For months on end you’ve been gaming every day for hours. Maybe a competition is approaching. But your single-minded focus is distracted by hand problems.

You may be feeling hand or finger pain or burning while using the console. Perhaps gripping causes shooting electric shocks. Maybe you even feel pain or numbness while sleeping. Dangling you hand off the bed helps, but your sleep is robbed anyway.

These are the starting symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. And if you also feel tingling, weakness and clumsiness, it means your carpal tunnel has advanced. (How bad is it? See this Test.)

The best way to avoid these symptoms is to prevent them from happening in the first place. And if they have already started, you need to take action right now. With carpal tunnel, progression is inevitable and spontaneous remission is very unlikely.

The first step is to begin a routine of hand exercises. For gaming (and for everyday living), such exercises are the BEST way to prevent and treat carpal tunnel syndrome.

This exercise is unique to gamers

With both hands over your head, make lose fists. Then make slow circular motions with each fist. Pretend each thumb tip is making circles on a blackboard. Try to make those circles as big as you can, for about 10 seconds. Then, switch directions.

Wrist mobility is just as important as finger dexterity for maintaining healthy gaming hands. This keep wrists mobility sharp and their movement responsive.

Push both palms and fingers together, with fingers pointing up in a “prayer position.” Keep both hands close to your chest and in front of you. Now relax your shoulders and slowly raise both elbows. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Then drop your arms at your side and shake out your hands for a few seconds. Feel the warmth, indicating good blood flow. Repeat this exercise once again.

When it comes to effective hand exercies for gaming, this prayer position is one of the best because it lubricates tendons from the forearm to the fingertips in one simple step.

Interlace your fingers. Then rotate both hands so that your palms face away from you. Next, push out and straighten out your arms while all fingers remain interlaced. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Then drop both hands at your sides. Shake them out vigorously for 5 seconds. If they feel warm, it means blood is flowing through. Then repeat the process again.

This is a good exercise for all of the fingers in one easy movement. Alternatively, with time permitting, you can pull each individual finger backward and hold it for 5 seconds.

Hold one hand up as if you’re saying “STOP!” With the opposite hand, reach up and grab your fingers. Then pull them backwards. Maintain this position for 10 seconds. As before, drop both hands at your sides and shake them out. Repeat the process again.

Most hand disorders, including carpal tunnel syndrome, affect the thumb the most. So this stretching exercise pays particular attention to your thumbs. 

Stretch one thumb by grabbing it and rotating it like a helicopter blade. Do so several times, and then switch direction. Also, as a final step, pull the thumb backward, slowly and gently. You may hear cracking or popping, but this is normal. Hold that position for 10 seconds, and then switch hands.