Wrist Pain in Down-Dog

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I have a few students who complain of wrist pain often. And I always give the cues to engage the fingertips and the muscles in the hands to alleviate the wrist.

I decided, after many attempts at cueing during down dog and seeing no change in posture of the hands, that I would give a informative session on why I give the cue. But first I had to do the research.

After observing the ones with wrist pain, I noticed their wrist was actually in contact with the floor and the palm was flat and the finger tips were not engaged and the muscles of the forearms were completely relaxed.

This kind of action causes compression on the medial nerve and the carpal tunnel.

I wrote this blog article to share with my students.
I hope the information is accurate as I understand it.

#2

That’s an interesting article Scott.

I’ve not been told, nor have I told any students, to press the finger [I]tips[/I] into the floor in any pose where the upper extremities are weight-bearing, including Adho Mukha Svanasana.

Instead the support for the wrist is created by the rooting of the finger mounds and the recoil of that rooting up through the arm in conjunction with rooting the thumb mound, lift of the three arches and center of palm, without a loss in the rooting.

When the wrist is collapsing (the arch in the center of the heel of the palm) then there is a penchant for wrist issues and so this particular action is unwholesome, especially for those with already present wrist problems.

Gordon

#3

Right. Nice catch. Simply a typo, I changed ‘tips’ to ‘pads’ in the article. I should spend more time proofing forum and blog posts.

#4

Whew!

#5

Good article. Thanks. Gave it some love on our studio Facebook page.