Listening to your wrists

We text, type, scroll and sign our name more than any time in human history. Our wrists and hands are paying the price. Before it would be rare to have someone with carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms in yoga class, now it’s rare that you don’t find someone with those symptoms. Clutching cell phones for hours wreaks havoc on the tiny wrist joint.

During the recent Laurie Blakeney workshop, she did a few poses with a nice wrist emphasis to counteract these symptoms. I cannot recreate the sequence, but I have adapted a few of her techniques to my home practice I would like to share.

Basic wrist action in Adho Mukha Svanasana prep on hands and knees. Notice angled blocks at the wall to decrease the angle and strain on wrists.

 

Move shoulders and torso forward to decrease the angle if wrists are too intensified.

 

Utthita Trikonasna with hand facing backwards. Make sure the whole surface of the hand is on the block.

 

Parivritta Trikonasana with hand backwards.

 

Padahastasana. This puts weight onto the whole hand. You can do with bent knees if you cannot reach this far.

Bharadvajasana I with wrist emphasis. My back hand is on my hip.

 

Paschima Namaskar

After Paschima Namaskar the wrists feel tight, DO NOT shake your hands! Blakeney warned that the tiny bones in the hands can loosen from a violent shake after maintaining it in a fixed position. Do padahastasana instead.

As a side benefit, the shoulders also feel enlivened after trying these poses because of the amplified rotation caused by the hand position. This should help with your wrist-sues!