HelpMeRob

• “Tap each finger with the thumb of the same hand. Repeat five times.
• Pull your thumb firmly with the other hand. Repeat five times.
• Wrap an elastic band around the tips of fingers and thumb and open your hand against the resistance. Repeat 20 times.
• Palms down wrap an elastic band around each thumb and force apart. Repeat 20 times.
• Tap the palm and back of your hand on your thigh as quickly as you can. Repeat 20 times.
• Massage thumb web, back of forearm and front of forearm. Two minutes.
• Press and rub in a circular motion the painful nodules in those muscles. Thirty seconds for each nodule.
• Reach up high with both arms and shake your hands. Reach down low with both arms and shake. Repeat three times.
• Arms at 45 degrees, squeeze them behind you.
• If it still hurts after a week of doing exercises, wrap an ice pack on sore hand and arm parts. Do not put ice directly on the skin but wrap in a thin cloth or piece of kitchen roll. Ten minutes on, 10 minutes off. Repeat three times.

In November, the BCA warned that music fans who constantly use the scroll-wheel or buttons on their MP3 players are at risk of ‘iPod Finger’. It said young children are particularly susceptible to this form of RSI because their bones and muscles are not fully developed. The BCA recommended that users flex their hand muscles – to keep the blood flowing and break up the repetition – and vary the finger used to operate the device.”