A close look at guy-specific hand risks
I have a friend who, upon retiring as a professor, signed up for a two-year woodworking course at SAIT Polytechnic.
“If I still have all my fingers at the end of year one, I’ll take the second year,” he joked.
Men are, according to one study, five times more likely than women to suffer traumatic hand injuries, probably because guys put their fingers into spots where there is fast-moving metal.
There’s even an urban legend of a University of Calgary engineering student suffering hand and arm trauma from the Zipper, Katie Ohe’s usually benign rotating steel and chrome sculpture at the university.
Even if you keep your hands away from car engines, band saws and oil rigs, there are some guy-specific risks to your hands. One is Dupuytren’s contracture, a chronic finger-bending condition that affects mainly men over 40 of Northern European descent. Smoking, drinking alcohol and diabetes also increase the risk.
Lumps of tissue form under the skin of the palm, eventually resulting in problems moving the fingers. In a world where so much depends on typing, this is more of a handicap than it was in the past. Treatments include steroid injections and surgery, though recurrence is common.
One surprising venue for male hand injury is the gym. According to an article by Jenessa Connor in Men’s Journal, “Instagram is full of CrossFit diehards proudly displaying their blistered, torn, bloodied palms as badges of honour.” Putting aside the irony of hurting yourself in the interest of getting fit, you can certainly risk serious infections with these kinds of wounds.
As Connor points out, moisturizing lotion, or even coconut oil, can be helpful, along with proper gloves, tape and chalk.
If you don’t pump iron in the gym, or handle iron pipes for a living, you probably still use your hands to tap away on computers and smartphone keyboards.
This can lead to a number of ailments, including carpal tunnel syndrome, which involves numbness, weakness and occasional episodes of that “pins and needles” sensation. Carpal tunnel problems are more common in women, though men can certainly get them. Treatment can range from changing your desk environment to analgesic drugs and even surgery.
If your pain is on the thumb side of the wrist, you might have De Quervain’s Tendinitis. It’s usually caused by repetitive activities; so if you just stuffed 1,000 envelopes for your favourite charity, that might be to blame. Too much golf or racquet sports may also be the culprit, or even working in the garden. If it doesn’t resolve spontaneously in a reasonable time, see a doctor.
Overuse can trigger other kinds of muscle spasms in the hands, with dehydration and calcium and magnesium deficiencies also playing a role. Gentle stretching and heat are often all that’s required. If hand cramps occur frequently, a visit to the doctor is in order. You might find that the cause is rheumatoid arthritis, and there are many ways to treat this chronic condition.
There’s a fascinating finding from the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Japan’s Waseda University. Researchers there discovered that “relaxation of foot muscles reduced the corticospinal excitability involved with the control of ipsilateral hand muscles.”
In other words, flexing and relaxing your right foot has a remote-control calming effect on your right forearm and hand muscles. It’s something to try the next time you’re stuck on an airplane with a painful cramp.
While it’s not strictly a hand problem, or a men’s issue, some people get concerned with purple blotches on their hands. Called purpura, these are bruises under the skin, and become more prominent as we get older.
Taking that 81mg aspirin to improve heart health can also be a factor, as it increases your tendency to bleed and can make you more prone to these bruises.
No discussion of men’s hands would be complete without a discussion of “why do guys of all ages put their hands down their pants?” At the simplest level, it’s an evolutionary instinct.
Men who protected their reproductive organs survived to have offspring. But if you’re not playing Major League Baseball or Mixed Martial Arts, what’s the value of this today?
Body language guru Vanessa Van Edwards says that guys do this because it relaxes them and makes them feel safe. This action, or actually stroking any part of the body, will also release oxytocin, the happiness hormone that women get in abundance during childbirth and breastfeeding.
So, guys, it seems likely, especially if you have all your fingers intact, that they’re going to wind up down there.
Just try not to give yourself repetitive strain injury.