How Massage and Physiotherapy Can Rid Wrist Pain for Boxers
Experiencing wrist pain?
One common pain that boxers experience is wrist pain — this is due to the repetitive impact and strain put on the wrists during training and fighting. Wrist pain can hinder the way you fight and also affect many daily activities. Massage therapy and physiotherapy are both beneficial for the treatment of wrist pain.
In this blog, we’re going to talk about some techniques used that can help with wrist pain in boxers to help mobilize and strengthen your wrists.
Massage Therapy
Massage therapy helps people with various injuries and is a well-known method to decrease pain, increase your range of motion, and improve your overall health and wellness.
1. Myofascial Release
Myofascial release is a technique that can be used to help release tension and tightness in the muscle. It works on the muscles and fascia of your body to reduce pain and improve flexibility. The therapist will target the muscles around your wrist to ease the pain.
2. Trigger Point Therapy
Trigger point therapy refers to targeting specific trigger points that may contribute to the pain. Targeted massage therapy helps relieve these triggers and pains by focusing on the specific area of the body. The therapist will likely work on the forearm and hand muscle areas to reduce this pain.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy is a method of assessing, treating, and prescribing exercises to improve your body’s health and wellness. The physiotherapist can help by assessing and learning about the pain that you’re experiencing. With further examination, the physiotherapist can create an individualized treatment plan catered to your needs. They can assess your wrist movement and range of motion and prescribe you exercises from there.
Strengthening exercises can be discussed for boxers with wrist pain to help rehabilitate and build stronger muscles within the wrist and forearm areas. Working on mobilizing and strengthening your wrists can improve how you fight and train, therefore it’s important to look into what you need.
If you are experiencing wrist pain as a boxer, here are some exercises to try out!
Wrist Extension: This exercise helps mobilize your wrist and increase your range of motion.
- Lay your boxing glove on the ground
- Lay your hand on the glove with your fingers pressing onto the ground, so that your hand is at an angle
- With your knees on the ground, slowly move forward and backwards
- Keep your elbow straight while pushing with your knees and hips forward
- Repeat with your other hand
Wrist Loading Exercise: This exercise helps with isolation, flexion, and extension in your wrists.
- Use a kettlebell and hold it at the top
- At a 90 degree angle, hold the kettlebell with your elbow and shoulder parallel to each other
- Walk forwards and backwards while holding the kettlebell and maintain your balance
- Try not to wobble your wrist back and forth and keep it steady
- Repeat with your other hand