Hand-y hacks

How to save your hands when working from home

Hands down the most neglected and abused body part of the working from home experience is the hand (or hands). And that’s not just a work from home thing. Check out these numbers from the National Health Institute:

“In the United States, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) has an incidence of 1 to 3 persons per 1000 per year, with a prevalence of 50 per 1000, with similar incidence and prevalence in most developed countries.”

You can find out even more about carpal tunnel here.

One of the reasons for this epidemic is lack of warm up. Many people who work from home will just start typing away without giving much thought or attention to the most valuable tools needed to make that happen: your hands.

Yours truly includes a hand warm-up as part of my morning stretches, which take place before ever sitting at the keyboard. I learned those from one of Substack’s newest publishers, Matt Furey. Those range from stretches to simply rubbing your hands together, literally warming up. If you’ve got carpal tunnel, he’s got a great program.

If you’re looking for some simple hand exercises to get your day started, here’s a few I came across the other day.

Remember, during workplace wellness month, we need to take care of the entire self—from head to toe and, most importantly, between the ears.

Do Linkedin better

Are you on LinkedIn? Looking for ways to build your network and leads? You may want to follow this rising star, Dylan Ciaccio.

Why? You know the famous line from Jerry Maguire? “You had me at hello.”? The first post yours truly read from “Content is like family.”

Do I really need to say more. Check out Dylan and follow him—if you’re smart.

Thoughts from a digital mom

Back to our workplace wellness theme. If you work from home and have kids, you have a tendency to want them to do their own thing so you can do yours. That’s fine but do not take your eye off the ball when it comes to their digital safety. While you’re in your office you may not know what they’re up to online. Thoughts from a digital mom by Sarah Gallagher Trombley shares safety tips and things to be on the lookout for. Check it out.

Inspiring quote of the week

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” —Helen Keller