weak wrist question

[seaworthy]

I have weak wrists (and ankles, too) probably from the abuse they got when I was in gymnastics as a kid. They crack and pop all the time and if I am in a situation where my hand and forearm are at right angles to each other (like when I do pushups), my wrists hurt horribly.

So I decided I needed to strengthen my wrists (and ankles, too, but I'm not sure how). I have 3-pound weights which I use to work out my forearms. My theory is that if the muscles surrounding the joint are stronger, the joint will be stronger too.

But I'm starting to think that I'll just end up with massive forearms (I'd be Popeye!) and weak wrists. Am I going about it the right way? How can I strengthen mywrists? (And ankles, too, if anyone knows)

[ultrafilter]

Go see a physical therapist. S/he can give you significantly better information than you're likely to get here.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by ultrafilter

Go see a physical therapist. S/he can give you significantly better information than you're likely to get here.

This is exactly the type of reply people like to hear. It's almost as bad as "google is your friend".


Don't you think the OP KNOWS that a physical therapist is likely to give better info???

[ultrafilter]

Originally Posted by Lobsang

This is exactly the type of reply people like to hear. It's almost as bad as "google is your friend".


Don't you think the OP KNOWS that a physical therapist is likely to give better info???

I also know that, even if I were a physical therapist, I wouldn't be willing to offer advice over the internet. Why not? Quite simple: I can't examine the OP and figure out exactly what the problem is. All anyone can do here is offer general advice that may or may not apply to the OP's situation.

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by ultrafilter

All anyone can do here is offer general advice that may or may not apply to the OP's situation.

But that's all the OP wants. He/she is looking for general advice about strengthening joints that have suffered through hard use, such as gymnastics. And that's how most GQs work. Often the answer begins "generally..."

[Lobsang]

I don't pick fights here any more, with good reason. This one was a rare lapse. Forget I said anything. If you want to continue this debate start a pit or ATMB thread. Let's leave this thread for answers to the OP.



About the OP. I can only offer my own experience. I used to play footy (soccer) a lot, I was the goalkeeper a lot. This meant many hurt fingers bent back by walloped footballs. I haven't goalkeeped for something like 4 years, but my fingers next to my thumbs feel like how you describe your wrists.

[The_Immortal_Mango]

Hehehe Physical therapist. we cal them physiotherapists, or phisios for short. My dad's one so I can ask him for some ideas....
Okay he says tries this:
Put an elastic badn round your hands and hold it so its under tension, then move your wrists back and count to twenty. relax and repeat.

[Kempis]

Having weak wrists causes pain in the pushups? Is that because the wrists are too flexible so that things which ain't supposed to be stretched are getting stretched?

I have a problem doing too many pushups on my palms as well, I think it's caused by me being a programmer and typing all day. : (

My solution is to stop doing the pushups. ^_^ Smart-ass answer aside, I do them on my knuckles instead. That in itself hurts like a mutha for a while (due to skin compression on the knuckles, nothing is really strained). But after doing it a lot it's ok now, and my wrists are thanking me for it.

And since I train in martial arts, this has also helped for board breaking. Now I do the pushups on just the two knuckles used for breaking.... earlier it was all 4 due to the discomfort.

-k

[Thaumaturge]

I didn't think it was posilble to do pushups on all 4 knuckles...and looking at my own hand, I'm still sure it isn't. You can either do them on the first and middle finger, or you can do them on the middle through pinkie ( 3). Doing them on all four would involve painfull warping of the middlefinger joint. The human wrist is better aligned while doing pushups on your knuckles, which is why they hurt less.

I do my push-ups on my fingertips, which involves a whole new kind of pain, but strengthens my grip ( and wrists)pretty nicely. I doubt you'd want to try that if you were already in pain though.

The OP's plan of using weights will work, though you aren't going to see much of any improvement with 3 pound weights, though that's as good as any a place to start. There's no danger of becomming Popeye here though. I'd recommend standing upright, with your arms at your sides, and curling the wieght backwards and forewards at the wrist. You can also rest your arms on a padded bench and do this, but I've found that painfull with larger weights. Doing arm-curls with the weights will work your wrists as well. Try alternating palm-up and palm down to get both sides. These have the advantage of not moving the wrist, while providing some stress to it, but you'll need a larger weight to not be wasting your time. You'll need to experiment to see what is right for you.

My dad swears by ice-skating to strengthen ankles. He had a problem with constantly twisting his ankles, which ice-skating apparently solved. Since it's getting into spring, perhaps rollerblading will do the trick, though I wonder if rollerblades allow enough freedom of movement of the ankle to make much of a difference to the relevant muscles. You can also try standing on one foot, and rising up on your toes, but this only stengthens the tendon on the back side of the ankle.

Make sure you gently stretch before working, especially when you are new at it.