Ask Keith – Wrist Pain Question

Posted on 26. May, 2009 by Keith Scott in Ask Keith, Premium Content

Ask Keith

Wrist Pain Question

“Hi Keith

I have chronic pain with one of my wrist/hand (between outside thumb to wrist) that can be felt when I allow the wrist to bend into ulnar deviation and whenever I grab anything. For example, I may well feel it when I do a pushup holding on the push-up or blast strap handles and it wants to give way, but when I don’t use the handles and just push up from the ground in full extension it feels much better. I just hope these wrist issues are going to cause problems in other areas, in which case, what areas (muscles/joints) should I be looking out for?

Many people also extend or hyperextend their wrists, you see the wrist bend in such a way with the power cleans, presses, squats etc I feel I had relative enough strength in my wrists and good r.o.m.(range of motion) to do push ups with out a handle but have been advised that doing exercises that way will cause problems and I should keep my wrists straight and even put them in flexion slightly in ANY exercises, is that right advice, and please can you suggest any solutions?”

From what you are describing it sounds exactly like something called “DeQuervain’s Syndrome.” DeQuervain’s syndrome affects two of the tendons that run along the thumb into the wrist. It most commonly occurs in new mothers from the extreme stresses caused by holding infants. It can however occur in anyone that uses their hands and wrists frequently and I have seen it with people who lift weights and do other active pursuits.

I have had numerous clients with this same condition and they were all able eliminate the pain and the problem within a few sessions (and avoided surgery!)

Soft Tissue Work is the key

Get tennis ball to start with…you are going to extend your arm and roll the ball firmly over the thick part of your forearm on the thumb side (near your elbow)..

Roll the ball over this muscle mass with your arm completely extended until you feel some tender spots (which you will), if you do not, you need to press into the arm even more.

Once you find the spots, concentrate your efforts over those spots and hold the ball down against them for a good 60 seconds. Repeat this for about 3-4 minutes. While holding the spot, move your wrist into extension and flexion (up and down) and also side to side (radial and ulnar deviation)

Now, this is going to hurt a bit, so be warned. If you can get through the initial pain, the greater pain will be gone before you know it.

**If you are really adventurous and can handle more pain, you can do the same technique but use your thumb instead. Its tough to do this on yourself, but it should do the trick.

Stretching

After you perform the soft tissue work, you need to stretch your forearms and wrists.

Hold each stretch for 25-30 seconds and perform about 10 reps. Repeat the stretches twice a day.

Back Off

Finally, you want to back off of the things that cause this pain in the first place for a while. This is temporary, but necessary. Once you start to feel better, you can test things and go back to what you want to do as long as there isn’t anymore pain.

Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Check out the video for more instruction