Hey WOD at Homers!
I wanted to talk about a subject that had me in some serious pain several months back: wrist mobility. People in general may experience wrist pain for a variety of reasons. For me, I think it came from holding and carrying heavy children all day. Regardless of where your pain stems from, there are some very easy and important warm-ups and mobility movements that really helped me and it is my hope that it can help you too if you are (or ever do) experiencing wrist pain.
Before my wrist pain began, I had never given a thought to wrist warm-ups, mobility, or how much I actually relied on my wrists during my WODs and my daily life in general. I know I needed them for handstands and push-ups, but beyond that I honestly took for granted the amount of strain I put on them in pretty much any work-out until I read Kelly Starett’s response to someone else’s question about wrist pain. You can read his full response here.
Kelly states that, “The receiving position of full clean can be brutal on your wrists, not to mention front squats and the worst of all, thrusters. It’s not uncommon that athletes end up with some sort of wrist tweak from one of these movements from time to time.”
Here are a few pointers as well as some resource videos to help you with your wrist warm-up and mobility work. Several times a day I worked on wrist mobility exercises and I always made a point to warm up my wrists before my WOD.
I am a visual learner, so here are a three short videos on what it looks like when you are working on wrist mobility followed by two links to articles on the subject.
Articles on wrist mobility and helpful tips for improvement:
- Tabata Times did a good article on Tips for Improving Wrist Mobility with 6 things you can do to help.
- BoxLife Magazine’s article on why wrist mobility is so important plus 8 tips for improvement.
Whatever you do, just make sure you’re being mindful to take care of your wrists. I was able to tell a difference in about one week, but it really took a good month before I did a handstand and realized I wasn’t in any pain.
Take care,
Coach Aly
Aly Culp
WOD at Home Coach
WOD at Home MOM
CrossFit Level 1 Trainer