We’ll explore different ways to mobilize our wrist joints and strengthen the muscles around them. You’ll have the opportunity to get more acquaintanced with your wrists and assess their current mobility.
In many sports and disciplines, we’re applying load to our wrists when they are in extension (e.g. plank pose). It’s good to expose our wrists to load, that’s how they can become more resilient; however, it’s always better to do it progressively, so we’re not overloading our wrists too quickly. That’s where wrist prep comes handy.
A blanket or pillow to put under your knees (optional), chair or other prop to sit on for the begining of the class if you’re not comfortable sitting on the floor (optional).
These kind of moves can be practiced everyday and done before weight-bearing on our hands, they are really nourishing for our wrists. Feel free to pick the exercise that was the most challenging for you and set a goal to practice it several times a week for about a month. How does it feel after a month ? Did you notice any change ? Feel free to post your experience in the comments below.
PS : If you practice at a desk, instead of coming on your hands and knees, stand up and place your hands on your desk.
I have suffered from carpel tunnel disease (and sometimes still do, it never goes away apparently), but these exercises were great for releasing some pains in my wrists. Thank you!
p.s. those exercises with the top of the hands down are such a struggle for me :'( There is hardly any mobility there
Hey Asa ! Glad to hear that some exercises were helpful for your wrist condition and I do hope it will get better. About the top of the hands down, I understand the feeling, my apologies if I didn’t offer enough options here. In this table top position, keep your hands very close to your knees at first and see if gradually it opens up more range of motion, so that over time you can move your hands forward.
I prefer to do this wrist movement when I’m sitting on my heels, so maybe it would work better for you as well ; in a seated position on your heels, place the top of your hand down, close to your hip, fingers pointed back & palm towards the ceiling. See if you can lean a little bit on it, lifting it and lowering it gently from the floor. It should be more accessible than the table top position. Hope it helps !