6 Ways to Relieve Carpel Tunnel Wrist and Thumb Pain

You don't realize how much you use your wrists and hands until they hurt.  Then, boy, is it distracting. 

I hurt my wrist doing ... I'm not sure how to explain it ... it's like you're holding your body off the ground by bracing your arms in front of you on a vertical pole, lol. Plus, around the same time, I started gymnastics lessons (past the age of 40) so I could finally get a handstand down. 

My wrist was like, that's enough of that now.  

I went on a mission to figure out how to get rid of this pain because I literally couldn't go on like this.  Once I figured out these pain-relieving techniques, the problem went away pretty quickly.  

And I was able to get my handstands down 🙌🏻 and continue my aerial training too 🙃!  

I'll show you just a few of the stretches and exercises I used to get rid of my pain, and strengthen my wrists and hands to prevent further injury. 

Here's what I'm doing in this video --

Find a comfortable place to sit. 

1 – WRIST ROTATIONS. 

Rotate your wrists slowly with a full range of motion – all the way around in a circle. 

The emphasis is on slow.  If you get stuck in a spot, don’t rush past it. 

After 8 times in one direction, switch and do the other direction. 

2 – FINGER MOBILITY. 

Have your palms face up and squeeze your fingers in, one at a time, like a fan.  Try to reverse it.

3 – WRIST STRETCH. 

Make a light fist and have your knuckles touch completely.  Place both knuckles on the floor as shown here.  Control how much weight goes into your wrists; don’t go too hard.  You can also control the sensation by bending and straightening your elbows. 

4 – WRIST MOBILITY. 

Hands and feet on the ground, fingers facing backward.  Again, control the amount of weight going into your hands and wrists that’s comfortable for you. 

Slowly peel your palm and up to your fingers away from the ground. 

Your hands can end up walking around in a circle this way. 

Get the full range of motion all the way through your fingers. 

5 – STRENGTH BUILDING. 

Start on your knees with your fingers pointing toward your toes and (VERY IMPORTANT) your shoulders, back, and hips stay in one line.  When you go down, your elbows graze your sides. 

If you can’t do this (1) without holding your breath, (2) without crunching your shoulders up to your ears, or (3) without your elbows flaring out to the sides, don’t do it yet.  Just hold it as far down as you can and come back up. 

Do 3-8 with the best form as you can.  Do another 3-8 with your palms facing in (elbows go out to the sides) and another 3-8 facing the palms out. 

6 – WRIST AND SHOULDER FLOSS. 

Using your top leg to balance, lift yourself into a side plank. 

Don’t do this (1) if it hurts your wrist, (2) if your shoulders are bunching up to your ears, or (3) you can’t keep your balance.  In that case, do a modified version laying on your side or on your elbow which I’ll show in a second.  

From your shoulders to your hips, it’s like you’re sandwiched between 2 parallel walls.  Your hands are pushing in opposite directions, as if they’re pushing against 2 other walls that are at right angles to your body. 

When you feel the opposition through your arms, make the upper hand into a fist and rotate your wrist.  Make sure to do both sides.