Lets talk about form and technique.
Its my experience the wrist is one of those parts that tends to overwork. I see them flick away in so many exercises... I see them bent at all kinds of angles... Visually, when your wrists are bent more than they need to be, you will see wrinkles. A lot of wrinkles. At the wrist. And when I see that, my heart goes out. Those poor over bent wrists are overstressed and I know they cant be feeling that great. Friend: there is a better way.
Certainly it depends on the exercise you are doing, if weight bearing is involved and the position that your hand needs to assume while grasping or holding.
Overall, three main things are happening with improper wrist posture.
1. The shoulder system isn't getting to function in an optimal way.
2. The wrists are getting overworked.
3. The hands are not getting the opportunity they need to function.
Its a recipe for an over worked wrist, an under worked hand (reduced hand strength and difficulty opening jars anyone?), and fewer and fewer planks and pushups.
Which came first? The reduced bone density in the wrists, the bad wrist positioning or imbalanced shoulder mechanics? I feel its all connected in a symbiotic way. However, through intentional exercise selection and good form I believe the Pilates method and the aid of spring based apparatus can add gentle resistance to this delicate area in a way that can support increased bone density and overall movement quality.
Lets focus on the wrist part of equation.
(Aka: Its all about the "Lego Hands")
One of the best visuals I can give for a good hand position when you are grasping something, is that of Lego hands. Yes, seriously. If you have kiddos I hope this brings you a chuckle (If you don't, I hope this was a part of your childhood!!) When you visualize Lego people's hands, they don't have bendy wrists. They just don't. And their "thumbs" are separated from their hands so that when they hold on to something, things just "clip" in between their fingers and thumb.
The first thing that putting your hands in a "Lego hands" position does is that it puts your wrists in a straighter position. The wrinkles go away (!).
Lego hands also gives our hands the positioning we need to utilize more of the hand strength that is available. This brings me to my next fun stop on the road of "interesting gems held with in the body we may not have noticed yet". See for yourself what happens when you make said Lego hand. Go ahead and give it a try. Hopefully when you do, you will spot a beautiful "arch" in the palm of your hand. If you aren't seeing it, try spreading your thumb and pinky finger apart, pinky and pointer finger apart and reach middle finger away from wrist. (see pic below)
Much like the feet have arches, our hands can make an arch as well. Here-in lies the gold.
Something I find fascinating is that 25% of our bones are in our feet, and 25% of our bones are in our hands. When you think about it, half of all our bones are in two relatively small parts on our body. Going one step further, I think about all the strength and mobility that our hands are probably designed to have, and I think about how much the wrists have been keeping the hands out of the equation of our day to day movment and exercise. The hands are so much more than the thing that holds on to a thing. When I activate the arch of my palms I feel my entire arm system and shoulder girdle activate!
That is what we want when we are doing pilates! Its not just about being able to do the exercise, its about the quality of your movement and engaging your entire system. And when it comes to the upper extremities, I think there's alot of gold to be had from simply paying attention to your wrists and the position they are in.
We could all use a little more lego in our life.
Not just for the sake of fun, but to have a happy system in our entire arms.
With Pilates, we can start by paying attention to how we grasp the handles, the footbar or any of the other components.
We can master our postitioning in a non-weight bearing way and build up hand and shoulder strength through that.
When we have a stronger arm system with proper wrist alignment, THEN we can start to add weight bearing activity. The long stretch on the reformer. Planking or push ups. Tricep dips on the apparatus. This will give your body opportunities to get even more strength. These exercises, and the Pilates method helps you to learn that your wrists actually don't have to be the sole weight bearer of an exercise, and that strength is best achieved in an overall systemic way
So go ahead and give your wrist positioning a glance and put it at the forefront of your alignment checks! Let me know how it goes.
Check out the form tip video below where I focus on wrist alignment and the use of the thumbs in pulling straps. In this exercise the thumbs really do make a big difference.
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