Hand balance and Wrist Injuries

Good Afternoon

I would to know if any of you sustained some wrist injuries and what effect it has had on your handbalancing.

Hand balance is a really big part of my life right now. I've been training every day and my one arm handstands have been improving.

However, a day ago, I fell back onto my outstretched left hand and did some damage to my wrist. It seems to be a sprain, but I am worried. There is some swelling now and pain when moved to the edge of its ROM, especially when I try to lift it up. It will be some time before I can put any load on this wrist, especially in the 90 degree position. I am ok with that and I will make sure to give it plenty of time to heal. However, I am interested to know whether this may have some permanent effect on my handstands after it has healed.

That, and I would like to hear stories of any of you having similar events happen.

Regards,

Yuri

I have quite some experience with wrist injuries. Now I am in circus school, and I do several hours of handstands every day, so tired and injured wrists just comes with the trade. However I have had several bad ones in the past, and I know people who have been out for half a year, and still been able to recover 100%. The good thing about the wrists is that, because there is a large amount of tendons, nerves, muscles, bones and veins passing through such a tight space, they start to hurt easily. The reason this is good is that it quickly lets you know when something is wrong. I have had cases where I couldnt even move my wrist without intense pain, which was relieved a week later. However if it lasts for a long time, you might want to check it out.

As long as you havent sustained any permanent damage, you should be okay if you let it rest. Do light stretching on it and try not to use it for anything that hurts. My experience is that they heal pretty quickly if you let them rest so you should notice gradual improvement fairly quickly if there is nothing seriously wrong with it.

What you can do is make yourself a pair of decline blocks to practice on later on if it is really bad. I have a student in my class who cant do handstands on the floor yet after a surgical removal of a calcified ganglion cyst, but he does just fine on a pair of blocks with a declining angle. Im not sure of the exact angle, I can check it on monday.

Good luck with your recovery!

Thanks, that was just what I needed to hear.

What would I do to get the angle if I wanted to make decline blocks? I have a hand saw but I do not have access to a table saw.

What is a good angle to make them?

I am not completely sure, but I would guess around 20 degrees or so. You might want to test a little to see at which angle you can apply all your weight without any pain by taking a normal block and putting a book, newspaper, etc under one side. My friend in school have some so I can check out his tomorrow and post up-

How are your wrists now, and where is the pain? Hope you are doing better, most likely they will get back to normal, even though it can take some time.

Massage your entire arms, elbow, wrist etc helped me A LOT! That together with brufen 3x400mg per day has made my pain go away in 3 days. Now time to slowly get back into it............ aswell as more massage, ice and brufen for 4 more days.

Handbalancer said:

I am not completely sure, but I would guess around 20 degrees or so. You might want to test a little to see at which angle you can apply all your weight without any pain by taking a normal block and putting a book, newspaper, etc under one side. My friend in school have some so I can check out his tomorrow and post up-

How are your wrists now, and where is the pain? Hope you are doing better, most likely they will get back to normal, even though it can take some time.

Thanks, I would appreciate that. It probably won't come down to it but I am looking at it just in case. It has been almost 4 weeks now since the injury. I am healing, but slowly. I still practice one arm handstands every day on my right arm.

The pain is at the joint crease, back of the hand, a bittowards the thumb. Also at the base of the thumb. Really the only time it hurts now is when I try to put weight on it in the 90 degree position, especially with the hands facing forward. I also feel like I lost some flexibility in that hand.

I've been doing rings and handstands on dumbells; just taking my time coming back to floor. Thanks for your insight.

Razz said:

Massage your entire arms, elbow, wrist etc helped me A LOT! That together with brufen 3x400mg per day has made my pain go away in 3 days. Now time to slowly get back into it............ aswell as more massage, ice and brufen for 4 more days.

I never massage the forearm much though I roll out almost everything else regularly. It seems like a good idea though. I'll have to start doing that.

I have been doing rice bucket, dowel, and general wrist work as rehab.

I think I can get by without brufen, mostly too lazy to go out and get some. I've been taking plenty of fish oil and vitamin C though.

Yeah brufen was somethign I added because other stuff didn't seem to do much, brufen seemed to be just what I needed.

I checked my friends blocks, and they have around 20 degrees angle. Try around that angle, and if its too little, go to 30 degrees. Saw them to a good size and ùse sandpaper to get them smooth. This can totally alleviate your handstand training, and you can get back into training much earlier. best of luck with your wrist, it will heal!

so what are the total dimensions of the blocks before the 20 degree angle is made?

something like 3x4x5? (inches) I figure a typical 2x4 would not be girthy enough to get a good grip on after the decline angle is made. is 4 inches across too wide?

I am going to go to home depot and see if I can get some made as I don't have the equipment to accurately cut a 20 degree angle into the blocks.

Thanks again for your input, hand balancer

You could check an online yoga supply as well. They have something usually called a slant block (or wedge) which is essentially the same thing. They generally come in a hand size width and a longer width big enough to put both hands on, if thats all there is, it could be cut to fit.