Wrist Pain while Squatting

[lobsteriffic]

Currently the thing that is holding be back in squats is pain in my right wrist. It's a shooting pain that seems to show up anytime I go 125 lbs or over for squats. I've never had a wrist injury so I'm not sure what's going on. Is this normal? Is there something I should be doing to fix it?

[Adena]

My first thought is it has to do with your hand placement. I've had this happen before. I just paid more attention to how I was gripping the bar before I started squatting. Other than that, I'm not sure how to help.

[cubby2112]

Maybe try some wider grips or wrist wraps. Work on wrist and internal shoulder rotator flexibility, as well as external rotator and wrist strength.

[lobsteriffic]

Maybe try some wider grips or wrist wraps. Work on wrist and internal shoulder rotator flexibility, as well as external rotator and wrist strength.

 

I get how to work on wrist strength (wrist curls?) but how would I work on wrist and internal shoulder rotator flexibility and external rotator strength?

[Krystyna]

Hey Carrie

 

this is a very common problem for women. Often our forearms and wrists are much weaker than what our legs can handle. I often have to stop and stretch out my arms if I'm holding weights while doing lunges or squats.

 

My trainer advised me to make sure I'm not using the "death grip" when holding onto weights and also advised me to get strength training gloves. The gloves have helped, up to a point.

 

Does your gym have a Smith machine? You could take some of that pressure off of your wrists by doing squats on that so that the weight rests beneath your shoulders instead.

[xCx]

Make sure that it's your upper back that is carrying the weight, not your hands. Your hands are only really there to make sure that the bar doesn't roll off your back.

[cubby2112]

Maybe try some wider grips or wrist wraps. Work on wrist and internal shoulder rotator flexibility, as well as external rotator and wrist strength.

 

I get how to work on wrist strength (wrist curls?) but how would I work on wrist and internal shoulder rotator flexibility and external rotator strength?

 

Face pulls with external rotation work great. So do dumbbell and cable external rotations. For stretching your internal rotators, try cable internal rotations, but don't actually do the exercise, just let the cable stretch you out. Some of the exercises are here:

 

http://askthetrainer.com/rotator-cuff-exercises.html

 

Basically, these may help you get the flexibility to put the bar on the right part of your back, relieving stress on your wrists, if flexibility is the issue. Most people can use strengthening of the external rotators and stretching of the internal ones, anyway. You might already have the flexibility to place the bar properly, and you just need to learn placement, like xCx said. Or it could just be a death grip, as suggested above.

 

Here are a couple wrist stretches:

 

http://thesafe-zone.com/images/wrist-exer-multi.gif

 

Those may help if wrist flexibility is an issue, or if you have a little tendonitis or something in your wrists that is being bothered by squatting. If you have flexible wrists, I wouldn't worry about this.

[lobsteriffic]

Thanks for the helpful replies everyone!

 

I'm wondering if it isn't a flexibility issue. I'm super inflexible everywhere so that makes sense. I'll try out some stretches and ensure that my placement is correct and I don't have a death grip going on.

[pazios2002]

Currently the thing that is holding be back in squats is pain in my right wrist. It's a shooting pain that seems to show up anytime I go 125 lbs or over for squats. I've never had a wrist injury so I'm not sure what's going on. Is this normal? Is there something I should be doing to fix it?

 

 

yeah you should use your legs.

[cubby2112]

Currently the thing that is holding be back in squats is pain in my right wrist. It's a shooting pain that seems to show up anytime I go 125 lbs or over for squats. I've never had a wrist injury so I'm not sure what's going on. Is this normal? Is there something I should be doing to fix it?

 

 

yeah you should use your legs.

 

I like to really bring my eyelids into my squats, actually. I close them really hard when I go down, then open them explosively on the way up. It works wonders.

[coroho]

Do you use a thumbless or thumbs around grip? You want your wrists to be in line with your forearms and a thumbs around grip naturally puts it in your palm (on low bar anyway). As xCx says your arms shouldn't be supporting any weight and I don't see any other reason why squatting heavy would hurt your wrist.

[lobsteriffic]

I never really thought about it before - but I definitely use thumbs around. I'll definitely keep an eye on that next time.

[medman]

I don't think I saw this specific pointer, so I will add one more thing (sorry if I accidentally missed this in someone's post): Try to use as neutral a wrist position as possible. Your wrists shouldn't be too extended (an extreme example of wrist extension is in the front squat).

[lobsteriffic]

Thanks!

 

The more I read the more it seems I just don't have the flexibility for low position. I'll try working on some stretches and what-not and in the meantime squat with a high bar position.

 

I will also keep more mindful of my hand/thumb/wrist position.