Dealing with aching wrists
(Extracted from Aikido-L)

Date:    Mon, 8 Apr 2002 12:31:07 +0100
From:    Ruth Mc William
Subject: Re: dealing with aching wrists

Aikido Penguin wrote:
>Another question from the waddling penguin: what do you do about tender
>wrists (bringing strong kote-gaeshi memories :-)? Mine has been so for the
>last few weeks (not aching in a static position but when applying force from
>certain directions.
<snip>

Sounds familiar! The only thing I've found which helps is to strengthen the wrists by doing lots and lots of bokken suburi. Eventually the aches go away and as your Aikido improves you tend not to end up in a position where you get damaged so easily - faster ukemi, better understanding of what your body can "take" etc.

Of course you must start out carefully and be gentle to your wrists until the ache fades!

Ruth

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Date:    Mon, 8 Apr 2002 14:46:32 +0200
From:    Eva Fenrich
Subject: Re: dealing with aching wrists

Hi!

>Another question from the waddling penguin: what do you do about
>tender
>wrists (bringing strong kote-gaeshi memories :-)? Mine has been so
>for the
>last few weeks (not aching in a static position but when applying
>force from
>certain directions.
rest until they don't ache and then start a gentle stretching and
strengthening program....
(press-ups with different hand positions can help ...)

On Mon, Apr 08, 2002 at 12:31:07PM +0100, Ruth Mc William wrote:
> Sounds familiar! The only thing I've found which helps is to strengthen the wrists by doing lots
> and lots of bokken suburi. Eventually the aches go away and as your Aikido improves you tend
> not to end up in a position where you get damaged so easily - faster ukemi, better
> understanding of what your body can "take" etc.
>
> Of course you must start out carefully and be gentle to your wrists until the ache fades!
Yes bokken suburi help a lot... but make sure you use a lightweight bokken for a start if you already have problems with your wrists... increase repetitions and weight of the bokken slowly....

Eva

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Date:    Mon, 8 Apr 2002 09:53:38 -0400
From:    Christopher Bartlett
Subject: Re: dealing with aching wrists

Hi Penguin.  One thing you might consider is that sometimes (often) aching wrists are actually aching wrist and finger extensors.  Try a little experiment.  Put your arm on a table with your palm down.  Take a pencil eraser and probe the meat just below the elbow on the outside.  If you find
any major owies, you are a candidate for sore (possibly strained) wrist and finger extensors (muscles that pull your hand and fingers towards the back
of your wrist.)  If this test reveals these things, then heat applied to your elbow and in particular over the spot of the owie (in addition to Janet's excellent recommendations) will be useful.

Janet is also right about not ignoring this.  If it has been going on for a while, you need to address it with prevention and remediation.  Going to a good body worker in your area is also recommended.

     Chris

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Last updated on 13 Sep 2002