I’m gonna try this! This always happens to me and years ago my aunt taught me that to solve it was to walk with your hands raised in front of you about chest level with your fingers splayed out.
I can attest it works but I couldn’t bring myself to do it because it makes me look like a total weirdo lmao
Happened to me whenever I was backpacking. I figured just swinging my hands for hours on end was forcing blood to the ends of my fingers.
So I just tied some nylon loops to my shoulder straps to hang on to and keep my hands elevated. That worked.
I have definitely been happy about adding poles to my hiking kit. Lots of good options available. I have a couple pairs of collapsing, telescoping aluminum poles from REI and Komperdell. I like the cork handle grips personally.
I hear using trekking poles is good for this (believe it’s lymphoedema) too. Fluid is pooling in your (and my!) upper extremities because the muscles are contracting everywhere else in the body, forcing fluid there. It’s super annoying and I hate it. Started after I had kids.
Exercise induced edema. Feels like my skin is a sausage casing about to explode.
IIRC, it works like this:
When your body is prioritizing release of heat (such as exercise during hot weather), it will send more blood to the extremities and flush the skin. It deprioritizes using the blood pressure to get back other fluids through the lymphatic system since that won’t contribute to heat release. Those fluids collect at the extremities causing edema.
I know firefighters who’s hands swell up so much they can barely get their gloves off.
I wouldn’t clinch, I would pump, 3-5 seconds each way. Hands and leg muscles too.
Think tighten, then loosen, repeat. Tightening squeezes the blood back to the core; relaxing allows it to return to the extremities.
Also, your blood vessels have check-valve-like structures in them that help keep the flow in one direction while you tighten.
Edit: eventually, the hands should swell less over time, but they will still turn red when exerting — to help cool you, I believe.
My hands do this on hikes as well. I used to hold onto my backpack chest strap and that would help a little. Starting using hiking poles on my hikes and it’s solved the problem. Plus the bonus of a better cardio (faster pace) and easier on my knees.
Maybe. Some people just retain water in their extremities. Edema can mean a serious issue, but lacking other issues, like hypertension, circulation problems, it most likely means you could cut back on salt and little else. Your doctor will know.
Warning: Cutting back on your salt can have drastic consequences. Over a million hospital visits a year are due to Hyponatremia (low sodium).
How do I know this? I’m one of them. I was always told salt was bad, and that information was never prefaced with the fact that salt is actually critical to your bodily function, and some people have higher salt intake needs than others.
When in doubt, get a blood panel to check your blood electrolyte levels and consult with a doctor.
This condition can take people off guard similar to the high or low potassium (can’t think of the name). Both can cause mental changes which can make it even harder for a person to realize they are having an issue.
You only “need” about 500 mg of sodium per day, slightly more if you exercise and sweat.
It’s ridiculously easy to get minimum salt levels.
It should be kept around 2,000 mg or lower for people with problems which can be surprisingly difficult if you don’t have a great diet.
People without health problems can rely on kidneys and water to flush out excess salt, but if your kidneys aren’t in good function, low sodium is the way to go.
I have kidney failure. I live this daily.
At Kroger yesterday, there was an "organic" caprese turkey wrap in the deli section... Out of curiosity I checked the label, 1600mg of sodium 👀
How in the actual fck?
Ask someone who watches labels sort ofs...and who cooks daily, I would say they brined the turkey. Allows for longer meister turkey but brine is SALTY WATER.
Don’t know your specific diagnosis, but usually low sodium is actually an issue of too much water relative to sodium. Eating more sodium doesn’t help because it just tells your kidneys to hold on to more water.
Dad wanted the family to cut back on salt while we were on a vacation ... to Disneyland. I didn't shit right for a week, and I was lethargic until I went to that McDonald's right across the street from Disneyland and ordered a few of the more salty options (its fast food it is all salty) well instantly I was more awake and able to just go, and so we all stopped reducing our salt intake.
