Push-ups are excellent for building strength and endurance in your chest, arms, and shoulders. However, they can also put a lot of stress on your wrists.
If you start with push-ups or have weak wrists from another exercise, this can cause wrist pain.
Luckily, there are several things you can do to prevent or relieve wrist pain as you continue working on your push-up routine.
Choose the Right Surface
The surface you do your push-ups on can significantly affect how much stress it puts on your wrists.
Avoid doing push-ups on a hard surface like a tile or concrete floor, which won’t give your wrists any cushion. Choose a surface with some give, like a yoga mat or a carpeted floor.
If you have a hard floor, you can put a yoga mat or carpet under your hands for extra cushioning during push-ups.
You can also try using a push-up bra or a push-up wall attachment with wrist stabilizers to support your wrists.
Wrist Strengthening Exercises
If your wrists are prone to injury, you may want to try strengthening wrist exercises to help them become more durable.
Exercises like wrist curls and wrist extensions can help to build wrist strength. Try doing these exercises a few times weekly to help prevent injury and ease pain, especially if you have weak wrists.
If you have carpal tunnel pain, talk to your doctor before starting these exercises.
Push-ups can be a great exercise but can also be hard on your wrists. The best way to deal with this is to start strengthening your wrists ahead of time.
Try these exercises to build up the strength in your hands and forearms, so they’re ready to handle push-ups.
To ensure you’re not overdoing it and putting too much stress on your wrists, you can also try doing push-ups on your knees or with your feet elevated.
If you have wrist pain when you try to do push-ups, there are plenty of other exercises you can do to keep working your upper body without stressing your wrists out.
Wrist Pain During Push-Ups. The response to yesterday’s video was great.
Final Word
Some people experience a stretch in the median nerve. I did not mention in the video that this is not a nerve stretch. If you do, quit doing the exercise.
When performing the exercise, look at your neck, mid-back, and shoulder position. These areas out of alignment may have caused excess nerve stress and a short stretch on the fascia.
Nerve gliding exercises should be performed if your client has carpal tunnel syndrome and has symptoms along the median nerve.
If you missed it yesterday, here is the video with three other tips on what to do about wrist pain and push-ups.
Rick Kaselj, MS
