Five Fixes to Try If Push-Ups Hurt Your Wrists

Push-ups are a great exercise and almost everyone can find a starting point for training them. But if you are having problems due to wrist discomfort, here are some solutions you can try. I’ll suggest quick fixes for positioning, exercises that can make your wrists more comfortable, and stretches that can help you have more ease with this wrist position in the future.

For a quick fix: use push-up handles or do knuckle push-ups.

During a standard floor push-up, our hands are at a 90-degree angle to our forearms. This is a position that most of us will eventually become comfortable in, but it’s okay if you want a different way to do push-ups. Enter the push handlewhich allows your wrist to be in a more neutral position.

Dumbbells or kettlebells can replace push-up handles in a pinch. (If you’re using kettlebells, choose heavy ones that won’t tip over.) Another option is to make a fist and do the push-ups that way, so that your knuckles rather than your palms are on the floor. You may want some padding, like a folded towel or yoga mat, underneath.

Warm up with CARs on your wrist

Another quick fix, but this time using your own body, is the CAR wrist. A CAR is controlled joint rotation, and it simply means that you slowly move a joint through its full range of motion. There are shoulder, hip and, of course, wrist CARs.

To do a wrist CAR, firmly grasp your wrist (let’s say your left) with your other (right) hand. Straighten your hand with your fingers all pointing in the same direction and move your hand in circles at the wrist. After a few rotations, do the opposite direction.

This video should give you an idea. I like to do CARs with my wrist with my forearm vertical, fingers pointing toward the ceiling, but this guy with a horizontal forearm works too. After performing wrist CARs, you may find that your push-up problems have disappeared. If so, great! You’ve discovered a powerful tool to add to your warm-up on push-up days.

Adjust your positioning with towels

If you’re still feeling some discomfort and think it’s because your wrists just can’t stretch to 90 degrees, grab a pair of small gym towels (or something similar) and rest your palms on them.

It works the same as elevate your heels for squats. By changing the angle of your hands, you no longer need to bend your wrists as much and can keep the heels of your palms on the floor (or towel) without stretching.

Anchor your hands in the ground

Another positioning tip that may help is to make sure your hands are directly under your forearms and that you spread your hand out to distribute the weight of your upper body. You don’t want to lean on the heels of your hand, but instead use your fingers, thumbs, and your entire palm to grip the ground and support your body. If you don’t feel like this is happening, consider holding the jar lids in your palms and screwing them both outward (away from your body). This can help get some supportive tension in your hands, which often relieves wrist pain.

Perform some gentle wrist stretches

Before or after your workout, do some gentle stretches to get your wrists used to operating in this more stretched position. (Here is a follow-up video This includes several large stretches.) This type of stretch should not hurt. Simply apply pressure until you feel a slight stretching sensation. It’s enough to get the job done. If you want to be really thorough, four minutes of stretching in any given warm-up, or ten minutes total per week, That should be enough to see results..