Yoga and Wrist Pain

Hey there it’s me again! I’d like to dedicate this post to the topic of wrist pain as I experience it a lot during my practice – and quite frankly it makes me feel weak and sometimes stops me from going further into certain poses. So if you are experiencing the same symptom – by all means share with me your tips and tricks to overcome this weakness!

First and most importantly – know when to stop. You know your body better than anyone else so don’t ever feel the pressure of having to achieve a harder posture. At the end of the day, it is about ‘steady and comfortable’ asanas; hence don’t torture your body πŸ™‚ Believe it or not – I damaged my wrist by practicing too much crow pose. My husband told me that he wasn’t surprised as I was putting my entire body weight on my wrists. Now I can do crow by engaging my psoas muscles. So the lesson here is you should properly get your body ready (steps by steps through mini poses) before attempting a hard pose!

Second, make sure you warm up your wrists before a practice. Simple exercise you can do are wrists rotation (clockwise and anticlockwise), Uttanasana Wrist Pratikriyasana, Wrist Pumps, Anjali Mudra, Phalen’s Test, Hand Dance (Source: yoga journal) .

Third, during your practice make sure you square your wrists when putting weights on your wrists (in planks, chaturangas, arms balancing etc). If you are doing a lot of Ashtanga I suggest check out this video to have the correct version of Chaturanga (lean forward then lower your body so that your wrists are square)

(Source: YogiApproved.com)

I also wear wrists bands during my practice to protect and secure my wrists. You can get them at Daiso (the ones I’m using is from Watson’s called Futoro).Β 

At home I also use Grip strengthener or stress ball to strengthen my wrists while watching TV πŸ™‚ You can find them at Daiso as well.Β 

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Wrists pain can be associated with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or tendons damage. In my case it is both. So make sure you research about these two and see your favorite physio or TCM.Β 

Hope you’ll find these tips & tricks useful!