Pain in forearm/wrist on pinky side

[nbraun198]

It is actually bothering me whenever i do planche work now, but it originally began when i was working on the back lever. I felt it in both right and left arms, but only the left arm developed into something.

Some people said it could be ulnar nerve irritation? What could it be? (It has been bothering me for like 3-4 days)

[Joshua Naterman]

Could be inflammation of the fascia. I tore mine years ago, it's the membrane that holds everything tight, sort of like wrapping a bundle of pencils in saran wrap would. It hurt like hell, and took a long time to recover from. I'd suggest stretching, heat, backing off of whatever irritates it, and work on your wrist strength. The various wrist pushups, for example, and thick handle deadlifting will both help. Does it happen more when your forearms are pumped up? If it does, that's a sign that it could be a problem with your fascia.

[nbraun198]

The problem ONLY arose when i did the back lever. No idea why, i felt it on both sides, but this one a little worse. My right is fine right now, but now it hurts a little when I do planche training on the parallettes. Its only when I try to hold like a weight, for example, with my ring finger and my pinky. I think it could be an underdeveloped forearm muscle?

I only started having a problem after I started working on the back lever though.

Oh and its about the same all the time. Like when i am sitting around it doesn't hurt, but when i do planche training/back lever it will hurt if i push on it. Once they get pumped up, i don't think it gets any worse or better. Maybe a little bit of discomfort shortly after a workout that will last about 10-20 mins?

[Joshua Naterman]

The most likely scenario is that you are overworking your hand and/or forearm muscles. If I were you, I'd use the easiest back lever holds for right now, and do specific training for your hand and forearm flexors. For the hand muscles, I would suggest doing the following exercises. One, finger rolling. You stand up, hold a dumbbell in a dead hang position (like you're carrying a heavy bucket by the handle), let it roll as far down your fingers as you can without dropping it, and then use your fingers to roll it back up to the palm of your hand. I'd start off doing one set of 10 with a weight that is challenging but not painful. I would also do one set of thick bar holds. The best way to do this is to get 2, 2.5, or 3 inch PVC or ABS pipe and cut 6 inch pieces. Then cut a one inch strip out of it, longways. That's to let it slip over a bar. Then you use that as the handle and stand up with it. You can buy two feet at a time at Home Depot or Lowes for a few dollars. A saw of some sort is all you need after that, the material cuts very easily. You can actually cut it quite fast with dental floss. Anyhow, those wide grips will challenge your hand and forearm flexors. In both cases, concentrate on the fingers you need to work, and make sure they are doing their part. Usually people don't use those fingers as much as the middle and ring finger until they are taught to, so from that perspective what you are feeling is normal.

Those two weighted exercises will help you a lot. I'd say one set a day of each for the first week or two, with controlled movements. When you feel like you're strong and used to the weight you are using, keep the same weight and move FASTER. Slowly increase the speed you curl your fingers up with, or stand up with the weight with the thick grips. You might even jump up and down or shrug at high speed with the thick handled weights. Anything to develop momentum. The idea is to get those muscles and tendons used to not just more weight, but higher acceleration, which in turn means more force. It's the fastest way to strengthen something like that. There are also excellent exercises listed on this site that will help you a lot, like the first knuckle pushups, fingertip pushups, and dorsal(listed here as Wrist Pushups) pushups. I have found that the first knuckle and fingertip pushups are best done on hard surfaces, and the dorsal pushups are best done on a couch cushion or something equally thick and soft but supportive. Folded towels won't work as well as cushions, but if there's nothing else use those. LOTS of those. Also, the pressure should be on the outside of your hand, near the pinkie and down that side of the hand as you go down and up. you'll see what i mean when you watch the video:) Just search Youtube for "wrist pushup gymnasticbodies".

I suppose I should make some of these videos. The topic comes up a lot, and we always try to describe things, but there's only one good video, and that's Coach's video of the dorsal pushups, titled wrist pushups. All the others aren't well documented. I will get around to that soon. Probably over the weekend, for that at least. I'm going to do some videos of some of the exercises I've taken from Gregor's routines and double check with him to make sure I am doing them right, then post them up.

[nbraun198]

Thank you very much for the long and elaborate response. I will definitely try the pipe idea and the weight idea that you mentioned. I already work on the wrist pushups, but i will add the knuckle and fingertip ones into my routine.

Again, thanks very much!

[Coach Sommer]

Slizzardman is exactly correct; either the variation of BL or the duration of your static holds is beyond your current level of strength. No other outside adjustments in either conditioning or prehab will be effective until you switch to a more appropriate element.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Joshua Naterman]

Thanks for the confirmation Coach! It's always good to hear what you have to say, since you have all the experience I've got the same situation in my elbows Very frustrating, I want to train my planches!!!

Very common with those whose enthusiasm for training outdistances their patience. As you have now learned, slow and steady in gymnastics training always finishes first.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer