Beginner Balance Workout: 

Standing Balance Workout: 

Yoga Balance Workout: 

Balance in Motion Workout: 

Balance on a Beam Workout: 

Advanced Yoga Balance Workout:

gracefully aging face is a beautiful thing, but there are changes that occur with age that we would like to slow down. Age affects every nook and cranny of the body. Along with the wisdom, experience, and accomplishments that come with getting older, there are changes that occur in our outward appearance. Changes in our faces are most at the forefront.

How the face ages

Dozens of changes take place as the years add up, some of them obvious and familiar:

Our hands are unsung heroes that help us perform countless tasks every day from writing letters to tying your shoes. They also serve as tools for communication, expression, and emotion.

Help Improve Your Range of Motion  

This wrist ulnar/radial deviation exercise can help move your wrist and lubricate your hand’s tendons. For more exercises send for your Healthy Hands report today.

Improve Your Hand Strength

This exercise can help improve pinch strength and stabilize the thumb joint in individuals with thumb osteoarthritis.  NOTE: Do NOT do this exercise if you have carpal tunnel syndrome as it can worsen the condition.

Place a rubber band around a tennis ball. Place your index and middle fingers underneath the band as shown. While gen­tly squeezing the ball, lift the index finger up and outward (toward the thumb side).

A: What you describe sounds like carpal spasm. Spasms, or cramps, are involuntary muscle contractions. The most common causes of spasms are overused muscles (in the hands that might be due to writing or typing) and dehydration. Other causes of muscle cramping include low levels of calcium and magnesium.

Another possibility is that you have carpal tunnel syndrome, which occurs when the nerves in the wrist are compressed. Typical symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include pain in the wrist and tingling and numbness in the fingers, but hand spasms may also occur. Spasms in other areas of your body, such as the upper arm, neck or face, suggest an underlying neurological problem.

A third possibility is writer's cramp, also called musician's cramp. It is a spasmodic contraction of the muscles of the hand and forearm. The fingers may suddenly freeze up, dramatically affecting the ability to write or play an instrument. Some golfers experience contractions of the hand while putting, a phenomenon that's been nicknamed "the yips."

Talk to your doctor if the cramps occur often. If he or she can't find a specific cause, focus on drinking enough water and stretching your fingers periodically.

— Dr. William Kormos, editor-in-chief of Harvard Men's Health Watch and a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital

You would find this article very useful because most of the tips are given in enough detail to help you try them at home. You may need your doctor to help you with a few, but apart from that, having this knowledge would also help you to help your doctor find a quick and lasting management to your hand pain. Happy reading.

These nonsurgical solutions will enhance daily activities and independence.

Hand pain is more than just annoying. The stiffness and swelling that go along with hand pain can sap strength and diminish the ability to carry out routine functions, like buttoning clothes.

One common cause of hand pain is osteoarthritis—when the shock-absorbing cartilage between bones in the finger joints and at the base of the thumb becomes worn or damaged. Hand pain can also result from nerve conditions, like the pain and tingling you feel when there is pressure on the median nerve in the wrist or the ulnar nerve near the elbow. Sometimes hand pain results from tendinitis, an inflammation of the tissue that attaches muscles to the bones. Here are five methods to help manage hand pain, retain hand function, and avoid surgery.

1. Splinting

A splint stabilizes the position of your fingers, thumb, or wrist. "Wear a splint for a few weeks if arthritis flares, so the inflammation can settle down," says Dr. Philip Blazar, an orthopedic surgeon and associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

2. Injections

An injection of a corticosteroid into a joint can reduce inflammation. "The relief it provides can last up to a year," says Dr. Blazar. For some people the amount of relief diminishes with subsequent injections.

3. NSAIDs

A nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) helps relieve hand pain by blocking enzymes that produce pain and swelling, but Dr. Blazar says it's not effective for carpal tunnel syndrome. Long-term use of oral NSAIDs such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) are linked to ulcers, stomach bleeding, liver damage, and increased risk of heart attacks. Topical NSAIDs, such as diclofenac (Voltaren), may pose less risk.

4. Heat and cold

Heat can loosen hand stiffness. Dr. Blazar says a hot shower will do the job. Cold is effective for hand pain that results from activity, such as playing golf. "Apply it in the form of flexible gel pads you keep in the freezer, or even bags of frozen peas or corn, which conform well to the three-dimensional complexities of the hand," says Dr. Blazar.

5. Exercises and stretches

These focus on your hand's tendons and muscles. A physical therapist or occupational therapist can guide you through exercises to stretch and strengthen the muscles, which can help absorb the stress on joints in the hand and reduce pain.