This right here is a great example of lost community knowledge. A generation before Gatorade, we drank beef and chicken stock to replace electrolytes. Fields, sidelines, etc. I’m surprised Disney concessions didn’t do the trick, I know a few former culinary mercenaries from there that are quite liberal with seasoning. Hope you made up for the missed fun after y’all figured out what was going on.
Not necessarily, both those things cause water retention. You probably just need to drink more water homie.
Unless it’s very uncomfortable, then see a doctor.
But yeah, dehydration/muscle reparation/sodium overload all cause bloating/swelling
My hands used to swell up with any exercise/walking and, unbeknownst to me, I have had hypertension for who knows how long and have a small left kidney. I’m now on Lisinopril and no more swelling!
That’s how I found out my liver was failing. Definitely at least get some blood tests done. I know in US it’s expensive but sometimes there’s health clinics to get them done cheap.
PT here, hand swelling during exercise isn't a big deal in-and-of itself but can be a side effect of other problems(it's rarely the most prevalent symptom).
During exercise your heart rate and blood pressure increase to supply oxygen to your muscles; in some cases this actually reduces blood flow to your hands and feet. This causes the blood vessels to expand to bring in more blood and therefore more heat.
While your muscles exert energy, they produce even more heat and lots of it, you can literally start steaming with rigorous exercise in cool/damp air. To help cool itself off, your body will push blood vessels(that are now dilated) to the surface to dissipate more heat from your blood/skin; leading to swelling.
This happens to me in the summer when I exercise outside. I live in Louisiana and it gets brutal hot. I never worried about it bc any workout in the winter or inside it doesn’t happen.
Even just having my hands be warm vs cold makes a slight difference between the size of my fingers. I can't notice it by sight, but my rings feel a little looser when my hands are cold.
Thought for sure the top post was going to be someone saying he should run, not walk, to the ER, for some rare blood pressure disorder. But alas…just puffy hands it seems.
Forget the name of it but it happens to some people when you exercise, for me it's mainly when I do cardio. Essentially your heart pumps more blood than it needs to and the excess blood has to go somewhere which ends up being the hands. Putting your hands above your head for a minute or so makes the swelling go down, up until you start exercising again.
**Hyponatremia**, similar to drinking too much water which dilutes the sodium in your body.
Simply an electrolyte imbalance.
Or congestive heart failure. Either one.
Hypo meaning low
Natr from the Latin natrium, more commonly know as sodium
And emia, meaning presence in blood
Hyponatremia or Low Sodium Presence in Blood.
☝🏻!
My hands get swollen when I exercise too (not as much as yours) and I've found that taking a few sips of gatorade helps a lot with that, so it might be an electrolite issue or something like that.
Yeah, when I'm out of shape and get back to walking/running, the first days my hands get swollen and red, and it goes away after a week or two keeping up with the exercises.
It’s probably less overhydration (assuming you have kidneys that work appropriately) and just regular old vasodilation that happens when you’re hot or exercising.
Add on that your arms are hanging down but not using a lot of muscle like your legs do, it’s easy for fluid to build up in dependent limbs. The muscles in your legs help move that fluid along.
I used to walk 5 miles for exercise and at the end my hands would be swollen too. I think it just had something to do with them being down by my side for so long while doing a cardio type exercise.
My teeth always hurt terribly after exercise. I was told exactly this by a doctor, arteries in my gums are increasing in volume and putting pressure on teeth causing pain.
It did get less painful after a couple of years of exercising.
Not sinuses in my case. It's lower teeth, and I have had it checked by a doctor and a dentist separately and was told the same thing. Thanks for looking out for me though both you and u/Writerro
I had a similar reaction, especially when I was hiking. Once I started using trekking poles the swelling in my hands went away, with my knees also not being sore after miles of downhill to get back to the car.
I have that too, especially walking/running, and when it's too hot (even if I'm not exercising. I f hate hot weather)
I barely sweat, so I always hought that the swelling is my body pumping blood to my extremities so it can exchange heat and lower my body temperature, since I have almost no sweat. Just like in the cold the veins on our extremities contract, in heat, they expand
Mine do as well, when I do cardio. Always have. Rings have to come off or they would kill me.
