Carpal Tunnel & Wrist Pain 4-Posterior Kinetic Chain

We continue on our exploration of common body connections to carpal tunnel and wrist pain by looking at the Anterior Kinetic Chain today. This video looks at the fascial ties between the wrist extensors (back of hand), up the arm across the abdomen to the opposite inner thigh. In this exploration, we start with options for self-massage, easy stretches and then coordinated movements to establish more mind body awareness.

One of my favorite ways for releasing the front of the shoulder (deltoid) and chest is cupping. Putting a gentle oil on the skin like jojoba or coconut oil and then dragging the cup across the area is an incredible fascial release. Then I walk you through a way to release tension in your forearms through a forearm massage, followed up with how to foam roll your inner thighs.

Then we begin the stretching portion with a groin stretch. I don’t demo stretching the abdomen, but an easy way to do this would be to lay over a yoga ball or use an inversion table. You’re looking for any situation where you can be in a supported backbend. My favorite way of stretching the pecs is on the floor—we’ll go through stretching the pec major and minor. I’ll then demo some variations on how to stretch the forearms.

The activation portion of this lesson starts with a a simple cross body, core exercise to feel the obliques between your hip and opposite shoulder. To make this more challenging, you could do this on a foam roller. To strengthen the wrist, I highly recommend the small, $10 investment in these, but you can use a rubber band for the exercise demonstrated in this video.

Strong hands=strong core!

Carpal Tunnel & Wrist Pain 3-Posterior Kinetic Chain

In this episode we look at how the opposite side of the body affects the side you have wrist pain or Carpal Tunnel. The Posterior Kinetic Chain runs up the triceps, to the back of the shoulder and neck and then comes across the mid-back, connecting down to the calves.

We start this lesson with a simple calf, outer hamstring and glute massage on a foam roller. Then we follow that self-soft tissue release up the back to the neck and down the tricep line.

Following the structure of the rest of the course, once things are loosened up, we stretch. In this case using a figure 4 stretch for the glutes and then using a variety of hand angles to stretch the back. Since this line crosses the body, a great way to stretch is through twisting and rotation. So, next comes a yummy, full-body stretch that doubles as a great core exercise. We wrap up the stretching portion by getting at the target area—the hands, by stretching the palm muscles, as well as the thumb pocket.

Finally, we double back and activate the chain aspect of this backbody kinetic connection starting with a lunge exercise. This particular variation is to wake up the connections needed in gait (how you walk), mindfully integrating the calf to the opposite shoulder blade. That exercise is followed up with a small back extension exercise on a foam roller. In Pilates, it’s known as swan, in yoga, it’s a variation on cobra. Again, the goal here is to get the triceps, mid-back and rear end all talking to one another. We end at our target area and use some simple props you can buy in a grip kit to strengthen the fingers and wrist to help alleviate and prevent chronic wrist pain.

Enjoy and thanks for watching!

Carpal Tunnel & Wrist Pain 2-Favorite Tools and Assessing Your Wrist

In this video I highlight my favorite props and tools for alleviating chronic wrist, hand and forearm pain. These things will be helpful as you work through the course to have the most ease of self-massage and soft tissue release. My top 3 massage options include: Armaid (seen pictured above), Breo hand massager and an inexpensive, little finger/forearm roller. On the strengthening side of things, there’s a simple, affordable grip kit for strengthening the different aspects of the hand and wrist.

The second portion of this video covers how to assess the strength in your hands, fingers and forearms. I would encourage you to make a note as to which movements feel strange or difficult. As you work through the course, you can then come back to those movements and see if they’re getting easier. I’ll reference these particular muscles throughout the course and which other videos will build on specific strength areas.

Carpal Tunnel/Wrist Pain Course Launches!

Welcome! For the next couple months we’ll dive into the fascial connections behind carpal tunnel as well as general wrist pain. This is a great series for anyone who does repetitive movement throughout the day including manual labor. A lot of this content will also be relevant if you have tight wrists from weight lifting, push ups and working out.

We’ll primarily focus on kinetic chains, not just fascial chains as defined by Tom Meyers. The posters I reference to throughout the course are from Joseph Schwartz. The difference between the 2 being how fascial chains engage in movement and walking over just standing.

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