What is Therapy Putty?

Therapy putty is a malleable material used for hand physical therapy to improve grip strength, dexterity, and hand strengthening. Therapy putty is a great tool for recovering from hand and wrist injuries. It is widely used for rehabilitative purposes to improve grip strength, finger strength, and fine motor skills after an injury, illness, surgery, stroke, and for people with other disorders that affect muscle tone and grip strength.

Therapy putty is immensely beneficial to people with carpal tunnel syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. Children with autism, ADD, ADHD, cerebral palsy, or other conditions also use it at home and in occupational therapy sessions and enjoy developing their fine motor skills working with different resistance levels to build hand strength and other skills. The putty is non-oily, brightly colored, non-toxic, non-sticky, and is fun to mold and stretch.

Many therapy putty products come color-coded for easy identification of resistance, ranging from xx-soft for strengthening the weakest grasp to x-firm for developing a stronger grip. Due to the varying resistance options available, users can graduate to more firm putties as they gain back strength and ability. There are different types of therapy putty to suit different needs. You can add heat, sensory, or aromatherapy to your hand exercises.

Occupational Therapy Putty Exercises are helpful to people with:

Carpal tunnel syndrome
Rheumatoid arthritis
Autism, ADD, ADHD
Cerebral Palsy
Hand weakness after stroke
Hand injury/fracture
Cervical radiculopathy
Hand surgery
Trigger finger
Cognitive dysfunction
Dementia

At Health Products For You, we have an extensive range of therapy putty products to build your finger and hand power by squeezing, stretching, twisting, or pinching these items. CanDo Theraputty Standard Exercise Putty has different resistance levels from xx-soft to x-firm, eliminating the need for more buys. Check out our Sammons Preston Color Change Putty, which provides patients with visual feedback as exercise is performed. We also have the Therapy Putty Hand Exercise Book, a booklet on hand exercises from Patterson Medical/Performance Health.

What are the Benefits of Therapy Putty?

Hands are an important part of our body and the most active part of our upper bodies. We do almost everything with hands, and handgrip strength is so important in our daily lives. Without strong hands, it isn't easy to do even a simple task. If injury or any other health condition limits the hand function, we feel devastated. Fortunately, there are various hand therapy treatments available to help us in regaining hand strength and mobility. Therapy putty is a great therapeutic tool used during rehabilitation and often used by physiotherapists and occupational therapists. People of all ages can use therapy putty. Health benefits of therapy putty include:

1. Strengthens Hands and Fingers

The muscles of the forearm control the strength of the hand. With aging or hand injury, there will be loss of muscle mass and bone density which reduces hand strength and dexterity, and it hampers day-to-day living making it difficult to complete basic tasks. Therapy putty as a hand strengthening tool plays a unique role in re-strengthening the forearm muscles and tendons of the fingers that control grip and pinch. A study shows that people with Parkinson's who participated in a hand training session using therapy putty experienced significant improvement in manual dexterity and grip and pinch strength.

2. Relieves Arthritic Pain

People who have rheumatoid arthritis suffer from chronic joint pain in the hands that limit their hand functioning. Hand exercises with therapy putty loosen the joints, improves blood flow, and reduces pain and swelling. A progressive resistance system of putty from soft to hard can be great for arthritic hands for improved range of motion of the joints.

3. Exercises Fine Motor Skills

Therapy putty is a useful tool in improving fine motor skills. Loss of cognitive and motor skills often indicates conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, affecting older people. Simple exercises with therapy putty such as rolling, twisting, and shaping improve brain function that may help defend against these diseases or slow their progression.

4. Provides Stress Relief

Therapy putty also offers relief from stress by releasing built-up tension. It helps in diverting negative thoughts and emotions from the mind and provides temporary peace of mind. The mind will be engaged in therapy putty activities like rolling, squeezing, and stretching, which helps you concentrate on productive things and keep the bothersome worries at bay. This colorful and fun activity also helps in relieving stress and anxiety for people with dementia and other cognitive disabilities.

Five Best Therapy Putty Exercises

Therapy putty exercises are extremely helpful during rehabilitation to regain hand grip and finger strength. The therapist will plan a set of exercises for you based on your condition. Follow their instructions regarding the repetitions and intensity of the exercises. A normal healthy person can also perform these exercises to strengthen hand function. Following are some of the exercises which can be performed using therapy putty:

1. Finger Flexion

Make a ball with the therapy putty and place it in the palm at the base of the fingers. Press it with all four fingers except the thumb like you are making a fist. Release fingers, reshape putty, and repeat the process.

2. Finger Extension

Bend a finger close to the palm. Roll the putty into a cylinder and wrap it around the bent finger. Hold the putty with the other hand and try extending the bent finger. Repeat exercise on each finger. The degree of resistance is controlled by the thickness of the putty held over the fingertip.

3. Finger Adduction (Scissors)

Roll therapy putty into a ball shape and place between two spread fingers and squeeze them together in a scissor-like motion. Reshape putty and repeat doing it using different pairs of fingers.

4. Individual Finger Abduction (Spread)

Roll the therapy putty and wrap it around two fingers near the fingertip to form a ring shape. Then try spreading your fingers apart. Repeat using different pairs of fingers until all the fingers have been exercised.

5. Finger Pinch

Roll the therapy putty into a ball and pinch it using your thumb and all the fingertips. This exercise can also be performed with the thumb and each finger separately. Reshape putty and repeat.

Where to Buy Therapy Putty Online?

At HPFY, we offer a wide range of therapy putty products with different resistance levels, which offer effective occupational therapy in a fun way. Shop for therapy putty from various top-selling manufacturers like North Coast Medical, Complete Medical Supplies, Fabrication Enterprises, and many more. Please browse our extensive range to select the product that best suits your needs.