Within the conglomerate of existing joints in our body, there is a specific point that we sometimes underestimate and we are not aware of the importance it has and the limitations that an injury can cause us there: the wrists.
A wrist injury involves the temporary loss of some or all of the functionality of that hand. However, despite being a joint, there are certain guidelines or tips that we can follow to improve both the mobility and strength of our wrists in order to protect them against possible blows or accidents that we may suffer and thus minimize the risk of injury. in that area.
Importance of wrists for sports
As we just mentioned, the health of our wrists is more important than people usually think, and we rarely see gym users working this part of our anatomy, which is a mistake, since the strength deficit and the limitation in terms of the mobility of our wrists can lead to an injury when performing an apparently simple exercise.
A wrist injury , therefore, will limit all the actions we carry out with that hand: grasping and holding objects, actions as simple as turning a doorknob, leaning on that side… so we need to know how to take care the health of our dolls .
Exercises to improve the mobility and strength of our wrists
1. Fingers Back Wrist Stretches
With this exercise, the main objective is to gradually gain a little more ROM ( Range of Movement or Range of Movement) so that before exercises that may involve flexion or extension of the wrists , they have the Sufficient mobility so as not to suffer injuries due to having the shortened route.
- We will adopt a quadruped position and support our palms with the tips of our fingers facing us.
- Little by little we will throw the body backwards, keeping the arm stretched at all times, while we feel how the inner part of our forearm stretches.
2. Wrist Circles
Through the following exercise, our goal is to gain mobility in our wrists (as well as some flexibility). To do this, we will perform the following steps:
- We will start from a quadruped position with our palms supported with the tips of our fingers facing forward.
- Next, and gently, we will begin to draw circles to one side and the other on our wrists, the circles being progressively wider to the extent that it does not cause us any pain (as we always say, as soon as you feel pain, stop immediately so as not to aggravate possible injury or symptoms).
3. Knuckle push-ups
The objective of this variant of the classic push-ups is to gain strength and stability in our wrists (just like when we do an exercise in the gym on a bosu or other unstable surface). To perform these push-ups, we only have to adopt the push-up posture and instead of leaning on the palm of our hands, lean on our knuckles and start doing the exercise.
A dangerous exercise for the health of your wrists
Just as there are exercises that can help us gain strength, mobility and flexibility in our wrists , there are also potentially dangerous and harmful exercises for them. One of these exercises are the famous forearm extensions and flexions that are performed in the gym either with a barbell or with dumbbells:
The reason for avoiding performing these two exercises is that as they are repetitive exercises in which flexions and extensions of the area are performed, they can end up causing us to compress the median nerve and this can give rise to carpal tunnel syndrome (named after the “tunnel” created under the palmar carpal ligament through which the median nerve runs), an injury that is quite uncomfortable and painful and that will greatly limit the functionality of the area.
References
- Lofland, C. The Forgotten Joint: Wrist Mobility And Strength. For Breakingmuscle. [Revised March 2018]
