Wrist strengthening and braces

B

B.utters

Likes Dirt
I tend to crash a lot and have the wrists of an 80 year old woman as a result. I broke my left wrist about 9 years ago and over the past 2 years it has always had some sort of pain in it from crashing constantly and never getting time to heal. About a month ago I broke the 5th metacarpal of my right hand at the very base and had previously snapped the tendon that runs along the outside of my little finger.

This leaves me wondering what I can do to stop this shit happening on a constant basis because it's getting pretty old. I have started working on stretching my left wrist to increase range of motion in it (not allowed to move my right wrist for another 2 weeks) but does anyone have any advice on good stretches or strengthening exercises they have used to prevent wrist injuries.

I've also been thinking about picking up a wrist brace:


http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=75189

These things seem pretty sweet but they are fairly expensive so if anyone has any good alternatives that off similar protection or just experience with wrist braces in general I would be grateful for your input.


Thanks

Nick
 
Z

Zam

Likes Dirt
The Duckmeister said:
Try not crashing.....







Sorry, someone had to do it. :behindsofa:
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Was thinking the same, if you are crashing that constantly and it is effecting your wrists in such a bad way perhaps it is time to start looking at your riding technique or taking things a little slower or easier?
 
D

danthebloke

Likes Dirt
prevention is better than cure , no doubt ,but if everybody prevented things there would be no cures.
 
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whitey89

whitey89

Likes Bikes and Dirt
im of the general opinion that wearing a brace like that only transfers the impact to wherever the end of the brace is, especially with those hard one's like you showed. I know 661 makes some "softer" type ones which i think might be a better option.
 
J

JESSKA

Likes Bikes
My partner was telling me about the wrists of his martial arts instructor the other day.... apparently he has massively large / strong wrists for his size & when asked what he did to strengthen them, he said he picks up a broom and twists it from left to right for a short period each day.

Simple but obviously effective from what I was told.
 
funkymonkey

funkymonkey

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I had surgery on my right wrist when i was 21 (pins and cast). I was advised to strengthen it over time as it would be weaker in the long run (still is sore after a long ride 10 yrs later)

Best exercise i have found is a home made job.

Get a piece of PVC pipe approx 4-5cm diameter and 45cm long. drill a hole in the middle, tie a bit of rope to it and hang a weight of it. Then just rotate the pipe to "wind up" the weight. Buggers your forearms and strengthens wrists. Just change the weight to suit capabilities. I started of with 0, now up to 10kg.
 
B

B.utters

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Cheers for all the advice so far guys!

I've tried not crashing but it doesn't always go to plan.

That's interesting about the brace just moving the force further up your arm. It makes a brace somewhat less appealing.

I'll give the exercises you guys have suggested a go and see if I notice any differences in strength/injury prevention. I won't be back on a bike until November so it should give me plenty of time to work on it.
 
Mywifesirrational

Mywifesirrational

I however am very normal. Trust me.
There are a few problems with braces and bracing joints to prevent injury, most of my knowledge comes from field sports – particularly knees and ankles, BUT I’d think it will apply to MTB and wrists fairly well.

Braces are by nature designed to mimic and support structures inside the human body, specifically ligaments which hold joint together, they are not particularly good at absorbing enough energy to prevent a fracture, but ‘may’ prevent hyperextension, which can tear a joint apart without an actual fracture, which in my humble opinion is a lot worse than a simple bone fracture.

One of the problems was already highlighted by whitey89, on impact the brace will transfer and summate (magnify) the force to a specific point either at the end of the brace or potentially the next joint on the lever (elbow or even shoulder). This can potentially be catastrophic and result in a more significant injury and rehabilitation period.