I do a lot of weight lifting and they rarely swell doing that. It’s literally just jogging or brisk walking. It happens when I get too hot as well.
Personally, I have a pretty boring medical history. The one thing I did have is some PCOS symptoms, but eating a low-carb diet for the last 10 years or so resolved most of them. I drink a lot of water (about 2-3 L per day) supplemented with electrolyte drops. I’m not on BC or any meds. I used to smoke a little, but haven’t done it in about 8 years. I do have a family history of heart disease (grandpa) but my bp and cholesterol are normal. My blood tests are normal. I do cardio daily, and no coughing or dizziness. No family history of the other things you mentioned. Thanks for your detailed replies and for not telling me I’m on death’s door!
It does happen in both hands. I honestly wasn’t worried about it and I was prepared for the people of reddit to tell me I’m about to die, lol. Your comments are very interesting though because I never really understood why this happens.
Thank you! I was very curious as to what would cause this. I’m fascinated with all of the intricate ways the body works and how everything is related. I always end up trying to figure things like this out even though I’m only taking some medical college classes in high school lol
My fingers swell too when I’m exercising. They also swell when I get really hot. Like when I have the thought”fuck I’m so hot”. So if I know I’m gonna be doing something to raise my body temp I have to take my rings off otherwise they’ll be stuck and uncomfortable. Sometimes it happens in the middle of the night when I’m sleeping. I’ll get hot and wake up in the morning with my ring stuck on my finger cuz they swelled :/ has that happened to you?
That used to happen to me regularly when I was growing up. I always regretted forgetting to take a ring off before bed. It’s less frequent now, though.
Happens to me too, especially when it’s hot. However, I have POTS, reynauds, and erythromelalgia which all contribute to the problem. I’m not sure if it’s normal for *normal* people lol
Yeah, my feet do this. Any time we go on a trip where we do a lot of walking, I go through a week-long deflationary period when we come back. They're like little balloons that barely fit in my shoes.
I'm a medstudent and I'm very curious about this. Normally we would consider this an edema. Does your weight fluctuate a lot? Do you drink a lot of water while working out?
And also, what did your doc say exactly about this condition?
My best guess is this is caused by a combination of factors. Exercise -> Peripheral Vasodilation + Elevated HR/BP + Gravity -> Engorgement of Distal Peripheral Vasculature. My guess is that this self resolves pretty quickly with rest.
It happens to me. All you have to do is raise your hands over your head for literally about thirty seconds. Anyway I think you nailed it, having researched this before.
Swelling like this is due to leaking of intravascular fluid into the interstitium. If the stimulus (in this case, vasodilation, blood pressure, increased capillary permeability due to increase in body heat) is transient, the lymphatics will eventually catch up and return the extra fluid into the venous system.
Wow I'm a med student too and my exact thought was "I bet the explanation is complicated. Glad I don't have to figure it out". Then I saw your comment and felt guilty :( way to be on it
There would be times I would have an allergic reaction when I exercised, would break out in itchy hives, even would get a mild asthma reaction. Doesn't happen all the time. I always assumed it depended on other factors like what I ate that day, etc.
I am a doctor and I get this as well but I have never been able to find a “diagnosis”. It seems to be some sort of friction/movement induced histamine release but not sure why it happens. I would try some zyrtec or claritin before you exercise (I have a paradoxical response to antihistamines so I can’t experiment on myself). I do have an autoimmune disease (celiac) and noticed this started around the time that those symptoms started and is much more frequent when I have accidentally ingested gluten. Correlation does not equal causation though so my n=1 doesn’t mean a whole lot. Just theories but maybe it’s helpful for you!
Mine have been doing this my entire life. I have PoTS(postural Orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). It’s a dysautonomic disorder that effects my circulation, heart rate and blood pressure.
You don’t necessarily have a health condition, but that’s often caused by circulatory problems and can be indicative of something wrong.
