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| I often have people tell me down dog hurts their wrists. When I first started, it hurt mine, too. My instructor told me to keep at it and they would get stronger. That turned out to be true for me. Assuming the person is doing down dog correctly, what do you say when they say it hurts their wrists?
Also, I had someone with a clear deformation of the wrist. A break that was not set correctly. I remember being told you can't do downdog on your fists. Is that correct? |
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| it is correct. doing down-dog on the fists actually aligns the tendons (and energy body) improperly and can cause all sorts of long-term problems.
the best modification is to bring the elbows to the floor so that the weight is distributed across the fore-arms and hands. i also recommend child's pose.
i tell people to bend their knees and move the weight out of their wrists and shoulders and into their legs. this is the first element that is important. a lot of people put all of their weight forward in their hands, and this is part of the reason why their wrists hurts.
it's also a positioning problem. most people are putting the weight in the 'heel' of their hand, not in the front of the palm nearer the fingers. adjusting the weight forward (consider using a wedge prop) makes a huge difference in taking the strain out of the wrists.
i often describe to students the problem using visuals. the hands/wrists are in the wrong alignment if your wrists has 'wrinkles' in it when you do downward dog. this means that too much weight is placed in the hands. they may need to bend the knees and take the weight into the thighs/legs. this means also that too much weight is placed in the 'heel' of the palm, and needs to be moved forward toward the fingers.
and finally, stamina is an issue. downward dog is a difficult posture that is sometimes difficult to maintain. it takes strength to maintain it, so if it feels overwhelming, it's a good idea to go into child's pose, and return to downward dog when you feel ready. |
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| Thank you. I truly appreciate the advice. |
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| good prop suggestion, Z-Cat...
i'ma go try it
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sore wrists
