If you’ve ever suffered from wrist pain (it’s quite common), you know that wrist pain is a right pain that affects many everyday activities, including your yoga practice.
With a long list of postures that rely on strong, healthy wrists, it’s essential that we yoga fans know how to care for them, so we can enjoy everything we do, pain-free.
Take some time to get to know your wrists and learn how to protect them, on and off the mat!
Understanding Dolls 101
Each wrist consists of 8 small bones of different shapes, arranged quite loosely in 2 rows of 4. The top row connects the wrist to the hand bones, while the bottom row meets the 2 arm bones (radius and ulna). A tight weave of tendons holds everything together. The wrist is classified as an ellipsoidal (condyloid) type synovial joint, allowing smooth movement along two axes. This means that when it comes to movement, your wrists can do everything (flexion, extension, adduction, and abduction) quite usefully, right?
Speaking of useful stuff, here’s a quick guide to those movement terms:
Flexion: Describes a straightening movement that decreases the angle between body parts.
Extension: The opposite of flexion, it describes a straightening movement that increases the angle between body parts.
Adduction: movement of a structure or part of the body toward the midline of the body or the midline of a limb.
By partnering with the muscles of the hand and arm, the wrist allows us to perform complex tasks that require control. We often refer to these tasks as “fine motor tasks”—think brushing your teeth, turning a key in a lock, or writing.
When you take into account all of these capabilities and (literally) moving parts, it’s no wonder wrists are prone to injury. And with such a demanding job description, we certainly need to take care of them.
Yoga & Dolls
A typical yoga class puts a lot of pressure on your wrists. Wrist extension occurs when the back of the hand is raised and is the most frequently performed wrist movement on the mat. Poses that extend the wrists include Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), Upward-Facing Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana), Cobra Cat Arm Balance (Bhujangasana) (Marjariasana), and some inversions, such as the handstand (Adho Mukha Vrksasana). .
But it’s not just the position of the wrists that can cause problems. Think about what we ask the wrists to do in these asanas: support most or all of our body weight! And for some poses, we ask this not just once, but over and over again within the flow of a fast-moving vinyasa sequence. No wonder the dolls protest!
Caitlin Daley, a physiotherapist and yoga teacher from Newcastle, New South Wales, explains in more detail why yoga can put your wrists at risk. She says: “The anatomy of the wrist does not lend itself to high loads, twisting forces or repetitive movements; however, like any area of the body, it will adapt.”
So while our beloved dolls aren’t adequately equipped to hold us for long, they endure the demands to do so anyway. But be careful: when demands become unreasonable, the wrists (like any part of the body) express their discontent loud and clear, with pain.
What causes the pain?
– In a strong, healthy wrist, connective tissue surrounds each of the wrist bones and serves as a cushion between the bones.
– In a weak wrist or one that is not flexible enough to prevent the bones from touching, they can collide and cause impingement.
– It is this impingement that aggravates the tendons and ligaments of the surrounding connective tissue and causes pain.
How to protect your wrists in your yoga practice
Do you have a new respect for your dolls? Discover some simple ways to give them the love they deserve. We’ve put together 7 strengthening and protecting strategies to help your wrists stay happy and healthy.
Share the load
When your dolls get the call for a particular yoga pose, think outside the square: what other body parts might they recruit to share weight-bearing responsibilities with the doll?
Consider distributing the weight throughout your hand. Press down on the pads of each finger and activate the web between the thumb and index finger of each hand.
In Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), for example, make sure the legs are turned on and the weight is evenly distributed between the hands and feet.
Duplicate lineup
Proper alignment and awareness are key to injury prevention in yoga. For poses that involve the wrists, pay close attention to your teacher’s directions, such as placing your palms shoulder-width apart and spacing your fingers evenly.
Prepare for success
Do a quick check of your equipment before beginning your asana. What’s under your mat? A firm, sturdy floor or a thick, fluffy rug? Wrists prefer the stability and feedback that hard floors offer.
Also, use a non-slip mat and have a hand towel to keep your hands and wrists dry, especially if you are prone to getting hot and sweaty.
Modify and replace
You don’t need to skip practice entirely while your wrists recover from the injury. Instead, modify or substitute the offending postures until you feel ready for the full expression of the posture. Some useful changes include:
- Changing downward facing dog for puppy or dolphin
- Make fists with your hands for the cat or plank pose.
- Replacing the baby Cobra or Sphinx with Cobra or Upward-facing Dog
Decrease Your Flow
Of course, there is a certain rhythm to a vinyasa-style class and a great temptation to keep up with your teacher and classmates. Very slow. Include breaks between intensive wrist poses and take time to perfect your alignment before placing weight on your wrists. When you are injured, listen to your body and relax when necessary.
While your wrists return to normal, use the time to explore other facets and styles of yoga. Enjoy restorative yoga or indulge in longer meditation sessions, for example.
Check Your Attitude
Truthbomb: Attitude often contributes greatly to the pain and injuries sustained on the mat. Are you pushing or forcing your body into shapes it’s not ready or suited for?
Remember to flavor everything you do, including your yoga practice, with self-compassion and a commitment to do no harm. Check your attitude and make adjustments as necessary.
Wrist rescue: 3 essential exercises
Caitlin, our physio friend and yoga teacher, offers the following “wrist preparation exercises” to help your wrists adapt to loading, such as the body weight forces placed on them during a yoga class.
When performed daily, these exercises help prevent injuries by improving joint mobility and strengthening the wrists. The first 2 exercises also offer a beautiful stretch for the forearms.
Prepare: Get into the base position on your mat, on your hands and knees. Make sure your wrists are under your shoulders and your knees are under your hips.
1. Circles and stretches, with palms facing down
Keep your fingers pointing toward your knees, palms facing down. Spend 1 to 2 minutes here and add a gentle circular motion in both directions.
2. Circles and stretches, with palms facing up
From the base position, place your fingers toward your knees and your palms facing up.
As above, start a circular motion (small circles will be more tolerable in this variation)
Stay here for 1 to 2 minutes, while working to straighten your elbows throughout the period.
3. First knuckle raises
With your palms facing down, raise your thumb.
Raise on the knuckles of the hand.
Lower your back while keeping your thumb raised.
Do 15 repetitions
An Ayurvedic Perspective:
According to Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of healing, joint pain may be present due to excess Vata dosha. Associated with the air element, vata is cool and dry. As the wrist joint requires sufficient synovial fluid to function optimally, it may be worth investigating ways to increase moisture in the body. Favoring hot, heavy, earthy foods and rubbing sesame oil on affected joints are some examples to help restore vata balance.
You can also try a series of circular wind-relieving yoga movements (Pawanmuktasana) to decrease vata and increase joint lubrication:
Gentle Wrist Rotations:
From a comfortable seat or standing, raise your hands to shoulder height.
Place your thumbs in light fists and draw circles with your hands.
Do a few turns in each direction.
And finally, some friendly advice: in case of chronic or severe wrist pain, always seek the help of a medical professional.