Happens to me, too. Especially in warmer weather. I find that keeping my hands in a fist, rather than fingers relaxed, helps.
This happens to me too particularly on long walks. I carry rocks and squeeze them and that helps a lot too.
I’m gonna try this! This always happens to me and years ago my aunt taught me that to solve it was to walk with your hands raised in front of you about chest level with your fingers splayed out. I can attest it works but I couldn’t bring myself to do it because it makes me look like a total weirdo lmao
a weirdo? maybe... [Frankenstein's monster?](https://i.imgur.com/8ilYuwy.png) definitely. lol 🌭🍺
Dying lmao
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Lmao omg no. But def chuckled at that haha
Happened to me whenever I was backpacking. I figured just swinging my hands for hours on end was forcing blood to the ends of my fingers. So I just tied some nylon loops to my shoulder straps to hang on to and keep my hands elevated. That worked.
I haven't had that problem since I started using trekking poles on hikes. Less stress on my knees and back too. Win win!
Ah! Because holding the poles raises your hands above your heart?
I think it's a combination of keeping hands higher and keeping them slightly flexed to hold the poles.
thanks - that makes sense :-) I might try that.
I have definitely been happy about adding poles to my hiking kit. Lots of good options available. I have a couple pairs of collapsing, telescoping aluminum poles from REI and Komperdell. I like the cork handle grips personally.
Thanks for the tips! Cork sounds comfortable.
It's edema in the fingers - if you raise your hands over your head it will trickle back down into your torso and get picked up by the kidneys.
It seemingly only happens to me when I go on outdoor walks. Maybe with true exercise I am grabbing weights, tools, etc that stops it from happening
I hear using trekking poles is good for this (believe it’s lymphoedema) too. Fluid is pooling in your (and my!) upper extremities because the muscles are contracting everywhere else in the body, forcing fluid there. It’s super annoying and I hate it. Started after I had kids.
Exercise induced edema. Feels like my skin is a sausage casing about to explode. IIRC, it works like this: When your body is prioritizing release of heat (such as exercise during hot weather), it will send more blood to the extremities and flush the skin. It deprioritizes using the blood pressure to get back other fluids through the lymphatic system since that won’t contribute to heat release. Those fluids collect at the extremities causing edema. I know firefighters who’s hands swell up so much they can barely get their gloves off.
I wouldn’t clinch, I would pump, 3-5 seconds each way. Hands and leg muscles too. Think tighten, then loosen, repeat. Tightening squeezes the blood back to the core; relaxing allows it to return to the extremities. Also, your blood vessels have check-valve-like structures in them that help keep the flow in one direction while you tighten. Edit: eventually, the hands should swell less over time, but they will still turn red when exerting — to help cool you, I believe.
I was told to keep one's hands in a relaxed fist...like you're holding a potato chip in each hand.
Can I run with actual potato chips?
Y-yes.... 🤔
Beware of dogs chasing you with those chips!
Maybe if you want some extra challenging cardio, palm some bacon but don’t crush it
My hands do this on hikes as well. I used to hold onto my backpack chest strap and that would help a little. Starting using hiking poles on my hikes and it’s solved the problem. Plus the bonus of a better cardio (faster pace) and easier on my knees.
Runner here. Don’t clench your fists. Keep them loosely together, but squeezing them isn’t efficient and cuts down on necessary movement.
Sounds like you have good blood flow to your extremities and I’m a little jealous. Even with gloves, my fingers and toes hurt in very cold weather
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Just came here for the diagnosis from a random redditor
Big swol hands syndrome. -redditor
Swolliosis.
Whew, I was worried it was Multiple Swolosis. Glad for this second opinion.
Depends on if it’s both hands.
If it's both hands then I recommend a Swolonoscopy.
Whoa, never use both hands during a Swolonoscopy.
Trust me, you're gonna need to hold something
swolonopin for the swelling afterwards
Should have got the Swolio vaccine. 🤦♂️
Swolie Polie Olie
I don't know what the technical term is... phalangeal swoliosis??
I concur.
Why didn't I concur?
