In this episode of Fix Your Carpal Tunnel, we look at the outer line of the body and how weakness and tension along this pathway plays into carpal tunnel syndrome and chronic wrist pain.

We start this journey at the calves—the forgotten place. The vast majority of us have tight and weak calves (walking a lot doesn’t mean your calves are strong) and they’re usually tightest on the outer portion of the muscle(s). The easiest way to get at that outer calf is using a massager, IMHO. We continue the massaging aspect of the video targeting the lats, armpits (a lot of muscles connect there) and the jaw.

To begin our stretching portion, we start at the infamous IT band with a simple stretch you could do on a couch or chair. Then we move up to a yummy lat stretch for the back.

Lastly, the muscles that are often weak along this line include the outer hip and shoulders—the abductors. I offer a simple exercise to activate these muscle groups as well as the rotator cuff and lats. The video wraps up with some suggestions for strengthening the lateral movement of the wrists.