Feeling Pain in Your Wrist?

The fundamental Pilates exercises focus on your belly, butt, and core stability. As you progress in the Pilates method, the exercises start to focus more on upper body strength. The theory goes that once you attain core stability, supporting the weight of your body is much easier. When first attempting some of the upper body exercises that put weight on your hands, you may feel a load on the wrist. As you get stronger in your back and shoulders, you won’t feel the stress in the wrist as much.

Here are some tips to get the load off the wrist:

• Keep your wrist aligned with your shoulder. In other words, your fingers should point in the same direction as your upper arm. If you’re in a plain push-up position or plank, your fingers should point forward. If your arm is turned out to the side, your fingers should also point in that direction.

• Practice cupping the palm to lift the weight off the actual wrist crease. Spread your fingers and think of pressing away from the floor with all your finger muscles, especially your thumb and pinkie, and try to lift the weight off your central palm and wrist area.

• Keep thinking of lifting the weight out of your wrist by pressing away from the floor by using your back and shoulder muscles.

• Try a hard surface. Performing exercises that put weight on your hands is easier on the wrist when done on a hard surface, such as a wood floor, rather than a mat or a rug. The harder surface allows for more stability in your hand and wrist joint and makes it easier to press away from gravity.