Monday, July 8, 2013

Sun salutation ideas for injured wrists

Hi all!

First of all, apologies for my long-ish absence from the blog - life has been busy, and I have been busy enjoying it!

Anyway, last week a reader (who also happens to be my Aunt!) asked me for a variation on the sun salutations and vinyasas that could be done with a severely sprained wrist. Having had this type of injury before, I've recorded two short videos that show you what I recommend.

1. Sun Salutations (from standing)

This sequence replicates includes back-bending and forward bending, just like a traditional sun salutation, but it used only the legs and the abdominals - no weight on the wrists. So it's safe to do even with a badly sprained wrist.

However, if you are not used to doing the roll-up shown in the video, it can take some practice until you are able to come back up to standing all in one go. As you are coming up, make sure you hug your belly button to your spine so you can lift to standing from the core. If you're not sure you can do this without "catching" yourself with your hands, just skip this step and come back to standing after navasana (boat pose) by crossing your ankles and standing back up.

You can also reverse this to do a vinyasa-style movement in between poses from sitting.



2. Vinyasa (not for severe sprains as it puts weight on the elbows)

This sequence could be used to replace a vinyasa from downward-facing dog. Because your weight is on your elbows it is fairly safe for the wrists, but some of the weight does radiate down the forearms, so I wouldn't use it while you still have an acute injury - it would be more appropriate for the recovery phase.



 


Were these helpful? I always like hearing your feedback. Readers, if you have delicate wrists, how do you modify your practice?



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