Yoga poses which require effort on the wrists. Please help

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hi,
I’m a beginner in Yoga and my main purpose for wanting to learn Yoga is to experience balance and peace in my life. My secondary purpose is to heal/lessen my slight bow-leggedness since it makes my body structurally imbalanced.

Now my determination to learn Yoga is there but here’s the problem: I’ve got a permanent weak and painful wrist (my right wrist) because of a ganglion and it’s preventing me from doing any Yoga pose that requires me to rest my weight on this wrist (poses which the Sun Salutation requires, Downward Facing Dog, etc). Is there any other way I can still do these poses? Perhaps by resting the weight on another part of the body?

I went to a specialist to get my ganglion removed but he insists that until it’s bigger (probably later in life since I’m only 23), he doesn’t recommend removing it coz it’ll probably still come back anyway. Right now I’m looking for other solutions to doing Yoga poses which require effort on the wrists. I’m sure there are many Yoga practitioners who have weak wrists too. How do u guys do it? Please advice. Thanks.

#2

Hello Natasha,

As I’ve stated many times, therapeutic questions mandate therapeutic responses. My reply here presumes you are my student. Since you are not, my first suggestion is to work with a therapeuitically trained yoga teacher.

If you have opted out of holistic healing for the syst and prefer the western medical model, that is fine and I’d leave it alone. If however you, as my student, were interested in finding a holistic path to deal with the syst and in the process also modify your asana practice, then we would do that. It is not simple, easy, nor quick.

I’ll reply to the wrist issue directly in the following way:
If the issue with weight-bearing on the wrist is ONLY present when the wrist is in flexion then first reduce the angle of that flexion to see where and how the pain might be mitigated. That can be done with a foam wedge. If that was not effective then we move to GripItz. This removes all flexion but allows you to still do many of the poses you allude to. You can, of course, google, review, and buy it as you see fit.

If that was not effective then the poses would be further modified either by having you do those poses at the wall such that the weight-bearing itself was reduced or by have you come onto the forearms and change the pose(s) completely.

gordon