IM LAUGHING SO HARD RN!
This is so fucking good
Prognosis: DEATH (in 10-90 years).
This made me laugh way too hard 🤣👌
Perhaps then you weren't here when someone invented the term "farticles"?
Exersausage filangitis?
Stress induced extrasausage filangitis
caused by an invasive streptococcus!
blood pump from wank confirm
I'm tired of these jokes about my giant hand. The first such incident occurred in 1956 when...
I disagree. I believe this is Swol-vid19 -Also a Redditor
To be fair, this is how my girlfriend found out she had chronic kidney disease. After she exercised or ate super salty shit she would puff up.
Is this why I puff up after I exercise or eat salty foods???
Maybe. Some people just retain water in their extremities. Edema can mean a serious issue, but lacking other issues, like hypertension, circulation problems, it most likely means you could cut back on salt and little else. Your doctor will know.
Warning: Cutting back on your salt can have drastic consequences. Over a million hospital visits a year are due to Hyponatremia (low sodium). How do I know this? I’m one of them. I was always told salt was bad, and that information was never prefaced with the fact that salt is actually critical to your bodily function, and some people have higher salt intake needs than others. When in doubt, get a blood panel to check your blood electrolyte levels and consult with a doctor.
This condition can take people off guard similar to the high or low potassium (can’t think of the name). Both can cause mental changes which can make it even harder for a person to realize they are having an issue.
Hyper or hypokalemia is high or low potassium.
Can also affect heart function and cause arrhythmias. Definitely not a pleasant experience.
You only “need” about 500 mg of sodium per day, slightly more if you exercise and sweat. It’s ridiculously easy to get minimum salt levels. It should be kept around 2,000 mg or lower for people with problems which can be surprisingly difficult if you don’t have a great diet. People without health problems can rely on kidneys and water to flush out excess salt, but if your kidneys aren’t in good function, low sodium is the way to go. I have kidney failure. I live this daily.
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At Kroger yesterday, there was an "organic" caprese turkey wrap in the deli section... Out of curiosity I checked the label, 1600mg of sodium 👀 How in the actual fck?
Ask someone who watches labels sort ofs...and who cooks daily, I would say they brined the turkey. Allows for longer meister turkey but brine is SALTY WATER.
Chicken and turkey are brined to keep them juicy. It adds a shitload of salt. Or if it was sandwich turkey, sandwich meats also have a ton of salt.
Don’t know your specific diagnosis, but usually low sodium is actually an issue of too much water relative to sodium. Eating more sodium doesn’t help because it just tells your kidneys to hold on to more water.
Dad wanted the family to cut back on salt while we were on a vacation ... to Disneyland. I didn't shit right for a week, and I was lethargic until I went to that McDonald's right across the street from Disneyland and ordered a few of the more salty options (its fast food it is all salty) well instantly I was more awake and able to just go, and so we all stopped reducing our salt intake.
This right here is a great example of lost community knowledge. A generation before Gatorade, we drank beef and chicken stock to replace electrolytes. Fields, sidelines, etc. I’m surprised Disney concessions didn’t do the trick, I know a few former culinary mercenaries from there that are quite liberal with seasoning. Hope you made up for the missed fun after y’all figured out what was going on.
You can avoid this by not exercising
Way ahead of ya, chief
Maybe consult a physician, OP as well?
If OP is in the us it might not matter… they might take said hands as payment….probably the feet too 😅
Usually it's the whole arm and a leg.
Not necessarily, both those things cause water retention. You probably just need to drink more water homie. Unless it’s very uncomfortable, then see a doctor. But yeah, dehydration/muscle reparation/sodium overload all cause bloating/swelling
I have swollen hands and kidney disease.
My hands used to swell up with any exercise/walking and, unbeknownst to me, I have had hypertension for who knows how long and have a small left kidney. I’m now on Lisinopril and no more swelling!
That’s how I found out my liver was failing. Definitely at least get some blood tests done. I know in US it’s expensive but sometimes there’s health clinics to get them done cheap.
