What a Pain in the @$*#!...

Wrist...pain in the wrist...what did you think I meant :)

Wrist pain is something I have been asked to write about and am constantly being told by new and seasoned Yogi's that they experience on a regular basis. It's pretty hard to continue in yoga when your wrists hurt so much.  Also one of my readers, started yoga with her husband and I know he has Carpal Tunnel syndrome so it really prompted me to write this post before they continue on their yoga journey further.

I have been waiting to write about this until I was sure I knew the answer. I have felt like I knew the answer for years but I really wanted to be sure before I shared my experience and knowledge on this subject.

When I first started yoga my wrists were in so much pain.  Down Dog was torture. Side Plank was out of the question.  It felt like my wrist bones were jamming into each other with crushing pain.  I remember speaking to my yoga teacher at the time. If you remember from my A Long History post she wasn't the most sensitive teacher.  I said my wrists hurt in certain poses how can I avoid that? Her answer; "your weak, get stronger". That was it.  Nothing else to help or assist  me overcoming the pain.

In all truth, with more experience in yoga, I now know she told me the right answer. What would have been helpful from my teacher was some insight on how to overcome the weakness and get stronger. I didn't know what "get stronger" meant.  Did she mean get stronger wrists? I kept practicing with wrist pain on a regular basis thinking they would get stronger. It never really went away until Suzie said, in Down Dog, to really hug my forearms together. Magically the wrist pain started to disappear each and every class.

What was happening is that due to a lack of strength in my upper body, I was allowing all of my body weight to fall into my teeny tiny wrists to bear all the weight in the pose. The feeling I had of my wrist bones jamming together was exactly what was happening. By Suzie, telling me to hug my arm bones together in Downward Dog, it was taking the weight out of my wrists and evenly distributing it into my forearms, biceps, shoulders and back. In more technical terms, this is called and  Isometric Contraction. So by hugging in your arms together, your isometrically drawing them together and creating a contraction in your upper body.

Have you ever seen this exercise?

We must, we must, we must increase our bust! Who remembers that??

This exercise is a contraction of the chest muscles without actually moving the extremities of the body.  As a stationary photo, it may look like she is putting pressure on the wrists but in fact the wrists are not even a factor in this chest exercise.  When you are in Down Dog and you draw your forearms together, without moving them, you are doing the same thing.  The wrists should not be majorly involved let alone be bearing the weight of Down Dog.  The entirety of your fingers should be spread wide and well planted on the ground but there should be a lightness in the palm of your hand as if creating a springy arch in only the center of the palm.  You may hear some teachers say to push the ground away from you not you pushing into the ground. 

When you engage your forearms, biceps, chest, back and shoulders you create enough strength to take the pressure off your wrists as you are actually using the muscles you have to hold the pose. You should feel like there is a string attached to your tailbone in Down Dog pulling you upward with lightness to the sky. That lightness should be through your shoulder joints, elbows and wrist. Engaging all the muscles will give you this lightness.


Draw a line vertical from her tailbone the ceiling.

If you do not engage the muscles fully, there is a lot of downward force traveling down your arms with only your poor wrists to take the weight.  Give you wrists a break! Use your muscles!

There are a few other ways to avoid the wrist pain I have been taught but this one has been my favorite and seems to work the most for me.  I also find its the easiest to explain. Slightly turning your hands outward can help reduce the pressure as well. Also in Down Dog, try outwardly rotating the bicep's slightly to activate your shoulder muscles to be more engaged on your back. That way is much easier to show you instead of trying to explain it here though.

In regards to the legs and the feet, don't be so fixating on getting your heels on the ground. Its more important to have the strength in your upper body then laying the heels down. That stretch will come with time. Its more important to be strong when that times comes rather than compromising your body and its safety to get there sooner. Don't forget to keep the power in your legs as well to keep the lightness.

The same isometric contraction in the arms can be done in high plank to take pressure off the wrists. Mainly you really want to engage the core in high plank to bring pressure off the wrists but the arm contraction will help also.

I am excited to teach one day and have the ability to show people ways to make yoga more accessible to them.  I will rejoice in the day when someone asks me a question so I may help them, instead of confusing them with vague answers.  There is nothing wrong with us by not knowing how to do these poses properly. Yoga poses are designed to challenge our body but its important to know how to challenge our bodies the right way. I think that's why I am so nervous to start teaching. I want to ensure everyone's safety and make sure the poses are being done with integrity towards each individual body or any injury or limitations someone may have. I think that is going to be a lot more work than just guiding some folks through a yoga class.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. It will also help with my training.  I may not know the answer yet but I will be honest with you and not try to answer with something I don't know yet. I can ask some of the questions to my trainers to get a proper answer for you in case I do not know it myself. If you know me, and have a question, ask me next time you see me as I can explain everything better in person than I can here on the blog!

Namaste xo.