Physical Therapy and Yoga: It’s all in the Wrists

Wrist pain during weight-bearing poses in yoga is a common complaint. Luckily, positioning the wrists better can alleviate most wrist pain. Down dog is one pose that often causes wrist pain when the wrist is not properly aligned or engaged.

Begin down dog from table position, and place your hands directly under and as wide as your shoulders, too narrow a base is one cause of improper alignment. Once in down dog, look down at your wrists and check to see that both wrist creases are parallel to the front of the mat. All of your fingers should be spread wide, in order to distribute the weight equally.

Next, engage you fingers by clawing the mat with all of your fingertips, so much so that the arch of your hand lifts up and away from your mat. While clawing the mat with your fingertips, enough so that the nail beds turn white, roll your thumb in toward your hand so as not to be weight bearing on the outside edge.

This will help you engage the index finger as well, which should be pushing into your mat. The last step in relieving excess weight through your wrists is to draw the forearms toward each other.

These steps should help you achieve an aligned and balanced wrist, which is a wrist free of pain. If these steps do not help, additional positioning adjustment including props may be indicated. All of the Physical Therapists at evolution are available for individual yoga sessions to help you individualize your yoga program and prevent unnecessary injuries.

~ Andrea Trombley