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No matter what reason you are wearing a wrist brace for there are some tips that you should adhere to in order to get the most from them.

First, make sure your wrist brace is the right size; ones you can buy at the drug store are usually specified as child, small, medium, large and extra large. These are generally measured by the circumference of the wrist they’re designed to go around and have a palm rest and a forearm length based on the average sized individual with that sized wrist. For 95% of people in the world, those wrist brace sizes are the right size. In cases where they aren’t the right size, it’s usually that they’re too small when wrapped around the forearm.

Second, make sure that you’re tightening them in a manner appropriate for your injury. Wrist braces give their benefit by keeping you from accidentally flexing your wrist in a way that would further your injury. The type of injury you have will determine which axis of rotation your wrist needs immobilization in.

Wrist braces designed to combat tendonitis should be tightened so that they prevent lateral motion of the wrist; if you hold your hand out straight from your wrist, the plane defined by your thumb and pinkie should be the dimension that your wrist’s motion is constrained within.

If you’re trying to remedy carpal tunnel syndrome, you want to keep your wrist from bending downward at all, or upward by more than a few degrees. You’ll also need to be more careful with padding in your wrist brace when dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Wrist braces set up to immobilize the wrist for a sprain need to completely immobilize it in both planes of movement, and usually need to cover more of the upper forearm as well, since that’s where the ligaments that control wrist motion run, and may resemble Ace bandages more than a conventional wrist brace.

Keeping yourself comfortable in a wrist brace means that you should look for things on the inside surface, like seams or loose threads, that might cause skin irritation. Some people recommend wrapping the hand and wrist and lower forearm lightly in gauze before putting a wrist brace on; this functions much the same way that your sock does in your shoe – it absorbs the sweat and keeps the seams of the brace from rubbing your skin and irritating you. Wash your wrist brace about twice a week; most can be run through a washer or dryer without risk.

Do not wear your wrist brace too tightly. It should fit snug; nevertheless, it should not stop the blood flow to the wrist or hand. Many people seem to pull the straps as tight as they will go, avoid this, just put it on, go about your day, and adjust the tightness as needed. A good thing to do is to mark with a permanent marker how tight the straps should go when you have found a comfortable spot.

Tom Nicholson spends his time helping sufferers of carpal tunnel syndrome. Please click here to find out more about having asore wrist.

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