If you’ve ever experienced hand or wrist injuries, you know firsthand how annoyingly painful they can be. Not only do you have to take time off of training, but sometimes the road to recovery takes more time than you think. And while your lifting routine puts forth many benefits, it’s doing few favors for your hand and wrist health.
Common hand and wrist injuries and the exercises that cause them
Unfortunately, weightlifting and common body-weight exercises can cause a variety of hand and wrist injuries. Nick Maroldi, physical therapist and certified hand specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York explains, “Oftentimes, tendons or ligaments are overloaded or repetitively strained during certain exercises, leading to tendinitis, tenosynovitis, or ligament sprains or tears.”
Although repetition and time under tension are great for building muscle, it’s not so great for hand health. “Repetitive stresses from exercise can also lead to ganglion cysts, which most commonly appear on the back of the wrist,” says Maroldi. These can make many exercises difficult to continue.
“Other exercises that involve dynamic movement and loading the wrists, such as snatches and clean and jerks, can lead to ligament tears in the wrist, most commonly the scapholunate ligament (SL ligament),” adds Maroldi.
While there’s no doubt that weightlifting can cause hand stress, when it comes to exercises, there are certain moves that can compromise hand health more than others. “The most common exercises that cause wrist/hand injuries are those that involve weight-bearing or dynamic loading through extended wrists such as pushups and burpees,” Maroldi says. So, if you hate burpees, you now have an excuse to avoid them!
\Michael Wittig, certified personal trainer and IPE Natural Pro champion, is familiar with hand injuries during his time working with others. “The exercises I hear about most often from my clients when it comes to hand strain are the pushup, plank, front squat, and straight-bar barbell curl.” Some may stop performing their favorite exercises due to the stress they feel on their hands.
The good news is, you don’t have to stop training; there are things you can do that can lighten the load on your hands but not your muscles.
Tips for avoiding hand injuries
Your wrists and hands are working more than you realize during exercise. Lightening the load off of your hands while adding a stable foundation of support to your hands can allow your muscles to get worked while protecting ligaments and tendons of the hands and wrists. Here are some ways you can do that.
“It’s always best to maintain a neutral wrist position during exercise,” says Maroldi. Just like practicing proper posture, keeping a neutral position is something you need to work on for a while until you have the proper form down and until it’s become a healthy habit. “Neutral wrist position means that the wrist is in slight extension (make a tight fist and the position your wrist is in is your neutral wrist position),” he explains.
For push-ups, the best method is to hold two dumbbells or a push-up grip bar. “During weightlifting, you should always be able to maintain this wrist position and should be aware of not overgripping to avoid overstraining the finger flexors,” he adds. Maroldi says you should be able to tell if your grip position is compromised, if it is, lightens the load until you can lift comfortably with your wrists in a neutral position.
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Use wrist straps
Wrist straps can be effective for providing external support to the wrist during weightlifting, but this should be reserved for competitive weightlifters. “Individuals exercising and lifting weights for personal fitness and function should train wrist stability by performing exercises with appropriate technique and proper wrist position,” Maroldi says. Keep in mind, if you are unable to maintain a stable, neutral wrist while lifting weights, it is probably too much weight.
Wittig believes wrist straps are beneficial for heavy back exercises where a strong grip is needed. “I recommend using gym aides, such as wrist straps, only when necessary so one’s natural grip strength can increase.” Unless, your grip is compromised, of course. “When the muscle group being worked starts to suffer because of grip strength, start using straps or wraps,” adds Wittig.
And don’t rush the training process; the concept of progressing resistance over time instead of trying to make big jumps in weight will also help increase grip strength.
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Take wrist-specific exercises off your list
Although it might seem that strengthening the wrists with wrist-focused exercises would be beneficial for preventing wrist injuries, it’s not recommended.
“Avoid overgripping,” says Maroldi. “Your wrists and hands are constantly working and under tension, and it is therefore not recommended to do specific wrist- or grip-strengthening exercises. “Doing wrist curls or repetitive resisted gripping can lead to tendinitis or carpal tunnel syndrome,
but training with proper technique, form, and body positioning will strengthen your wrist and grip functionally with less risk of injury,” he adds.
Small changes, as simple as wrist position, and knowing when to wear straps will make positive changes in your hand health allowing you to stay exercising while avoiding possible injuries!
