8 Mindful Hand Movements to Accelerate Stroke Rehab

Recovering Fine Motor Skills in the hand after a stroke or brain injury can be a slow and frustrating process. Often it lags behind the rest of your recovery progress. 
Patience helps, and also knowing that your brain has the ability to change throughout your life, at any stage. 

Most therapists recommend repetitive exercises. Repetitive movements can help groove in those neural pathways.

But Beware!

When starting from scratch, I will argue that it's more important to explore new neural pathways, instead of going with whatever movement worked the first time right off the bat and repeating it endlessly. 

In other words... make sure the movement that you are repeating is REALLY the movement that you want grooved in. 

Fine motor skills require your brain to notice small, seemingly insignificant differences. 
Functionally, you might be thrilled to be able to eat with a fork with your affected hand again.
And yes, you should be thrilled!

But was that very first time the most efficient and elegant way?
Probably not. 

That's because we learn through approximations.
And while it's definitely cause for celebration when you hit that first approximation, it's best for your brain to think of it as just that. An approximation (with a fabulous result!).
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Playing with approximations gives your brain the information it needs to organize your movements even more.
Refinement can only happen when your brain has the motor and sensory input it needs to distinguish smaller and smaller differences. 

Distinguishing differences is what learning (and recovery) is all about!
Becoming aware and curious about your movements is the first step.

Then you can add in some super fun things to really get your brain into learning mode. Like adding in variation, going slow and being enthusiastic.

A great resource to learn more is Anat Baniel's book: "Move into Life: NeuroMovement for Lifelong Vitality". ​

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8 Mindful Steps for Fine Motor Refinement

So, with all that theory, let's use it with an simple, gentle movement lesson to help restore fine motor skills in the hand!

1. Hang your hand (palm down) comfortably off the edge of a table. Make sure you are sitting comfortably and that your forearm is supported.

• Notice how your hand hangs.
• Can you become aware of any tension in your fingers, wrist, arm?
• Try to let go of any tension.

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2. Rotate your palm slowly, so it turns up to face the ceiling.

• Notice how your hand hangs now.
• How are your fingers lying?
• Note any differences between each finger. Which finger is curled into the palm more? Which finger is straighter?
• Can you become aware of any tension in this position that you can let go of? Scan your hand, fingers, thumb and also your jaw, tongue, lips.

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3. Slowly, rotate your palm up and then down, paying close attention to your body as you do. 
How much of the movement in different areas of your body can you be aware of?

• Feel your forearm rotating on the table.
• Feel the moment when gravity sinks your hand and fingers down.
• Feel the moment when you need to engage muscles to lift your hand against gravity. Which muscles do you use? 
• Notice any unneccessary tension you can release.
• How do your fingers shift and move as you rotate?
• Feel if there's any moment where you hold your breath. 

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​4. With your palm hanging down, without extra tension, slowly bring together your thumb and index finger to touch lightly. Then let them go apart, back to neutral. Then touch again and let go. Do this many times, slowly and with great awareness.

• Feel which other fingers move without trying?
• Feel the point of contact between the thumb and index finger. Does it stay the same each time you touch? Or does it vary?
• Can you do the movement even slower?

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​5. Slowly bring together your thumb and middle finger. Then let them go apart, back to neutral. Do this many times with great curiosity.

• How slow and soft can you touch?
• Notice the point of contact between your thumb and finger each time. Does it change?
• Feel how far up your finger, hand, arm the movement travels.
• Can you reduce the effort and only move what's neccessary?

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​6. Slowly bring together your thumb and middle finger to touch. Then let them move apart, back to neutral. Do this many times.

• Is this finger is easier or harder to move than the last?
• Be curious about your other fingers. Which ones want to follow along?
• Can you touch with less force?
• Can you reduce the tension in your other fingers?
• Make each touch softer and slower than the last touch.

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7. You are doing great! 
​Bring your attention to your pinky finger. Slowly move your thumb and pinky finger together until they touch gently. Then let them move apart, back to neutral. Do this many times.

• Where is the point of contact between the thumb and pinky? Is it more to the side or middle of the finger, compared to the other fingers?
• Where do you notice movement in your hand, lower arm, upper arm? Is it different from the other fingers?
• is there any tension in your jaw, tongue, chest, that you can let go of?

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8. Simply let your hand hang down and feel any changes.

• How soft does your wrist feel?
• Are your fingers hanging differently now? How are they different? Less tension, feel lighter, hang straighter, what's true for you?
• Notice any changes on the whole side of your body. Maybe one shoulder feels lower, or one arm feels longer, or one side of your face might feel different. Maybe you are sitting more to one side. These are only examples, notice in yourself any differences between the right and left sides of yourself in this moment.

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Continue the Change!

Do you like how you feel now?
Small, gentle movements have incredible power to calm your nervous system. 

Feel free to continue the goodness!
Enjoy a free cheat sheet, so you can follow the steps and remember to let go of all that tension. Who knew so much uneccessary tension could be held in your fingers, hand and arm?

Enter your email addy below, download and print.
Tack to your fridge and add it to your morning routine.

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Related Posts:

Become a Variation Ninja and Kick Butt in Therapy

If you find yourself staring off into space during your therapy or thinking about anything else but the next 500 repetitions you are supposed to be doing, then chance are you are NOT getting the full benefits of your therapy... read more

3 Tips for Stroke Recovery

...here are my top 3 favorite essentials that you can EASILY put to use right now... read more

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