Broken Wrist

[metaljohn]

Hey,

My wife is a pro wrestler (sports entertainment kind) in the indie scene and I originally got her into SS. She did well with the program and since moved on to other programs for aesthetic reasons, but they still focused on the basic compound exercises. She broke her wrist in the ring two weeks ago and had surgery to get full range of motion back.

She still has a way to go with silly exercises she's told to do by the physical therapist. She can't grip very much (a couple of lbs at most and can't move her wrist very much yet. She's obviously getting depressed and feeling down about this whole thing. My question is, when can she get back to training and what should she do? The theropist said she'll never be able to do pushups again unless it's on her fists. She asked abouch bench pressing and overhead pressing. He said he has no idea about that stuff and to ask the doctor that did her surgery next week.

I have a hard time believing all of this crap and am a believer in forced adaptation so any opinion on this? Should she start with light 2 lbs dumbbells and going up from there before getting back under the bar?

[Cody]

She will eventually be fine, most likely, though possibly with a smaller ROM in the joint. Read Jordan's article about "Grip Matters" on the article page of the website. Also, invest in some wrist wraps for her to use on the pressing movements. I recommend trying to move the joint through as much range of motion as possible ever day.

[Noah Milstein]

Gymnastic coach Christopher Sommer has a protocol for increasing wrist ROM. It's on his handstand 1 module but you may wish to just email him directly with your query. His website is gymnasticbodies.com

I fractured both wrists when I was in elementary school and never noticed a problem until I started lifting over 10 years post hoc. I started noticing a lot of discomfort and pain on a lot of different exercises. I used his protocol every day for a few months and the pain is now gone and my ROM has increased significantly. I don't like everything Sommer says or does but he has a lot of useful info especially for improving ROM beyond that required by SS as the ROM requirements of even rudimentary gymnastics is astonishing.

This kind of wrist stretching stuff is routine in the gymnastics world. Here are a couple good videos of common drills, several of which were part of my routine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmMfW2kCkeE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2w1PeSR8G4

Sommers routine in H1 is paired down and can be done in just a few minutes.

[Noah Milstein]

I would add further that she should always be trying to move her wrist through as much ROM as she currently has available, always working into the limnal edge of what is currently available. The more resistance, the better. PNF works really well as does external loading but be slow. All of that is done with the caveat of avoiding pain and distinguishing pain from discomfort.

[metaljohn]

Thanks for the info guys.