Wrist pain in OHS

Allen Yeh · 03-19-2007, 07:11 AM

The last month or so I've noticed a bit of pain in my left wrist it feels like it's in the joint and not the surrounding ligaments/tendons. The pain seems to radiate down the pinkie and ring finger from the back of my wrist.

I feel the most pain when I OHS with anything over a certain rep range. Something as light as 95 pounds starts to ache around 6 reps and by 12-15 reps my wrist is toasted. However I do feel pain when I do something as simple as a regular pushup position i.e. pushups, burpees, planks...etc (only true if palm is flat on the ground, fist pushups are fine). Even something as slight as pushing myself up out of my chair by the armrests can start to hurt if I hold that position long enough.

I've never had a bad injury to my wrist that I can recall but I've always felt that I can jam my wrists easily and I'm not sure where that came from. I know when I went through Army Basic a few years ago, getting dropped all the time definitely aggravated the heck out of my wrist back then. Since then I haven't had too many wrist pains except when I first started doing cleans and front squats but the pain was in a different area than right now.

I've tried different stretches, band traction and the joint rotations from Super Joints. Nothing seems to make it go away. Anyone else with any input/suggestions/experience?

Aimee Anaya Everett · 03-19-2007, 08:22 AM

I have had problems in my wrist for almost a year. the pain comes and goes. some days it hurts worse than others. What i have learned is the location of the pain is rarely the source of the pain. Meaning, when my wrist starts hurting really bad it is because my shoulder and neck on the left side are all bound up in a knot. so once i get that taken care of the pain in my wrist normally subsides. however, i still wrap my left wrist everyday when i train for the extra support, and i (should) be icing daily. after each workout, before you go to bed, in the morning when you wake up. Stick a styrofoam cup of water in the freezer and ice massage the area of pain.
and if it is hurting really bad on a particular day, lay off your arm... don't do reps with OHS, train another area of your body, switch to dumbells for your OHS, find what doesn't give you pain and do that. let your wrist rest.

and ice ice ice ice. even when it isn't hurting.

Greg Everett · 03-19-2007, 08:37 AM

Allen - I had what I think you're describing - sharp pain when the wrist was extended to even near 90 degrees. My PTs etc all wanted to stretch the extensors and I tld them they were smoking crack, but let them have at it. Nothing changed. The day I started really focusing on flexor stretching, the problem started going away and it's now gone completely. I think my flexors were just super tight from so much grip and pulling work that they were essentially binding the wrist too tightly when it extended, jamming all the carpals together and such.Also, ice that sucker.

Allen Yeh · 03-19-2007, 09:18 AM

Aimee,

Did you take care of the tightness with SMR(i.e. foam rolling...etc)?

Greg,
What stretches did you focus on? Just the standard wrist flexor stretches or other ones also? That seems to be how it feels like the carpals are being jammed together.

Thanks for both of your recommendations, ice, ice, ice it is! I guess I need to pick up some stryofoam cups on the way home!

Aimee Anaya Everett · 03-19-2007, 11:11 AM

i do foam roll. before every workout. hug yourself, crossing your arms and foam roll your upper back. this loosens my shoulders up as well as my t-spine.
i also get soft tissue work done at physical therapy, which helps a ton.

Greg Everett · 03-19-2007, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allen Yeh

Greg,
What stretches did you focus on? Just the standard wrist flexor stretches or other ones also? That seems to be how it feels like the carpals are being jammed together.

yeah, just stretching the flexors a ton by psuhing the palm/fingers back--plus I hook my thumb against my chest while i do it to also stretch it out. then gently the other direction.

Allen Yeh · 04-12-2007, 09:45 AM

The stretches that Greg outlined have my wrists pain free even after doing a bunch of Oly stuff the other day.

I guess perhaps what was going on with his wrist was similiar to my own.

Mike ODonnell · 04-12-2007, 10:00 AM

Not to be captian obvious...but also check the position of the bar in your palm...if it is too far back it will pull your wrist down....if you sit it up more in direct perpendicular alignment with your arm (bones) then it may put less pressure on the wrist. That and flexibility of course....I think I remember a stretch having a oly bar behind your neck and using your fingers to hold it as they flex down.....

Greg Everett · 04-12-2007, 02:26 PM

allen - Cool!

Mike - limit to how much you can do that, particularly with heavy snatches and jerks. the wrist will go back no matter how much you may not want it to. Hence the commonness of wrist pain among weightlifters...

Mike ODonnell · 04-12-2007, 02:56 PM

Hence I stay with the pink weights.....