Follow the text with this video on WRIST MOBILITY
There has been a recent spike in wrist issues coming in to the clinic. This coincides with the restrictions gyms are having in place and people trying to find alternative ways to keep fit. People are doing more home workouts which involve more ground based exercises than they are used to, such as push ups, planks, crawls.
Wrist issues do not always present as pain specifically in the wrist. Lack of wrist strength and mobility can add more strain on the elbows, shoulder and/or neck, causing pain in those areas. Without clearing the wrist dysfunction, neck and shoulder pain can persist and no matter how much shoulder and neck rehabilitation you do, it will continue to come back when you go back to loading the wrist.
Some easy tips to see if you have any underlying wrist issues that you didn’t know you had:
Quadruped rock-
Can you tolerate your weight without discomfort in the wrist?
Can you maintain even contact through the hand and fingers, including the thumb?
Can you maintain a straight arm position, without the elbows flexing or extending further?
Can you maintain your arm position without the arm rotating or spinning?
If you said no to any of these, you are not able to load through the wrist properly, which will cause excess load through the elbows, shoulders and neck. Doing repetitive movement with improper loading, will increase the risk of injuries in these areas. If you have found that your wrists are making you vulnerable to injury, come visit us at the clinic to get assessed to get you pain free and moving better than ever, and get back to you doing things you previously thought you could never do again.
Submitted by: Colin Trigellis-Smith, Manual Osteopath
