The benefits of walking are extensive. As well as giving you space to breathe and shake off the stress of the day, a regular brisk walk around the block can have short- and long-term effects on your health, including slowing your biological age and boosting bone and joint health.

However, some people find that walking can also lead to a less-than-desirable outcome: hand swelling. If you’ve ever returned home after a long walk and found your fingers looking a little more puffy than usual, you’ll be only too familiar with the discomfort and stiffness that occurs around the joints and knuckles.  

So, why does this swelling happen? Is it something you should worry about? And is there a way to stop it from happening? We asked Dr Samantha Wild, a GP and women’s health lead at Bupa Health Clinics, to shed some light on the issue. Here’s what she had to say. 

While experiencing hand swelling during or after a walk is quite common – especially after long-distance exercise – Dr Wild says no one knows exactly why this happens.

“When you exercise, your body prioritises getting blood to your heart and your lungs to help them work more effectively, which means the blood flow to your hands may reduce,” she explains. “This cools them down, and when your hands are cooler, the blood vessels within your hands may widen to help encourage blood flow. This might cause swelling.”

It’s for this reason that you might find your hand swelling gets worse in cold weather, as the blood vessels in your hands open to try and keep your extremities warm.  

Dr Wild adds that other less common causes of hand swelling include low salt levels in the blood (a condition known as hyponatremia, which is most common in professional athletes), injuries, water retention caused by too much salt in your diet and underlying health issues. 

While those issues can cause more long-term hand swelling, most of us will see any puffiness start to reduce minutes after returning from a walk. 

The good news? For most people, experiencing hand swelling after a walk is not a sign of anything untoward. In fact, in some cases, Dr Wild adds, it may be a way for the body to cool itself down after exercise, as the increased blood flow takes heat away from the core.

If you’re concerned, it’s always worthwhile booking an appointment with your doctor. “If hand swelling after exercise is something new for you, it’s worth speaking to a health professional to double-check that the swelling isn’t due to any kind of underlying health condition,” she says. “Pain, numbness, warmness or skin colour changes should always be discussed with a health professional as it might be a sign of an underlying cause for concern, like trauma or infection.” 

There’s no failsafe way to prevent your hands from swelling while walking, but there are some things you can do to promote blood flow and keep your hands warm, therefore stopping some of the swelling from happening in the first place. These include:

• Making sure you don’t wear anything too right around your wrists or hands during exercise. See if you can comfortably wear your watch wristband looser and remove any jewellery from your hands or wrists. If you wear gloves during exercise, make sure that they fit you but aren’t restricting your hands or fingers.
• Moving your arms around occasionally during your workout to encourage blood flow, eg making forwards and backwards circles.
• Purposely moving and stretching your hands throughout your workout, including stretching your fingers apart, making a fist with each hand and raising them above heart level a few times.
• Taking a bottle of electrolyte fluid out with you to ensure you’re replenishing some of the salt you lose through sweating. 

Images: Getty