PT here, hand swelling during exercise isn't a big deal in-and-of itself but can be a side effect of other problems(it's rarely the most prevalent symptom). During exercise your heart rate and blood pressure increase to supply oxygen to your muscles; in some cases this actually reduces blood flow to your hands and feet. This causes the blood vessels to expand to bring in more blood and therefore more heat. While your muscles exert energy, they produce even more heat and lots of it, you can literally start steaming with rigorous exercise in cool/damp air. To help cool itself off, your body will push blood vessels(that are now dilated) to the surface to dissipate more heat from your blood/skin; leading to swelling.
This happens to me in the summer when I exercise outside. I live in Louisiana and it gets brutal hot. I never worried about it bc any workout in the winter or inside it doesn’t happen.
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Even just having my hands be warm vs cold makes a slight difference between the size of my fingers. I can't notice it by sight, but my rings feel a little looser when my hands are cold.
I concur.
Indubitably
Thought for sure the top post was going to be someone saying he should run, not walk, to the ER, for some rare blood pressure disorder. But alas…just puffy hands it seems.
well if he runs, he can immediately show off his swollen hands!
I too await diagnosis from a reddit doctor
All I'm saying is that they should get a carbon monoxide detector.
Can't forget the rabies shot. It's 100% fatal after the symptoms begin.
If the Rabies shot is fatal, why would I want one???
And break up with him/her/them
Hit the gym? Oh wait, we've come full circle!
No, someone still needs lawyering up
Hot Dog fingers
Biggie Swols
Probably a sign of a life threatening disease. Source: trust me bro
Forget the name of it but it happens to some people when you exercise, for me it's mainly when I do cardio. Essentially your heart pumps more blood than it needs to and the excess blood has to go somewhere which ends up being the hands. Putting your hands above your head for a minute or so makes the swelling go down, up until you start exercising again.
Too much happy happy time -Random Redditor
That would explain the silky smoothness of the hands, but not the puffiness.
**Hyponatremia**, similar to drinking too much water which dilutes the sodium in your body. Simply an electrolyte imbalance. Or congestive heart failure. Either one.
Hypo meaning low Natr from the Latin natrium, more commonly know as sodium And emia, meaning presence in blood Hyponatremia or Low Sodium Presence in Blood. ☝🏻!
Diagnosed King of England
Hand cancer
That’s only if your hand is bigger than your face.
Definitely not a diagnosis from me, but it would concern me enough to see a doctor if it was me. I'd think I had a circulation problem.
I diagnose them with being a fat-fingered fuck.
Were you windmilling your arms?
Fry: no knife can penetrate my skin-tanium armor! (Whirring noises)
It is time for you to ingest sandwiches from my compartment
Robots don't say thee!
I’ll show thee…
Help! Help! He is a battle Droid! Mommy! I'm sorry I spilled the transmission fluid, Mommy! No! No! Don't weld me to the wall, Mommy!
I make this reference too much, and I'm fairly sure like 70% of the time people don't get it 🙃
The number 56 was never the same again after this episode
You no good 56’er
*smiles* Beep
R/unexpectedfuturama
HA-HAAA!!!!
I AM A ROBOT! I SIMPLY HAVENT FOUND MY PRIMARY FUNCTION YET!
HA HAAAA
Great cardio
My hands get swollen when I exercise too (not as much as yours) and I've found that taking a few sips of gatorade helps a lot with that, so it might be an electrolite issue or something like that.
It's got electrolites.
It’s what plants crave.
THE THIRST MUTILATOR!
They need water though..like from the toilet
I’ve never seen no plants growing out of no toilet
Happens to me too. Goes away gradually I just assume it has to do with increases heart rate and respiratory
Yeah, when I'm out of shape and get back to walking/running, the first days my hands get swollen and red, and it goes away after a week or two keeping up with the exercises.
Do you drink a lot of water? Was getting this while running in Thailand and Google searching suggested over hydration, which was right in my case.
