Our hands play a vital role in our lives. We use our hands to touch those whom we love; we use our hands to pat our best friend's back or wipe his or her tears; we use our hands to hold on and do our daily activities in life. Our hands are indeed useful and thus, needs to be gently taken care of. Hands are the best tool when we do our jobs, especially on the manual labor field.

I have compiled and acquired the best tips on how to protect your hands. Here is the list of 17 tips on how to protect your hands:

1.) Hand washing

• - Hand washing is one of the best examples of hand hygiene.
• - Hand washing removes dirt and bacterias, and other harmful microorganism or pathogens.
• - Every time our hands are exposed to chemicals, it would be necessary to remove the remaining chemicals through hand washing.
• - Hand washing should and always be practiced especially before meals and after using the bathroom.

2.) Clean dry your hands after wash!

• - About 80% of the people leave their hand wet or damp after washing.
• - You would not want to gather a new set of germs just right after hand washing, do you?
• - It is recommended that after washing your hands wet, it would be necessary for you to clean dry your hands.
• - Wet or damp hands is prone to dirt and are most likely to spread harmful bacterias than dry hands.

3.) Exercise your hands

• - Just like any part of the body, exercise would be highly beneficial to your hands especially on the working grounds. Exercise your hands regularly!

Follow these simple exercises to exercise your hands :

• - Do the “close open” lightly for around 10 reps
• - Try to slowly bend your fingers towards your palm. Hold it for a few seconds and then release.
• - Try to stretch each finger gently towards the left and right direction. Hold it for a few seconds then release.
• - Rest your palms flat on a flat surface. Raise each of your fingers and repeat it 10 times. You may also raise all of your fingers and repeat it 10 times.
• - Shake and loosen up your hands in an up and down motion, left and right motion, and later on a circular motion.
• - Lightly press your palms and your fingertips and gently massage your hands. Do it for some time and then let it rest.
• - It would also be good to include and exercise your wrists. Press your palms flat on the wall in such a way that your hands are perpendicular to your arms. Do it for around 10 seconds. Do it on the other sides of your hands as well.

 4.) Have short but several hands rests or breaks

• - Quantity is better than quality on this part. It would be better to take several but at most 10 minute breaks for your hands to rest than few but lengthy breaks.
• - Hand injuries take an average of 6 days absence from work.

An example of hand injury due to lack of rest :

• Repetitive Strain Injuries
  • - Repetitive Strain Injuries or commonly known as RSI is a strain caused by an individual doing the same set of motions all throughout the day.
  • - RSI may also be caused by overuse of the hands pass through its limit.
  • - RSI is used to describe the pain in the muscles, nerves, and tendons. May it be the nature of the job of an individual or that he or she needs to do the same set of movements again and again or it has become his or her habit, this needs to be corrected for it greatly affects the hands and wrists.

5.) Wear hand protection

 

• - A number of hand injuries will be reduced up to 60% by wearing protective gloves.
• - About 70% of a number of people who have experienced hand injuries said that they have not used or worn protective gloves the moment of the accident.
• - Example of hand protection includes safety gloves.

6.) Wear gloves every time you do a handy work

• - Activities that involve your hands and other harmful substance like pointed objects should involve wearing gloves.
• - It is also important to wear the right gloves for a particular kind of work.

• - Rubber gloves are typically the right gloves for household chores such as washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom and other chemical-related activities.

8.) Moisturize your hands

• - Just like most parts of the body, it is important to moisturize your hands. Thus, it would be great to have moisturizers that would keep your hands get the right nourishment.
• - Even though it is good to have your hands dry after hand washing, we should not let our hands become too dry and unmoisturized for too long.
• - When we practice regular hand hygiene, our hands may experience drying effects.
• - Moisturizers or other hand products that may help our hands become healthy is a good solution to dry hands.

9.) Keep your nails short and clean

• - The place under our fingernails is the place where most germs on our hands situate.
• - Having long fingernails allows them to hide more and spread more.

10.) Use lukewarm water when hand washing

• - Using lukewarm water when we hand wash will greatly decrease hand chapping.
• - Avoid using too warm water will strip off the natural oils of our skin on our hands.

11.) As much as possible, avoid sneezing onto your hands  

• - Sneezing onto your hands should be strictly avoided. This is because when we sneeze, we pass on the germs onto our hands and then from our hands to other things or people.

12.) As much as possible, use mild soaps when washing your hands 

• - Harsh and strong soaps can also deal damage to your hands.
• - You would not want to give effort on something that would just make it worse, do you? Find the right soap for you!

13.) Exfoliate your hands 

• - Just like our face, we need to exfoliate our hands at least once a week. This is to avoid getting those veins more prominent as you age.
• - Exfoliating your hands will make it look glowing and nourished.

14.) Apply sunscreen 

• - This is often neglected. Just like most part of the body, our hands are covered with skin.
• - Applying sunscreen is necessary to protect our hands from the excess heat of the scorching sun.

15.) Apply lotions and or creams

• - Applying lotions after you get yourself cleaned in the bathroom will help seal in the moisture of the skin of our hands.
• - Applying lotions and creams will also help to fill in the lacking nourishment of your skin.

16.) Increase humidity in your home

• - For people who are suffering from severe skin hand dryness, increasing the humidity will be able to help you.
• - Increased humidity will greatly help to hydrate your skin.

17.)  Avoid direct contact with chemicals

• - As much as possible, keep away from chemicals especially when you don’t know if it’s hazardous to your skin, respiratory system, or even your general health.
• - Always use gloves when dealing with chemicals.