CHARLOTTE- Several clients of mine make it a point to remind me how much they enjoy the extra time and attention we give their hands. Even if you don’t have nerve issues, circulation issues or an injury, having your hands massaged provides relaxation that you might not realize you need.

Why are our hands sensitive to massage and touch? Well, the obvious reason is that we use our hands to sense and touch other things, right? But think of what our hand’s job is: to grasp or hold. Those actions require a lot of small bones, ligaments, muscles and nerves to get this done. In one hand alone the average person has three kinds of bones in their hand: the phalanges which are the bones in the fingers. Look at your fingers, there are three phalanges in each finger and two in your thumb (separated by the knuckles). Right there are 14 bones in your fingers alone.

The middle of your hand contains your metacarpals – there are 5. We’re up to 19 bones so far! Include the wrist and you’ll have the carpal bones (there’s 8) to round out a total of 27. That amount of bones is connected to each other with around 30 muscles that help your miraculous hand carry out daily routines. And nerve endings? There are three nerves that extend into our hands that provide about 17,000 touch receptors.

Well no wonder a hand massage feels amazing! And no wonder most people find the extra care with handling your hand massage a necessary step.

-Lisa Lane (#13098) is a licensed massage and bodywork therapist in Mint Hill. To make an appointment visit her website at www.ncmassagesanctuary.massagetherapy.com and click ‘book appt’.