Floor Surface Causing Acute Wrist Pain?

[Scott Malin]

Would a change to a very hard floor surface be enough to irritate the wrist? My right wrist began bothering me doing freestanding handstands a few days ago at my new gym for work. I don't have any discomfort in it except immediately around the scaphoid when I put full body weight on it from a HS or planche progressions. Within a couple seconds of relieving the weight the irritation ceases and even stretching the hand in the same ROM causes nothing. I've either been lucky or always had strong wrists because wrist push ups, hs/pl work, false grips, etc. never bothered me in the least, so it's a big red flag to feel anything negative with them. Any thoughts on whether I should simply rest it further or if it's potentially something I ought to go get checked out?

[Joshua Naterman]

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:VYaRaOUcXwgJ:www.jssm.org/vol8/n4/29/v8n4-29text.php+scaphoid+pain+during+handstand&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Read this. Clicking the link off a google search ends up shooting you into ad-land, but this is the cached article. It's a good read for you. It seems that you do want to get that checked out.

[Scott Malin]

Thanks slizzard, I'll have it looked at to be on the safe side. Timing is so not cool on this though with the seminar.

[Joshua Naterman]

I know, I know. In the meantime I would put heat on it as much as you can, eat lots of veggies, and take a cal-mag supplement. Just to hopefully promote as much healing as possible, with the cal-mag being there to make sure you are giving your bones what htey need.

If you just have a stress fracture, a month or two of total rest for that bone should be enough to heal it.

I think it is far more likely that you simply have some weak muscles or ligaments. I used to get this burning pain at the bottom of my wrists, and it was from a combination of my hand and wrist muscles and connective tissue being too weak, AND from bad flexibility and adhesions. Occasional deep tissue self massage, regular stretching and regular strength work have taken care of that.

Still, the possibility is out there for a stress fracture and you shouldn't ignore it. Make sure you mention the tests that were used for this athlete, as the fracture did NOT show up on the regular x ray.