Exercise #1: Wrist Press

Goal:  Help athletes with stiff wrists, alleviate wrist pain and improve athlete’s ability to accomplish skills.

Objective:  Improve the overall flexibility of the wrists.

Description:  Pressing hands against the floor to stretch the wrists out.

Equipment:  Floor                    

Reps: 3

Time:  20 – 30 seconds

Step 1:  Have the athlete sit down on their knees, place their palms on the ground with their fingers facing their body.

Step 2:  The athlete then will gently push down on the ground allowing the wrist to stretch out.  Athletes who need a deeper stretch should lean backwards slightly.

Things to Watch for:  Hand placement – depending on which way the hands are facing will determine which part of the wrist the athlete will stretch.

• Palms down stretches the inner part of the wrist.
• Palms up stretches the outer part of the wrists.

Skills This Helps:  All hip-over-head rotational skills that require weight on their hands.

Challenge Yourself:  Hold the stretches for a longer amount of time.

Video of Exercise: https://youtu.be/OefiR0jaVG0

 

Exercise #2: Wrist Pulls

Goal: Help athletes with stiff wrists, alleviate wrist pain and improve athletes ability to accomplish skills.

Objective: Improve the overall flexibility of the wrists.

Description:  Pulling on hands to increase wrist flexibility.

Equipment:  None          

Reps: 3 Time: 15 – 20 seconds

Step 1:  The athlete will extend one of their arms straight out in front of them with their palm facing away from them and their fingers pointed toward the ceiling.

Step 2: Now the athlete will take their opposite hand and grab a hold of the fingers and part of their palm and pull the hand back towards them for the desired amount of time.

Step 3: Once the athlete has repeated the process on their opposite hand they will do the same stretch but with their fingers facing down toward the ground; then use their opposite hand again to pull their fingers and palm back towards their body for the desired amount of time.

Things to Watch for:  The athlete needs to make sure that they are keeping their arm straight on the side they are stretching.  When pulling the fingers and palm towards their body they need to make sure they feel the stretch in the wrist and not only their fingers.

Skills This Helps:  All skills

Challenge Yourself:  Hold the stretch for 30 – 40 seconds.

Video of Exercise: https://youtu.be/htWz4a088Ng