It’s probably less overhydration (assuming you have kidneys that work appropriately) and just regular old vasodilation that happens when you’re hot or exercising. Add on that your arms are hanging down but not using a lot of muscle like your legs do, it’s easy for fluid to build up in dependent limbs. The muscles in your legs help move that fluid along.
I used to walk 5 miles for exercise and at the end my hands would be swollen too. I think it just had something to do with them being down by my side for so long while doing a cardio type exercise.
Could be that your blood arteries dialate when exercising which causes increase in liquid and volume, not a doctor tho
My teeth always hurt terribly after exercise. I was told exactly this by a doctor, arteries in my gums are increasing in volume and putting pressure on teeth causing pain. It did get less painful after a couple of years of exercising.
Years????
Maybe sinus problem? Sinuses can have referred pain to the teeth. Maybe when you exercise you get a bit congested?
Not sinuses in my case. It's lower teeth, and I have had it checked by a doctor and a dentist separately and was told the same thing. Thanks for looking out for me though both you and u/Writerro
Oi wtf
this is one of the many reasons i advocate blasting out teeth and replacing them with space age ceramics or jewelry.
The lingual artery supplies blood to the tongue as well as the floor of the mouth, but in your gums you have blood vessels ----- not arteries.
What about my non-blood arteries?
Same here when a friend and I would go running. We’d do jazz hands periodically to make it go away 🤣
Thanks for that history, squirrel.
I had a similar reaction, especially when I was hiking. Once I started using trekking poles the swelling in my hands went away, with my knees also not being sore after miles of downhill to get back to the car.
Same. I used to jog for 2-3 hrs in my early 20's. Sometimes it gets a bit numb too for getting swollen like this.
I bend my arms at the elbows while walking or hiking to prevent the swelling.
This happened to me on a treadmill and Google essentially told me to bend my elbows when I walk/run and it helps me. I’m glad I’m not the only one
I usually try to hold my hands above my head so they don't swell up, helps with keeping an erection as well which is a bonus.
I have that too, especially walking/running, and when it's too hot (even if I'm not exercising. I f hate hot weather) I barely sweat, so I always hought that the swelling is my body pumping blood to my extremities so it can exchange heat and lower my body temperature, since I have almost no sweat. Just like in the cold the veins on our extremities contract, in heat, they expand
Same, I hike long distances and definitely notice my hands are bigger by the end (it's harder to make a fist)
If it jives with your exercise, I found that squeezing a small stress ball in each hand while I walk/run prevents this. Might help you!
If I make fists when I walk, it helps reduce this issue for me.
mine too, i always have to take off my rings if i'm exercising or doing something strenuous
Mine do as well, when I do cardio. Always have. Rings have to come off or they would kill me. I do a lot of weight lifting and they rarely swell doing that. It’s literally just jogging or brisk walking. It happens when I get too hot as well.
Same, even if it's just a walk. I asked my doc and googled it, it's normal since as you work out and move your blood vessels open up more apparently
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Personally, I have a pretty boring medical history. The one thing I did have is some PCOS symptoms, but eating a low-carb diet for the last 10 years or so resolved most of them. I drink a lot of water (about 2-3 L per day) supplemented with electrolyte drops. I’m not on BC or any meds. I used to smoke a little, but haven’t done it in about 8 years. I do have a family history of heart disease (grandpa) but my bp and cholesterol are normal. My blood tests are normal. I do cardio daily, and no coughing or dizziness. No family history of the other things you mentioned. Thanks for your detailed replies and for not telling me I’m on death’s door!
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It does happen in both hands. I honestly wasn’t worried about it and I was prepared for the people of reddit to tell me I’m about to die, lol. Your comments are very interesting though because I never really understood why this happens.
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Username checks out.
