Sebastian Brosche · 12 min · 1,314 words
Previously titled: Video 1 - Wrist Rehab Program
Hi everyone, welcome to our rehab program for wrist injuries. A wrist is quite a complicated bit of kit. So there's lots of individual bones in the wrist, there's joints in between those bones and there's ligaments as well holding them together. Then on top of that, you have the muscles and the tendons that cross the joint and there are also nerves and blood vessels.
And there are quite a number of different things that can go wrong at the wrist. This particular rehab program is aimed at addressing the most common wrist injuries that I see in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and to help improve mobility and strength at the wrist. However, if things aren't improving, do consult a sports injury professional for individual advice. We're going to start today with a way of working into the forearm muscles because very often one of the things that compounds wrist injuries and grapplers is that these muscles get very tight on the forearm because of all the grip work that we do.
So I'm going to show you a way to to relax those muscles. So I'm going to start by placing my arm on a table or a bench and using the elbow of the other arm, I'm just going to put a little bit of pressure down into the muscle. And while I'm holding that, I'm going to stretch my fingers out and then relax. Then I just move the arms slightly.
I stretch the fingers out again and like this I'm going to work my way all the way down the forearm and I'm looking for those slightly tender points. So when I push into them, they feel a little bit uncomfortable but it's that good sort of pain. That's what I'm looking for. And it may feel that it gets a bit harder as I work my way down to open those fingers out.
That's quite normal because what we're doing is we're holding the muscle and then stretching the fingers to move that muscle. I'm just going to repeat again from the top. And when I've done that a couple of times, I'm going to turn the hand over and I'm going to work into the muscles on the back of the forearm and this time I'm going to make a fist. And move down, pull the fingers in, relax and repeat.
Again, I'm just going to work my way down before I'm doing this. And then when I've done that, I'm just going to put the bench to one side. I'm going to grab a massage ball or a cross ball or a tennis ball and this may seem a little bit odd but I'm going to work behind the shoulder. I'm just going to put the massage ball behind the shoulder.
And again, I'm just going to roll until I find those slightly tender points. Now the reason I'm working in the shoulder is because a lot of the time tension in the shoulder can actually exacerbate pain in the forearm, wrist and hand. So I find that with my wrist pain patients, it's worth spending a little bit of time working all the way up the arm and in the shoulder itself. So I'm just going to find those slightly tender points and again if I want to add a little bit of shoulder movement to that, I can do.
And the idea with all of this is that I want to find the point where it's sore but it feels good, that sweet spot. And if it's just really painful that I'm overdoing it, I need to back off. Okay. And then when I've done that, put the ball to one side.
I'm just going to start with some basic mobilization of the wrist. So I'm just making a fist, just going to move backwards and forwards. And I want to take the wrist as far as I can in each direction but without pushing into pain. I'm going to take it as far as I can comfortably.
I want to just repeat that movement lots of times. And the great thing with this is you can do it anywhere. So it's really worth doing this regularly, even up to every hour or so in the first few days after the injury. And then I can move it up and down and make circles the other way.
So if it's particularly sore, then I'm going to do it with my fist open and my fist closed as well. Now if it's really sore in the initial stages of injury, then I'm not going to push into that pain. So this is one of the reasons I'm just using active movement. So I'm going to do it with my other hand to move it at the moment.
Up and down. And then circles with the wrist. And back the other way. So I'm going to do it with my fist open and my fist closed as well.
Okay. Now from there, I'm going to take the arm out to the side. I want to have my opposite hand on the shoulder. So I'm going to stop the shoulder coming forward because it's easy to start doing this.
And what I'm going to do, I'm going to take the fingers back. So I'm going to continue this mobilization, taking the fingers backwards and forwards. At the same time, I'm going to add a little bit of neck movement. And this helps to just mobilize the nerves at the wrist.
So as I take my fingers back, I'm going to drop my ear towards that side. And then as I bring them forwards, I'm going to go to the opposite side. I'm just going to repeat this movement. And relax there.
Bring the hand up in front of me. Using my other hand, I'm just going to push down. So I'm going to push up with the hand, keeping the wrist straight. As hard as I can comfortably, but once again, don't push into pain.
So if it becomes uncomfortable, just hang out on the edge of that discomfort. And then relax. I'm just going to do the same thing, pushing the other way. This time we're using the wrist extensors.
Once again, these are things that ideally I want to do several times a day, especially during that early stage after the injury. And then back to flexors. And the other way. So this early stage rehab is not always the most exciting thing in the world, but it can make a real difference to your speed of recovery.
So it's definitely worth doing. And then we're going to go back to this mobilization here. So again, keeping the shoulder back. So I'm just monitoring with this hand so it doesn't come forward.
I'm just going to move my hand and the neck. So I'm just going to move my hand and the neck at the same time. And then we're going to go back to our isometrics. Again, you may find that you can push a little bit harder now for the same amount of discomfort, but again, if it's still feeling quite sore, just keep it on the edge of that.
And then switch over, push up. And repeat the other way. And once more. And rest there.
And then just to finish with, just going back to some wrist circles. On both sides, if you like. Forwards and back. And circles.
And back the other way. And then with our hands open. And then we're going to go back to the front. And circle.
Okay. And that's everything for day one. So as things start to settle down, as it's a little bit less acute, we'll see you back here for day two and we'll add a little bit more strength work into the plan.
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