Secondly, braces basically don’t work UNLESS they completely restrict movement entirely across that joint, which would make handling a bicycle problematic as there is a lot of fine motor coordination at the wrist to control the bike. Studies from football in Europe have shown that braces and taping after about 10 minutes of activity loosen up enough that they provide no benefit (not a problem in DH or DJ where you can constantly tighten them pre/post)

Thirdly, braces only help prevent injury if the joint is already wrecked and in this case they may limit the extent of trauma in another crash. But they also support a joint making the joint require less ‘intrinsic’ stability, meaning they are not going to help your wrists get stronger - bracing is bad for rehab, but many athletes swear by them as the placebo effect is strong.

As far as the comments go for not crashing, no crashing will result in a 100% decline in injuries and symptoms. Another good avenue is take up gymnastics, judo, aikido… something that teaches you to fall properly and draw your arms in prior to impact – it becomes reflexive/instinct and you won’t even think about it.

Rehab wise to strength the wrists, what JESSKA recommends is pretty spot on, can also use a dumbbell with only a plate on one side to do this (you hold the far end where the other plate would be), add weight or a longer lever as it gets easier.

Pushups and benchpress are great at loading the wrists (bones) high load leads to greater bone density – leading to lower fracture risk. Exercises like chins, rows, deadlifts all increase grip strength (the forearm muscles) leading to stronger more stable wrist joints, reducing sprains and soft tissue injury occurance.
 
G

Genius Josh

Likes Dirt
B.utters said:
Cheers for all the advice so far guys!

I've tried not crashing but it doesn't always go to plan.

That's interesting about the brace just moving the force further up your arm. It makes a brace somewhat less appealing.

I'll give the exercises you guys have suggested a go and see if I notice any differences in strength/injury prevention. I won't be back on a bike until November so it should give me plenty of time to work on it.
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I tend to mix my crashing up one time chin first then next land heavily on your knees wrists occasionally too or maybe I'm just gumby. I swear by wris guards for snowboarding and provided they didn't limit your movement and dexterity too much I'm sure some sort of guard or brace would be good. I would hate for the protection to be the cause of the crash.
 
loc81

loc81

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Great thread here and to the original post guy, I'm in the same boat as you and it sucks big time.. Keep me/us posted if you can on your recovery in here- I feel like I'm flying blind with this recovery.
OTB on March 30th and operated on a few days later for fractured 5th metacarpal but had 2 wires put in to keep stuff in line as the break was close to the wrist.
Not riding is one thing but being in a trade I basically couldn't work and do very little to contribute to home life.
Such a rookie mistake on the bike just flipped my life so much- I wouldn't wish it on anyone!
Cast and wires off 5 weeks later (may 8th) and a week later I had first physio.
Still early days (talk of 6 weeks recovery) but I'm pretty concerned about
A) my pinkie knuckle and joints not gaining full fist clench- the other fingers are getting there but it feels like it is required to have plenty of grip on the bars
B) lots if pain in my wrist on certain angles and when weight is on it. Join the dots on why I'm pissed off about this.
C) also concerned that now I have got around 70% of my motion back that I will get lazy getting the full range back.

So that's my whinge, can't see any bike action happening for at least a few more weeks and all I want to do is go for a simple spin around the block! I certainly will be looking into some sort of brace or padding soon and some better gloves as between being self employed and having a baby around the house I need to at least minimize the dangers of this fine sport of ours!
Cheers.


My blog: www.justmytype81.wordpress.com
Stuff about stuff I like- bikes, music, food and laughs. Subscribe.
 
caddy

caddy

Likes Dirt
I broke my wrist in July last year and when I returned to riding maybe 8 or so weeks later I picked up a TLD wrist brace which just seems to keep the wrist a little more solid. It wasn't for injury prevention or to overly restrict the wrist, but after so long off the bike it just felt very weak. The brace did a good job in making it a bit stiffer and at the very least making me FEEL as though my wrist was better protected. As I said, nearly 12 months on and the wrist feels fine riding. Food for thought. Good luck with it!
 
