be made by squeezing the ball firmly using the length of each finger including the thumb. This is also called as a power grip. If this exercise does not involve the thumb, then it is called a full grip. Both these grip exercises can keep the muscles of the upper limbs activated. Another type of pinching exercise involves squeezing the ball while keeping the fingers flat while the thumb stabilizes it from below. This is thus called the flat pinch.

The elastic band can be wrapped around the fingers and made to stretch with the fingers. The frequent contraction and retraction of the band keeps the muscle fatigue of the hand in check. Individually, each finger can be trained by wrapping the elastic band around it. The remainder of the band is held with the other hand and pulled while the singularly wrapped finger resists this force. Further modification of elastic band exercises involves utilizing two fingers at a time that are made to stretch the band in sideways direction. These are called finger spread exercises.

The exercises mentioned above work on those muscle fibers that extend from the fingers, wrists and palms, all the way to the elbows. Muscles are strengthened as these exercises are performed regularly and the wearing of the muscle fibres are greatly reduced. When these muscles are trained effectively, the dentist can increase his resistance against prolonged activities of dental procedures that involve usage of instruments in teeth that present in different quadrants of the mouth.

Other additional exercises involve stretching and pulling of each finger with the other hand and doing different yoga poses that involves extension and retraction of the palms and wrist. If you are a dentist and into music, you can always try your hand at percussion instruments that utilize the fingers. These instruments involve the tabla, bongos, tambourine, djembe, etc. Sound production from these instruments occur only when the fingers or palms are struck with power and precision.

Dentists can have tedious days at the office in terms of the length of the procedures involved. Different age groups make it even a more challenging task to deal with the patient. They need to regularly oil the muscles of their working hands to get through these days routinely without any hassle. Thus, physiotherapy exercises as the ones mentioned above should be done by them on a regular basis.

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