There are so many ways to strengthen grip and wrists but one of the best which requires no equipment and can be done while spiraling and wrapping is to wring out a wet towel. washcloth, t-shirt etc. Just remember to wring out in both directions since hands are alternating.

The advantage of wringing a towel is that it is not a fixed position exercise like using a roller bar or barbell. Dumbbells allow a greater degree of movement but wringing a flexible object like a towel allows the greatest range of natural movement of the wrist. Additionally, it's very easy to vary/increase the thickness of the towel by folding it over itself which adds another aspect and degree of difficulty to training.

[QUOTE=Qiang;4339]My wrists bother me on and off (mild tendonitis?). Once or twice I've been spinning heavy at a workshop and it just aggravates my wrists. [/QUOTE]
Hi Johnny,

More free advice:
You might also have a ganglion cyst in the wrist, which is quite common. If you have a ganglion, you might notice sudden pain and weakness when the wrist is at a sharp angle. Sometimes ganglions disappear on their own, sometime therapy helps.

Here's what others have written about ganglion wrist pain:
[url]http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1062656/ganglion_cyst_pain_exercises.html?singlepage=true&cat=50[/url]
[url]http://www.emedicinehealth.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=59233&pf=3&page=1[/url]

Hope you find out whatever is causing the pain!

Peter

johnny,

i go through fits and starts of wrist pain myself. so far the best thing i've found as a short term, get you through the flair up right now kind of thing is to wrap the hand and wrist in a boxing hand wrap. it supports the hand and wrist better than ANY wrist wrap and gives the wrist a chance to rest while you can still work and or train.

also, try doing ankle circles on the opposite ankle. (i.e. if the left wrist hurts do the circles on the right ankle.) the fascia in the body runs in spirals, so you work the opposing joint to rehab the hurting joint.

stand nice and tall with a long spine and try to make as slow and precise a circle as possible, 3x clock and 3x counter-clockwise, 3x day.

for grip training, try to make or use thick bars and captains o' crush if you can drop a few bucks. thick handled KB's, a la, dragondoor style and wet towels are all good grip training.

Sifu likes the windlass.

Windlass
[url]http://www.shouyuliang.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=267&Itemid=224[/url]

(at least I think that's what Ashe is talking about - correct me if i'm wrong)

the person I talked to about johnny's wrist suggested this and swimming after he's given his tendons a chance to cool down... i like the windlass but I like using a wrist diameter sized pvc - a little larger than the one pictured.

[QUOTE=ben;4365]Windlass
[url]http://www.shouyuliang.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=267&Itemid=224[/url]

(at least I think that's what Ashe is talking about - correct me if i'm wrong)

the person I talked to about johnny's wrist suggested this and swimming after he's given his tendons a chance to cool down... i like the windlass but I like using a wrist diameter sized pvc - a little larger than the one pictured.[/QUOTE]

yup, that's what i was talking about. the pvc is essentially what i meant by "thick bar" training too.

[QUOTE=Qiang;4388]...I'll have to try the ankle circles too. It seems weird that the ankles could have an effect on something as distant as the wrists. That's an interconnection that doesn't make intuitive sense to me yet.[/QUOTE]

Think about the connection in terms of the gait cycle. when you step forward with the left foot (ankle) the right arm (wrist) also swings forward. Z-health (and a lot of other similar somatic modalities) uses the gait cycle, or how you walk, to try to understand the cause of whatever dysfunction is then causing the pain that you're feeling.

Ashe, are you doing the Z-health thing? What do you think of it? As I understand it it is based pretty heavily on Scott Sonnon's (and the Russian's) zdorovye - hence the name. I'm fascinated by this kind of work (I consider it to be a form of somatics - maybe I'm wrong) but dislike some aspects of the way it is presented. If you're interested, this book: [url]http://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Neurodynamics-System-Neuromusculoskeletal-Treatment/dp/0750654562[/url] is provides some of the evidence base for somatic movement and treatment and might be worthwhile.

Another place worth looking at is somasimple, which is a decent forum for this type of discussion. They had an interesting discussion about z-health that hit on my one real problem with it here: [url]http://www.somasimple.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4088[/url]

word.

You'll definitely have to let us know how the ck-fms thing goes if you decide to do it. I really like Gray Cook, I think the way he orders his training makes it both accessible to non-fit or highly dysfunctional people but also useful for athletes...

very cool!

Actually, I think this is a topic that will always be of interest to people involved in sports, since injuries and rehabilitation are, to a certain degree, part of the training cycle.

After some x-rays and an MRI of my left wrist, the docs say that I have a severe wrist sprain that will take a long time to heal.

The doctors also say I need to give the
wrist a chance to heal. I specifically asked about training, and they said it should be ok, but I should avoid movements that cause pain and immediately stop if I feel pain. I'll try some spinning later this week, and use a boxing wrap to protect the wrist as Ashe suggested. Talk about sensitivity training ...

Yes, I've been doing this. I only do push-ups on my knuckles now, and I find that chin-ups (palms toward face) are much less stressful for the wrist than are pull-ups.

I took a month-long break over the holidays and have had some ultrasound and electotherapy for the wrist, both of which have helped a lot. The pain has lessened appreciably. I hope the trend continues. I appreciate your comments.

Peter

Nope, and that's the weird thing. One day I just noticed that my wrist was really sore. Don't know if it was the result of spinning, rope-skipping, push-ups, bag work, or whatever. All these things are fairly wrist-intensive, so maybe it was just a combination of everything. But there was no single event, like falling down, that caused it.

Peter

Just thought I'd do a follow-up to my posts on wrist sprain - after more than 6 months, the pain in my wrist has completely disappeared, and I can once again train pain-free

During the 6 month period, I had x-rays to rule out broken bones, MRI scans to rule out torn or damaged ligaments, then ultrasound therapy, electrostimulation therapy (neither of which seemed to help), lots of Tiger Balm therapy and infrared light therapy at home (highly recommended). The largest improvement, however, came following cold-laser therapy. I had 2x 12 sessions of cold laser therapy, and after about the 8th session, I could feel the pain start to lessen appreciably. By the end of the cold-laser sessions, the pain in my wrist had virtually disappeared.

So what kind of therapy has been the most effective for you in dealing with injuries (and what therapies haven't helped at all)?

Peter