Monday, January 17, 2011

Wrist Rehab and increasing Grip Strength

The following wrist strengthening exercises are designed to improve strength of the muscles of the wrist and hand. You should discuss the suitability of these exercises with your physiotherapist prior to beginning them. Generally, they should only be performed provided they do not cause or increase pain.
Begin with the basic wrist strengthening exercise. Once this is too easy, add the intermediate wrist strengthening exercises. As your strength improves, the advanced exercises can then be added to the intermediate program.

Wrist Strengthening – Basic Exercises

To begin with, the following basic wrist strengthening exercise should be performed approximately 10 times, 3 times daily. As your wrist strength improves, the exercise can be progressed by gradually increasing the repetitions and strength of contraction provided it does not cause or increase pain.

Squeeze Tennis Ball 

Begin this wrist strengthening exercise holding a tennis ball (figure 1). Squeeze the tennis ball as hard as possible and comfortable without pain. Hold for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times.

The following intermediate wrist strengthening exercises should generally be performed 1 - 3 times per week provided they do not cause or increase pain. Ideally they should not be performed on consecutive days, to allow muscle recovery. As your wrist strength improves, the exercises can be progressed by gradually increasing the repetitions, number of sets or resistance, provided they do not cause or increase pain.

Wrist Flexion vs. Resistance Band 

Begin this wrist strengthening exercise with a resistance band around your fingers, your palm facing up as demonstrated (figure 2). Your elbow should be at your side and bent to 90 degrees, your forearm supported by your other hand. Slowly curl your wrist and fingers up against the resistance band tightening your hand and forearm muscles . Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions as far as possible and comfortable without pain.

9 comments:

  1. Tennis ball idea is great, definitely going to try that one out. Thanks for the good read!

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  2. great exercises i have been needing to increase my grip strength, will be following your blog

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  3. Love this post. My right hand's wrist sucks... I can't even curl a 20lbs db without it hurting so bad.

    What do you think about wrist guards?

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  4. i have weak ass grip strenght, hope this helps

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  5. I have small forearms so the above article really helped my grip. Also try to go strapless on easy deadlifts

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  6. unfortunately ive been cursed with small hands =(

    gonna give this a try.

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  7. My wrists are seriously like a girl. Fuking ectomorph.

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  8. @thegoldenchild

    I'm asian and have small hands, too. And I don't know anything about wrist strength, but I had the strongest grip in my high school (srs)

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  9. ya im wrists are super weak. I need to do this

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