Flextend Resistance Training Systems

If you do not have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) than you certainly can.  BUT, if you have CTS, turning the hand/wrist into a palm-down position causes the radius and ulna to cross over each other like an “X”, twisting the muscles in the forearm and impinging the carpal tunnel even further. (Like rolling up an egg in a dish towel and then twisting it tighter and tighter.  It’s going to crush and break the egg.)  This is what happens in the small confines of the carpal tunnel.

In addition to the increased pressure on the carpal tunnel as you hold the weights in the palm down position, you are enhancing the pressure even more by gripping/squeezing with the wrist / finger flexor muscles and finger adductor muscles.  And then on top of that, you extend the wrist backwards, stretching the flexor muscles while they are in a contracted position.  This causes a massive increase of pressure within the carpal tunnel as well as a narrowing of the carpal tunnel.  And as you flex and extend the wrist against resistance, the flexor tendons are dragging back and forth in a space that has no room, causing friction of the flexor tendons and median nerve, resulting the the swelling of the tendons and median nerve.

Pure extension in a palm-up or neutral position is the key to recovery for those who are suffering from CTS caused by a muscle imbalance.

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This is a common question as both exercises involve extension of the fingers, so common sense would dictate that people should be able to just use a rubber band to defeat the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome by strengthening their extensor group. 

The main problem with using a rubber band is that the finger extensors and finger abductors are the only muscles being exercised, and do not involve the wrist extensors which are a much larger group of muscles with most having two actions, the extension of the wrist and fingers.  (Some are wrist extension only)

When using a rubber band to perform the extension exercises, there is a lack of range of motion that is performed, caused by several factors: 

The first factor, that was left out of the video, is that you cannot bring your fingers down into a semi-closed fist position or the rubber band falls of the fingers.  Therefore all of the finger joints cannot flex which completely narrows the scope of the effectiveness of the exercises.  The more joints involved through their proper range of motion means better strength enhancing effects.  

The second factor, which is mentioned in the video, is that you need to open and splay the fingers as far open as possible in order to stretch the flexor muscles, thenar and hypothenar emminence and the carpal ligament.  The only way to keep the rubber bands on the fingers is to initiate movement at the base MP joint only and keep the fingers really stiff while performing the movement. 

 With these factors revealed, it shows that the use of rubber bands is limited to 1-joint being exercised.  On the other hand, Flextend involves all 7-joints from the elbow to the DIP joint located near the tips of the fingers, making it quite obvious that there is no real comparison between the two methods of exercise.  (Joints in Order from proximal to distal: Elbow, Radiocarpal (Wrist), Carpometacarpal, Intermetacarpal, Metacarpalphalangeal, Proximal Interphalangeal, and Distal Interphalangeal.)

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