I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their practice.
I am experiencing a bit of wrist soreness when doing downward dog and plank. It does tend to ease a bit after I’ve been practicing for a ten minutes or so, and I assume this is just a process of strengthening my wrists. I am close to being able to comfortably have my feet flat on the ground during down dog and I feel that will ease some of the pressure on the wrists.
Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips/tricks?
Thank you!
How’s your hamstring flexibility? Lack of will cause you to put too much weight on your wrists. Are you placing firm pressure on finger pads or on the heels of your hands? Should be on finger pads.
[QUOTE=CindyRose;69110]…I assume this is just a process of strengthening my wrists.[/QUOTE]
Usually soreness follows strengthening, rather than preceding it.
Are you on a soft surface like a thick spongy yoga mat or carpeting? If so, your palms might be sinking in too much for your wrists and a firmer surface might help.
Thank you for the tips! - it may be a combo of not focusing putting enough pressure on my finger pads while in the position, and practicing on too thick a surface. I have a thick mat and usually place it on top of the thinner carpet in my living room.
Hi Cindy,
I had problems with my wrist at the beginning of my practice and it developed into a proper tendinitis. I learned a couple of things during those months. First of all, the hand is not a foot. The hand cannot take all the weight in the “heel”. One really needs to push into the mat with the tips of the fingers and the part between thumb and pointer. You should almost feel the heel of that hand hovering over the floor instead of sinking deep into the mat. In the same time, the fingers are widely spread. I usually do not spread the thumb as far out as I can, but use a comfortable wide angle.
To strengthen my wrists and avoid re-injury I often do little hand exercises which I find in the internet (hand yoga or so) and tendinitis rehab exercises. Maybe they can help you, too?
To be honest, it does not sound right, that you can touch the ground with your heels in down dog. Do you have very flexible hamstrings? Many beginners including me got into class, thinking to be a lot more advanced, just to end up being corrected: “Bend your legs, bend your legs more!” When you see a good down dog, the line from the wrists to the bum is absolutely straight. Some can even get it concave. Try to bend your legs a bit and then push your bum up in the air as far as you can. Does it feel different? From here you can carefully straighten your legs and lower the heels without moving your back at all.
work on releasing your back and hamstrings to take pressure off the wrists