They say there’s a silver lining in every cloud. One of those for COVID-19 is a lot more people wash their hands after using the restroom. However, many of those same people make the mistake of not washing their hands before using the restroom. You touch many surfaces that other people have touched or that have contaminants on them. That’s a compelling reason to wash your hands before doing your business; just don’t forget to wash them after.
So, knowing that your hands can pick up all sorts of nasty things, what else does that tell you? People often rub the sleep out of their eyes, using their fingers. A safer and more effective way to address particles in the eye is to use eye drops (artificial tears) to rinse them out. Keep a bottle handy.
Dry cuticles
Take a look at your hands. Look carefully at your cuticles; do you see any cracks? Cracked cuticles can sting, but the main problem is they are openings in your skin through which pathogens can pass. It’s not so great if you get grease or solvents in there, either. The increased use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers has increased the prevalence of dried cuticles.
Ordinary hand soap destroys COVID-like viruses by popping their outer membrane like a pin in a balloon. And it isn’t harsh on the hands. The trick is you need to wash thoroughly; that takes about 20 seconds, time well spent.
Cuticles also may get abraded when you put on gloves but are more likely to get torn if you don’t wear gloves when you work with your hands. If putting on gloves is painful due to abrasions, tape the affected finger area with standard medical adhesive tape. This tape is cheap and readily available; athletes use it all the time. You probably have a roll or two in your bathroom cabinet.
How can you prevent the damage in the first place? Simply applying aloe vera gel (unscented, alcohol-free versions are available at most grocery stores) a few times a week can keep those cuticles from drying and splitting. While doing this you might check your toes, as they have cuticles also. Cracked heels and top-of-toe abrasions can also benefit from some aloe vera gel.
Of course, cuts, punctures, or particles (e.g., slivers of wood, metal, or plastic) can also carry pathogens. So wear task-appropriate gloves but also check your hands after you take the gloves off. Then check your gloves; do you see cuts, punctures, or particles? Have they gotten grimy? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, you need to replace your gloves.
Inflammation
Your hands don’t need to be exposed to pathogens to help bring on illness. Chronic or acute stress on tendons can result in painful inflammation in your hands, wrists, elbows, or shoulders. Inflammation is an immune system response, meaning you are using up some of your protection against illness. If you also have inflammation elsewhere, such as in your knees or back, the added stress can be enough to make you feel fatigued or come down with something.
To battle inflammation in the hands, wrists, elbows, and shoulders, many people take an over-the-counter (OTC) anti-inflammatory pain reliever — and keep taking it. Doctors frown on this for two reasons. The first is those OTC anti-inflammatories, if used too much, can cause liver damage. The second is you’re still damaging those tendons or other tissue but now with muting of the healing process. This can result in the need for surgery, which may not leave you with your normal strength and range of motion.
Instead of masking the inflammation, address the cause. Some things electricians can do:
- Upgrade hand tools to more ergonomic designs. Many, for example, have larger handles and those handles are shaped in ways that reduce tendon stress.
- Replace hand tools with today’s lightweight, battery-powered power tools. Why twist a screwdriver 300 times a day when you don’t have to?
- Redesign the work itself. Many tasks done by hand in the field can be done more accurately and more efficiently in a shop. If you have to drill the same sets of holes in multiple enclosures, options such as kitting or outsourcing may save you some wear and tear.
- Redesign the workflow. Rather than do all the work in Phase 1 before doing any in Phase 2, try to alternate those tasks at least a little. So, less of an assembly-line approach and more of a mini-project approach.
- Flex backward. Most of how you apply force with your hands involves moving toward the closed direction (flexion); that is, you have your tendons move your fingers (and thumb) toward the curled end of the range of motion. A simple exercise to counteract the chronic over-use is to put a rubber band around your fingers and thumb, then open your hand (extension) against this resistance. Yes, it’s a fairly weak resistance but it’s enough to do the job.
- Stop. If you start to feel a pinching, tightness, numbness, or sharp pain in any part of your finger, hand, elbow, or shoulder, stop what you are doing. If you do something else for even 15 minutes, you may give those stressed tissues the break they need. Of course, that doesn’t mean going from crimping lugs on signal wires to crimping lugs on power wires. It could mean doing some of the point-to-point testing you would have to do later anyhow.
