Another Wrist pain Question

[WalterJ]

I searched through this section and I did not find anything that was exactly the same as the pain I am experiencing.

Lately whenever I am in plank or whenever I do a pushup I have pain in my right wrist more towards the outside but still on the top. I only have the pain across the top of the wrist when I am in these positions and the bottom of my wrist feels tight.

If I change (in pushups) to doing them on my fists the pain is not there and I appear to have lost no flexibility in my right wrists at all.

Also it does feel warm there for awhile after I use it for Yoga, typing, any type of work with my hands, etc.

Any ideas as to what is going on?

[YogaMaster]

I am no expert, but I have had similar wrist issues in the past.

My particular wrist pain started because I was lifting weights a lot, so much that I damaged the soft tissue in my wrist joint. It was recommended to me that I either take time off or not bend my wrist when I bench weight. The latter would be equivalent to doing a push-up on your fists.

If the pain is more intense, there could be some kind of nerve damage.

I found that stretching my wrists regularly (ideally daily) really helps when doing wrist intensive exercises. Ideally, you would be able to make a 90 degree angle with your hand and forearm, with the angle between the forearm and top of hand, of course!

If all else fails, they actually make gloves specifically for yoga with a special gel pad that fits on the inside of your palm to equalize the pressure exerted on your wrists when you do various poses and push-ups.

Yoga / Pilates Fingerless Gloves

[sarahy]

hi WalterJ,

are you just doing 'push-ups' for strength conditioning or as part of a greater yoga practice? as an ashtangi i do many push-ups during my practice and have run into wrist, elbow and shoulder issues (sometimes all at once ). every time i encountered pain i would change how i did the push-up and discover that i was taking the weight bearing into the joint rather than the muscle. my recommendation would be to make sure that the forearm is perpendicular to the floor and the upper arm is parallel to the floor, you don't go down as far- only until the torso comes in line with the upper arm. elbows tucked in, tips of the shoulders up and an imaginary rod or cord running from the crown to the heels that the body hugs into.

it could also be that your wrist just aren't flexible in that way, you could try putting a small wedge (like an extra layer of mat) under the heel of your hand so the flexion isn't as intense.

good luck,
sarah

[InnerAthlete]

An idea what is going on?

Yes, you've got some issue with flexion in the wrist.
Either use a wedge to reduce the angle of wrist flexion in the poses you mention, buy a pair of GripItz, or stop doing those poses.

If you are more curious I suppose you could do some googling and fine out the workings of the wrist to see if you can determine the pain source. Even with that, reducing the flexion angle is going to be the remedy.

[WalterJ]

Originally Posted by YogaMaster

I am no expert, but I have had similar wrist issues in the past.

My particular wrist pain started because I was lifting weights a lot, so much that I damaged the soft tissue in my wrist joint. It was recommended to me that I either take time off or not bend my wrist when I bench weight. The latter would be equivalent to doing a push-up on your fists.

If the pain is more intense, there could be some kind of nerve damage.

I found that stretching my wrists regularly (ideally daily) really helps when doing wrist intensive exercises. Ideally, you would be able to make a 90 degree angle with your hand and forearm, with the angle between the forearm and top of hand, of course!

If all else fails, they actually make gloves specifically for yoga with a special gel pad that fits on the inside of your palm to equalize the pressure exerted on your wrists when you do various poses and push-ups.

Yoga / Pilates Fingerless Gloves

Thanks, I am taking a bit of time off to see what happens and I will look into the gloves, thanks

Originally Posted by sarahy

hi WalterJ,

are you just doing 'push-ups' for strength conditioning or as part of a greater yoga practice? as an ashtangi i do many push-ups during my practice and have run into wrist, elbow and shoulder issues (sometimes all at once ). every time i encountered pain i would change how i did the push-up and discover that i was taking the weight bearing into the joint rather than the muscle. my recommendation would be to make sure that the forearm is perpendicular to the floor and the upper arm is parallel to the floor, you don't go down as far- only until the torso comes in line with the upper arm. elbows tucked in, tips of the shoulders up and an imaginary rod or cord running from the crown to the heels that the body hugs into.

it could also be that your wrist just aren't flexible in that way, you could try putting a small wedge (like an extra layer of mat) under the heel of your hand so the flexion isn't as intense.

good luck,
sarah

Both actually push ups and then during yoga plank to cobra to plank to downward dog.

I will check my alignment, thanks

Originally Posted by InnerAthlete

An idea what is going on?

Yes, you've got some issue with flexion in the wrist.
Either use a wedge to reduce the angle of wrist flexion in the poses you mention, buy a pair of GripItz, or stop doing those poses.

If you are more curious I suppose you could do some googling and fine out the workings of the wrist to see if you can determine the pain source. Even with that, reducing the flexion angle is going to be the remedy.

Thanks I am taking a break form doing the poses and I was wondering about GripItz since I have no pain at all doing pushups on my fists.