Tips for keeping your wrists safe in yoga

Oh My Aching Wrists –

Tips from an expert, Janet Carscadden, PT, yoga teacher, and owner of Evolution PT & Yoga

Can I create permanent damage?

Yes –

Jumping into Asana: Patience is a virtue.

As new yoga students we come to yoga from all backgrounds.  We come to yoga searching for something. To heal our bodies, to quiet our minds or to get a good workout.  We often see yoga as a purely physical practice.  We jump from the beginning classes to the more advanced asana practices without laying the groundwork for our minds and bodies.

Ahimsa – Non harming should be practiced outwardly and inwardly.  Mindful practice is a well rounded practice for your body and your mind.

And you can develop symptoms in the other wrist due to over compensation.  Be careful, if your pain does not go away with modifying your practice or rest (6-8 weeks), seek professional help.  Handtherapists  (PT’s or OT’s with specialized certification) and yoga instructors to correct your technique.

Anatomy 101:

• Your wrist and hand are comprised of 27 bones, two rows of 8 carpal bones (scaphoid, lunate, triquetal, pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate) articulate with the forearm bones (radius/ulna)
• Joints – cartilage and bone can be damaged
• Ligaments – hold joints together, can be torn or strained
• Tendons/Muscles – can be overstretched, irritated, torn
• Disc – provides stability and mobility to the joint
• Carpal Tunnel – passage for tendons and nerves – common area of injury due to compression of the nerves.

Strategies to reduce injury:

• Distribute the load through out the entire hand – press out through all fingers and knuckles
• Avoiding wrist hyperextension – place wrists slightly in front of your shoulders in table, cat, cow, plank, chaturanga
• Supinate the forearms – helps to lock the elbows and movement of the hands inward.
• Finding lightness through lift – engagement of the muscles around your shoulder blades allow you to draw the weight out of your wrists.
• Stabilizing your core -  drawing your belly inwards helps to prevent dropping of the hips and forcing weight through your hands
• Bend your knees – In downward dog bending your knees allows weight to come off the hands as you lengthen your spine.

Modify Your Practice

• Find your forearms or fingers – forearm dog helps to align and strengthen the shoulders, poses on your fingers keeps your wrists in neutral
• Propasana – use wrist wedges, blocks, roll up a towel or use special gloves to reduce wrist extension.
• The eight limbed path – explore the other limbs of yoga practice.  Enlightenment is achieved through all paths asana alone.
• Practice Makes Perfect – add these simple exercises to your home program: wall angels, forearm dips, child’s pose with a block and shoulder blade push-ups on the wall.