Source: Harvard 

Mind-body exercises, such as tai chi and yoga, have been gaining popularity over the past few decades. This is not surprising, given the increasing number of studies on the positive effects of these gentler forms of exercise - everything from lowering blood pressure and managing depression to building strength and improving balance. There is even evidence that tai chi may help you live longer, more vital life.

As an ancient Chinese practice, tai chi may seem foreign and even intimidating. Perhaps your only experience with tai chi is watching video clips or seeing photos of large groups of Chinese people doing tai chi in parks—a rare occurrence in the United States. Only about 1% of the U.S. population, or about 3.65 million Americans, reported doing tai chi in 2015. That means a lot of Americans are missing out on myriad benefits that tai chi has to offer. The goal of this report is to make tai chi more familiar, more accessible, and easy to practice regularly—even right in your living room.

Mind-body exercises, such as tai chi and yoga, have been gaining popularity over the past few decades. This is not surprising, given the increasing number of studies on the positive effects of these gentler forms of exercise—everything from lowering blood pressure and managing depression to building strength and improving balance. There is even evidence that tai chi may help you live a longer, more vital life.

Tips for a better practice
One of the best ways to learn how to do tai chi is to observe it and follow along. That’s why we created videos of both the Standing Tai Chi Calisthenics and the Tai Chi Elements. Reviewing the videos before trying the moves on the following pages will make learning tai chi easier. You can find these videos online at www.health.harvard.edu/tai-chi-calisthenics and www.health.harvard.edu/tai-chi-elements.

In addition, the tips below will help you to get more benefits out of your practice and reduce your risk of injury.

Enjoy it. Enjoy the movements and breathing. Don’t worry about whether you are doing everything right. Don’t think too much about doing it perfectly—just do. Enjoyment will deepen your practice and help your qi to flow more freely. Worrying or overthinking it disrupts the flow and pulls you out of the moment.

Get grounded. Feel the ground with your feet. Release your weight into the ground and maintain good body alignment to promote stability and balance.

Take it slow. Moving slowly gives you time to sense your body’s position, uncover hidden tensions, and make postural modifications so that different parts of your body move more harmoniously together.

Obey the 70% rule. A key principle of tai chi is moderation in effort, which may contribute to its low risk of injury. This principle is referred to as the 70% rule. Basically, it means to avoid extremes, in which injuries are more likely to occur. Instead, stay at about 70% of your effort, intensity, or range of motion. Never force a movement beyond about 70%. For example, keep a slight bend in your elbow when you extend your arm instead of fully extending it and locking your elbow. Similarly, when stretching your back, for example, stop well before you sense fear of straining muscles or causing a spasm. If you feel any pain or resistance to a move, back off from it.

Be mindful. As you move from side to side, do so in a mindful way. Can you feel the contact between your feet and the ground? Can you feel how your feet connect to the rest of your body? Can you feel your body slowly relaxing as you breathe? Can you do all that without clenching your neck and jaw? You may not be able to do any of the above well, but just being aware of these things is a critical first step. As soon as you start moving, the movement should serve as the “magnet” for your attention. Let it draw your awareness to the parts that are moving.

Move from your center. Imagine your head, torso, and pelvis as a single column aligned over your legs and feet. All upper and lower body movements are integrated with the movement of this “column,” which includes the body’s center of gravity. Do not twist the spine. The tai chi classics say that good movements begin beneath your feet, are steered by the waist, and applied through the arms.

Be aware of your “inner ocean.” Your body is roughly 60% liquid. With this in mind, think of moving an inner ocean when you perform tai chi, rather than changing the shape or position of a solid object. Keep the movements smooth and flowing, as if you were in a pool—the kind of movements that would create gentle waves instead of splashes.

Do some, not none. As with learning to play an instrument, the more time you put into tai chi, the more you’ll get out of it. Whether you have time for only a few 30-minute sessions a week, or 10 minutes a day, do it! You’ll still get benefits. But if you want to overcome a serious health problem or develop a deeper spiritual practice, a more rigorous regimen, such as longer 30- to 60-minute daily sessions, will help you to achieve those goals.

Pace yourself. Just like a young tree thrives when it receives intermittent rain instead of a single downpour, you’ll see more benefits by doing a little tai chi more frequently than doing a lot in isolated sessions that are few and far between. This is especially important when you are beginning a practice. Start with just 10 or 15 minutes and then gradually increase. Even five  minutes most days of the week is better than doing nothing at all.

Be patient with your progress. No matter what type of exercise you do, even high-intensity workouts, it takes time to see changes. And with lower-intensity forms of exercise like tai chi, it may take even longer  to see physical changes like increased strength or flexibility. The results are worth the wait. However, you need to be on the lookout for them. For example, you may be able to reach into overhead cabinets more easily or bend down to pick up something off the floor without needing to hold on to something. Look for improvements in everyday activities as a way to track
your progress. Celebrate these improvements.

Source: Harvard