Apparatus and method for passive and active hand and finger exercise

A method of administering therapy comprising:

• providing a container having an interior volume and having an opening providing access to said interior volume, there being a plurality of massaging elements freely located in the interior volume of the container, wherein each massaging element has a generally spherical exterior and has a plurality of protrusions projecting from said generally spherical exterior, and
• instructing a patient to insert his hand into the container through the opening and move his fingers among the plurality of massaging elements, whereby the patient's fingers are stimulated by massaging elements contacting the fingers both at the front and at the back of the hand.

A massaging element having a generally spherical exterior and a plurality of substantially conical protrusions projecting from said generally spherical exterior, wherein the locations of the protrusions are selected by a method that comprises inscribing a spherical surface with a polyhedron composed of a plurality of regular polygons each having a center and multiple vertices, each vertex being common to exactly three polygons, and mapping the centers and the vertices of the polygons from the polyhedron onto the generally spherical exterior of the massaging element.