Get a grip on wrist pain at the Gym!

Are you struggling with lifting weights because your wrists hurt?

You are not alone. Research we were recently reading shows that up to 25% of weight training injuries occur in the wrist. We’ve been seeing a heap of these recently and wanted to share a few tips we find helpful to combat wrist pain and get you pressing heavy again without the pain

1. Get a grip! In our experience, the most common cause of wrist pain is gripping the barbell incorrectly, especially for overhead lifts. Letting your wrist collapse backwards is not a powerful, or comfortable position for the wrist. There are a few easy cues we teach that can help prevent ligament and cartilage problems in lifting wrists
2. Don’t squat with your arms. Many novice lifters grip the bar and push up with their hands when squatting. In most cases the barbell should be resting on your torso (deltoids for front squat or shoulder blades for back squat variations) with the hands providing support but no upward force on the bar. Get your squat technique sorted and stop pressing in your squats and your wrists will thank you
3. Support your wrists. Once you get to a certain level for pressing exercises, your wrists will appreciate some external support. Wrist wraps are the most common way to do this and can help make your wrists more stable and comfortable when pressing decent weight. If you have a specific wrist injury, we use taping techniques or Wrist Widget braces to control your wrist pain.

If you have a wrist problem that is stopping you lifting, we can certainly help you out. We have squat racks, a selection of barbells (including an 8kg technique bar), dumbbells and kettlebells to help with fine tuning your grip and technique and show you how to train around your pain safely and comfortably. We do all this in our gym inside Parkside Sports Physiotherapy so we can take the time we need and help you out one on one without a gym full of onlookers.

So if you’d like to come to grips with your sore wrist, get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to lend a hand!