B

B.utters

Likes Dirt
loc81 said:
Great thread here and to the original post guy, I'm in the same boat as you and it sucks big time.. Keep me/us posted if you can on your recovery in here- I feel like I'm flying blind with this recovery.
OTB on March 30th and operated on a few days later for fractured 5th metacarpal but had 2 wires put in to keep stuff in line as the break was close to the wrist.
Not riding is one thing but being in a trade I basically couldn't work and do very little to contribute to home life.
Such a rookie mistake on the bike just flipped my life so much- I wouldn't wish it on anyone!
Cast and wires off 5 weeks later (may 8th) and a week later I had first physio.
Still early days (talk of 6 weeks recovery) but I'm pretty concerned about
A) my pinkie knuckle and joints not gaining full fist clench- the other fingers are getting there but it feels like it is required to have plenty of grip on the bars
B) lots if pain in my wrist on certain angles and when weight is on it. Join the dots on why I'm pissed off about this.
C) also concerned that now I have got around 70% of my motion back that I will get lazy getting the full range back.

So that's my whinge, can't see any bike action happening for at least a few more weeks and all I want to do is go for a simple spin around the block! I certainly will be looking into some sort of brace or padding soon and some better gloves as between being self employed and having a baby around the house I need to at least minimize the dangers of this fine sport of ours!
Cheers.


My blog: www.justmytype81.wordpress.com
Stuff about stuff I like- bikes, music, food and laughs. Subscribe.
Click to expand...
Sucks to hear that you broke your wrist too. I've got a plate and 9 screws in my hand:



Today I'm exactly 6 weeks out of surgery and I've had a removable splint to wear since the 2 week mark. I was given a bunch of exercises to do at that point and had around 95% of movement back 4 weeks out of surgery. Today I got the nod to stop wearing the splint and start getting some movement back into my wrist, but I still can't do anything that stresses my hand (like riding a bike) for another 6 weeks until the break is 100% recovered.

I can definitely relate to the feeling of not being able to do anything to support yourself, it's not fun at all. What sort of exercises has your physio given to you to get movement back into your hand? Don't worry too much about the pain in your wrist, I've got that too and I'm fairly sure that it's just because you haven't been able to move it for 6 weeks.
 
chinski

chinski

Likes Bikes
i was watching womens beach volleyball & there was a wrist injury........... i should be OK by next week though ...

on a serious side i have bad wrists from skateboard falls when younger & a roadbike (motorbike) crash that i broke one wrist & almost the other, i also use the method funkymonkey suggested, i call it a fishermans roll, a broom or shovel handle about 400mm long & a rope tied around it in the centre, hold one hand at each end & hold arms straight / horizontal in front of you, then roll the handle away from you, add a weight to the end of the rope, it has helped strengthen my wrists for sure.
 
loc81

loc81

Likes Dirt
B.utters said:
Sucks to hear that you broke your wrist too. I've got a plate and 9 screws in my hand:



Today I'm exactly 6 weeks out of surgery and I've had a removable splint to wear since the 2 week mark. I was given a bunch of exercises to do at that point and had around 95% of movement back 4 weeks out of surgery. Today I got the nod to stop wearing the splint and start getting some movement back into my wrist, but I still can't do anything that stresses my hand (like riding a bike) for another 6 weeks until the break is 100% recovered..
Click to expand...
Interesting that you had all those screws yet you had the removable split very early on. I probably didn't get that option due to the wires going into other bones- see pic!
Only been to the one physio session- back on Thursday. Had about a dozen different stretches to do but doing them "reps of 10, every 1-2 hours" is pretty unrealistic when I'm back trying to work! I'm just trying to stretch it any chance possible like when driving etc so I can make use of the time that I can do the full schedule of them.
I'm not fussed on hitting the single trail but some road rides on the old bike would be great when possible!




My blog: www.justmytype81.wordpress.com
Stuff about stuff I like- bikes, music, food and laughs. Subscribe.
 
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