Hello guys, lately I feel pain in my left wrist (i think it is the ulna that aches).

I am an ectomorph body type and my wrists are a little thinner than others. I am trying to gain weight though so I am trying to lift as more kgs as I can.

Lately I started using gloves with wrist wraps and I am thinking of trying the everlast hand wraps.

Does anyone know what other precautions I should take ? (like any gel, voltaren maybe)

and what about the weight lifting? should i stop the heavy lifting?

Evagelos,

Before you go buying lifting assistance gear, you need to identify what is causing the pain, what exercises, and where on the wrist. Issues like this could be due to wrist inflexibility, your unique bio-mechanics, or you are lifting too heavy too soon. It is like having a pain - it is better to find the cause then to pop an aspirin and hope it goes away.

John

As John already said, it's more important to find the cause.

I am a female and my wrists are tiny, but wrist size doesn't equal automatically to pain just because they are smaller :)

The pain comes either from the sinews, the tendons or the joint or the muscles in that area.

Typical mistakes and factors are not warming up your wrists, before you exercise (even bodyweight exercise, such as pushups can be a killer for your wrists when they are not "ready" for it, or you maybe use a handposition that your hand and wrist flexibility doesn't support), using way too much weight for which you don't have the forearm/grip/andwrist strength yet.

While it is advised to go heavier 'than you can' every once in a while, to build up strength, and get the nervous system used to a heavier weight, this is - as just said - only in shorter intervals, and in less volume.

The majority of the time you should work with 70-80% of your max, and not beyond. It might just be that you overstrained your self in the attempt to go heavier than you can on a regular basis.

To gain mass and weight, not only strength conditioning is important, but even more repetition in the 8-12 reps hypertrophy-range with 70-80 % of your max. Unless you want to specialize in powerlifting which is a completely different matter.

I personally strongly believe that using wristwraps is something for when you really get to your limits of what you can lift, and wonna work one or two sets of extreme weight, where your grip strength just would give up. Using them all the time can also aid to wrist issues, as you don't build up enough wrist strength.

And honestly: when it hurts, step down a while. Forcing more onto your wrists than what they apparently already can not bare is not a good idea.
Lower the weights, warm up your wrists before you start, and work on your grip/wrist strength as well.

Good exercises for that: hang on a bar as long as you can, do wrist curls, grab a barbell (or kettlebells or dumbbells) with a good (not too heavy) load and hold it as long as you can, when you stretch your body - also stretch your wrists, etc.

Should the pain remain, after a week of going down in weight, please go and see a doctor. As you might have stressed a tendon or even the joint.

-crood-

How bad is the pain ? I feel a slight pain in my right wrist when doing cable crossovers, but nothing serious. If you are feeling pretty intense pain then you should first and foremost find out what is causing the pain. A doctor would be able to provide help, I am sure.

If I were to give my take out it, if you are lifting very heavy weights and this is causing your pain then yes, stop lifting that heavy. Go lighter to make sure you are not completely ruining your joints.

Also, take note of your forearm position while lifting. Are you keeping your wrists straight, or bent? If they are bent, you typically apply a lot more pressure from the weight through your wrists. Focus on keeping your wrists straight.

Jordan

i am sure my wrist thinner than yours. it is just a 15cm :) and my left wrist was broken. before and after broken , i really work hard to get power wrists. after every chest and arm workout , i get barbell and work wrists until it burn(and thanks to my trainer). i am really carefull to get right position to lift. Nowaday it just hurt only after close grid bench press and dips.

You have a trainer ? Does he / she have any advice towards this ?? Maybe you should take some time off the gym, how long was it since your last rest week ?

i was a trainer 4 years ago. he adviced that make it stronger. i am trying to improve my lifting skill for close grid bench press because i realized that when grap the bar , i am pushing bars on my middle of palm. so it hurts my wrist. all about how to grap bars.

after broke my left wrist (on the soccer), in 3 month i did nothing. 3 months i worked with pain and try to make it stronger. 9. month , there is no pain. but i cannot grap dumbells full potentially.

PS. i broke my left wrist , 3 years ago :) i gotta rest next week. Thanks William

thanks guys, thanks a lot... i will follow all of your advices for the week and see how it goes. :)

Everlast handwraps are more for boxing. or any other martial arts. They keep your wrist straight so when you hit something it won't bend. They're way too thick for lifting.