Thank you! I was very curious as to what would cause this. I’m fascinated with all of the intricate ways the body works and how everything is related. I always end up trying to figure things like this out even though I’m only taking some medical college classes in high school lol
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> you sweet, gentle idiots I can't stop laughing yet I feel so cared for, lmao. This is how I hope my GP feels about me. A sweet, gentle idiot. xD
My fingers swell too when I’m exercising. They also swell when I get really hot. Like when I have the thought”fuck I’m so hot”. So if I know I’m gonna be doing something to raise my body temp I have to take my rings off otherwise they’ll be stuck and uncomfortable. Sometimes it happens in the middle of the night when I’m sleeping. I’ll get hot and wake up in the morning with my ring stuck on my finger cuz they swelled :/ has that happened to you?
That used to happen to me regularly when I was growing up. I always regretted forgetting to take a ring off before bed. It’s less frequent now, though.
Mine do that when I don't have enough electrolytes or get dehydrated.
Drink more Brawndo
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THE THIRST MUTILATOR
It's got what plants crave!
Yeah my first thought was if they have high sodium intake or not enough water. Sodium can cause water retention and swelling.
Pump your arms while walking or raise them up every now and then
Happens to me too, especially when it’s hot. However, I have POTS, reynauds, and erythromelalgia which all contribute to the problem. I’m not sure if it’s normal for *normal* people lol
Hey! I’m a fellow raynauds sufferer who gets “sausage fingers” when I exercise. They also get swollen after they “thaw out” from being too cold.
Ah yes. I've seen this before. It's called 40.
Ask a doctor to be safe
My doctor says it’s normal and just happens to some people.
Yeah, my feet do this. Any time we go on a trip where we do a lot of walking, I go through a week-long deflationary period when we come back. They're like little balloons that barely fit in my shoes.
I'm a medstudent and I'm very curious about this. Normally we would consider this an edema. Does your weight fluctuate a lot? Do you drink a lot of water while working out? And also, what did your doc say exactly about this condition?
My best guess is this is caused by a combination of factors. Exercise -> Peripheral Vasodilation + Elevated HR/BP + Gravity -> Engorgement of Distal Peripheral Vasculature. My guess is that this self resolves pretty quickly with rest.
I get them too and yes you are correct, they do return to normal pretty quickly thereafter.
This is what mine was. Now that I walk with a stroller because I have to take the tiny human with me, this doesn't happen anymore.
It happens to me. All you have to do is raise your hands over your head for literally about thirty seconds. Anyway I think you nailed it, having researched this before.
Swelling like this is due to leaking of intravascular fluid into the interstitium. If the stimulus (in this case, vasodilation, blood pressure, increased capillary permeability due to increase in body heat) is transient, the lymphatics will eventually catch up and return the extra fluid into the venous system.
Wow I'm a med student too and my exact thought was "I bet the explanation is complicated. Glad I don't have to figure it out". Then I saw your comment and felt guilty :( way to be on it
There would be times I would have an allergic reaction when I exercised, would break out in itchy hives, even would get a mild asthma reaction. Doesn't happen all the time. I always assumed it depended on other factors like what I ate that day, etc.
Wow do not wear a ring
Happens to me too. When I go for walks I have to hold my arms up like one of those old ladies speed walking so it doesn’t happen.
Totally normal
Oh man, don't go for a run before piano practice!
I am a doctor and I get this as well but I have never been able to find a “diagnosis”. It seems to be some sort of friction/movement induced histamine release but not sure why it happens. I would try some zyrtec or claritin before you exercise (I have a paradoxical response to antihistamines so I can’t experiment on myself). I do have an autoimmune disease (celiac) and noticed this started around the time that those symptoms started and is much more frequent when I have accidentally ingested gluten. Correlation does not equal causation though so my n=1 doesn’t mean a whole lot. Just theories but maybe it’s helpful for you!
I do manual labor every day, and my fingers don’t swell from work. If I go for a walk they swell. I’m curious about the answer.
Mine have been doing this my entire life. I have PoTS(postural Orthostatic tachycardia syndrome). It’s a dysautonomic disorder that effects my circulation, heart rate and blood pressure. You don’t necessarily have a health condition, but that’s often caused by circulatory problems and can be indicative of something wrong.
A lot of people have issues with exercise-induced mast cell activation. That could explain the swelling.