Whether you want to practice yoga for the purpose of strengthening your wrists or seek answers to why you feel wrist pain while you practice yoga, remember to listen to the cues of your body and be patient. With proper alignment or modifications, you can build confidence in your wrists. Dr. Baxter Bell, a family practitioner and yoga instructor, encourages yogis with intense wrist pain to see a sports medicine doctor in case they have ganglion cysts or carpal tunnel syndrome.
Foundation
Yoga poses build from the ground up through hasta bandha, or distributing weight into all parts of your hands. You can discover if you have a strong foundation for poses with a simple exercise. Put your hands on a wall. Spread your fingers out as wide as possible. Press the pads of each finger into the wall, then your palms. Maintain equal pressure in as much of your hands as possible. Use these cues when you practice weight-bearing yoga poses.
Misconceptions
New yogis may believe that weight-bearing poses are not for them. The irony is that many poses that place pressure on the wrists are the ones that strengthen the muscles in them the most. If you do not have carpal tunnel syndrome or another wrist issue, continue to work on wrist strengtheners such as upward facing dog, downward facing dog and arm balance poses with a focus on well-grounded hands.
Complimentary
Arm balance poses such as handstand, crow, scale and plank require the arms, along with core strength, to hold the body off of the ground. After wrist strengthening poses, you may want to give the wrists a stretch. Physical therapist and Iyengar certified instructor Julie Gumestad recommends using a simple prayer position to create a stretch for the hands. With your fingers and the heels of your hands touching, lower your hands straight down. Hold the stretch for a three to five breaths.
Learning
Both advanced and beginner yogis can experience wrist pain either because of repetitive use, or because they have not established the necessary flexibility. Yoga instructor Julie Gumestad encourages yogis to take a break from weight-bearing yoga poses so that inflamed tissues can heal. Return to poses that challenge the wrists, slowly, focusing on proper alignment, not just with hasta bandha, but with arms in line with shoulders and the rest of the body working to bear weight. New yogis can increase wrist flexibility by building up the time held in weight-bearing poses a little more each day.
Solutions
You can find numerous ways to avoid pressure on the wrists during poses, or to modify them, so there is less pressure. For poses like cat and cow, spinal balance and upward facing dog, yoga instructor Dr. Baxter Bell recommends using fists instead of wrists. Experiment with a yoga wedge under your hands during downward facing dog. To avoid all pressure on the wrists, you can practice dolphin pose instead of downward facing dog. Yoga expert and instructor Stephanie Adams emphasizes the importance of keeping shoulders neutral and open during poses to help take pressure off of the wrists.
