Swollen Hands Due to Edema? Here’s What You Need to Read Today

Even though edema is a commonly occurring problem, it can be indicative of a serious underlying health condition. It usually starts slowly, but has a sudden onset. It is characterized by accumulation of excessive fluids within the body tissues. This results in swelling.

If you are experiencing edema in your hands, you may have struggled with bloated wrist or joints, reduced moment in a joint or motion, stiffness, weakness, tingling sensation, numbness, redness, warmth, discoloration, chills, fatigue, fever, painful or tender areas or rashes.

Compression gloves are widely recommended to help ease the swelling and its related issues. Let’s understand the causes of swelling, some simple prevention tips and why copper compression gloves are a great option to manage swelling caused by edema.

What Causes Swelling in Hands and Fingers?

  • Excessive salt intake
  • Angioedema
  • Psoriatic arthritis
  • Lymphedema
  • Preeclampsia (during pregnancy)
  • Fluid retention (during pregnancy)
  • Broken bone
  • Injury or trauma
  • Repetitive stress injury
  • Torn muscle or ligament
  • Infection
  • Inflammatory conditions including osteoarthritis, ganglion cyst, bursitis, rheumatoid arthritis

How to Prevent Swelling?

  • Avoid exposing your body, especially the affected area to extreme temperatures such as hot baths, showers and saunas.
  • Make sure you eat a healthy and wholesome diet comprising seasonal fruits and vegetables. Seafood, vegetables, nuts such as almonds and whole grains are beneficial in combating swelling. Choose foods and oils which contain mono-unsaturated fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids. Also, eating foods which are rich in iron and B vitamins can provide relief from painful symptoms of edema.
  • Extremely sedentary lifestyle will worsen your edema as the accumulated fluids sit stagnant in the tissues of your bodies eventually damaging them. Avoid sitting or standing still for long periods. Get some light exercise to reduce the possibility of excessive accumulation of fluid. Such exercises enhance circulation and pump the fluids back towards the heart, thus reducing the swelling in your hands.
  • Elevate your arms. Use pillows or stool to prop up your arm affected with edema to a level slightly above your heart. This needs to be done for around thirty minutes 3 to 4 times a day. If you are suffering from severe edema, you may need to keep the affected part elevated even while you sleep. A piece of wood or a brick placed under the foot of bed might help.
  • If your work involves excessive moment of your hands and fingers, take short breaks to rest them. This will help reduce their stress.
  • Massage the affected area. You can either massage the swollen area yourself or take help of a professional masseuse or a physical therapist. Rub the swollen part of the bodygently towards your heart in the natural direction of circulation. This not only stimulates the muscles but also promotes blood flow to the swollen area thus pushing out the excessive fluid which is the root cause of swelling.
  • Keep a check on your salt intake. The body has a tendency to retain extra water and fluids because of salt. Eventually this extra water may cause swelling in your fingers. Hence, by reducing the salt intake, you reduce the chances of edema. You can try replacing salt with seasoning.
  • If you are experiencing edema, it is very important to know the cause and get appropriate treatment for the same. This is because edema can be caused due to certain medications or even pregnancy or other diseases and underlying medical conditions. Some of the serious diseases which may cause edema are brain injury, infected or injured blood vessels, allergies and kidney, heart or liver diseases.
  • The skin of the area affected with edema requires special care as it is particularly sensitive. Hence this areashould be cleaned properly and should be moisturized with good quality creams. Also, any injuries in this part of skin should be thoroughly rinsed so as to prevent more serious skin issues.

How can Copper Compression Gloves Help?

Copper infused semi compression gloves and fingerless copper gloves are one of the simplest yet the most effective way to manage swelling in your hands and fingers. Both these gloves comprise 100% natural copper and are a completely safe, chemical free, environment-friendly and non-evasive way to help reduce the effects of edema in your hands.

These gloves put the right amount of pressure on the limbs so as to prevent fluid accumulation. The combination of copper and compression helps regulate blood flow and reduce joint inflammation. They also rejuvenate your skin by promoting the synthesis of collagen and elastin. The copper destroys 99.9% of bacteria, fungi and viruses within minutes of contact with your skin thus preventing the risk of infections caused by these pathogens.

So, if you are looking for a way to treat the swelling caused by edema, try our copper compression gloves.

Picture Credits: Photo by Ryutaro Tsukata from Pexels