Wrist pain

[HorstFilet]

Hello guys,

so I had a tournament 2 weeks ago where I had to stop playing because I had wrist pain whenever I wanted to do a backhand stroke. The pain is located on the side of the pinky finger and my wrist is a little bit thicker than my non injured wrist.
I know that this is a common injury amongst table tennis players so I want to know if anyone has experience with it or maybe give some tips to recover fast.
I don't have any pain when I'm not playing. I can even do forehand strokes without any pain. But if I want do to any backhand stroke the pain returns.
Should I stop playing for some time or what would you recommend?

 

[hclnnkhg]

Hello guys,

so I had a tournament 2 weeks ago where I had to stop playing because I had wrist pain whenever I wanted to do a backhand stroke. The pain is located on the side of the pinky finger and my wrist is a little bit thicker than my non injured wrist.
I know that this is a common injury amongst table tennis players so I want to know if anyone has experience with it or maybe give some tips to recover fast.
I don't have any pain when I'm not playing. I can even do forehand strokes without any pain. But if I want do to any backhand stroke the pain returns.
Should I stop playing for some time or what would you recommend?

I had similar injury from tennis. I think it is caused by vigorous radial deviation.
For now you should stop playing and take some rest. Exercises like this helped me:

(Just do it with a tennis ball)
In the long term, try not to generate all the power using your wrist, maybe use more of the forearm. I play RPB (poorly) so I can't really comment on normal BH technique.

 

[HorstFilet]

I had similar injury from tennis. I think it is caused by vigorous radial deviation.
For now you should stop playing and take some rest. Exercises like this helped me:

(Just do it with a tennis ball)
In the long term, try not to generate all the power using your wrist, maybe use more of the forearm. I play RPB (poorly) so I can't really comment on normal BH technique.

Okay, thank you very much.
I think both rpb and normal BH do rely on the wrist.
I will try your exercise, hopefully it helps

 

[JeffM]

Probably inflammation of tendons in the wrist from repetitive use injuries.

I would rest until it no longer reproduces the pain on doing the stroke.

 

[blahness]

This is why I don't move the wrist much in my strokes... imo the use of the fingers and forearm pronation/supination is sufficient for spin creation. But the power has to come from the legs - if the hand has to do both jobs (create power and spin) you're gonna overload it which will cause some overuse injuries.

 

[NextLevel]

A lot of people injure themselves using the wrist (and even the upper arm) to do things in table tennis that the wrist and upper arm/shoulder cannot support - the wrist is something you mostly transmit power to, not something you actively use. And if you actively use it, you need to build up the muscles in it with the right kinds of exercises first. You want it to be flexible so that it can be whipped over a short range, but you don't want to be muscling it actively.

I learned most of my wrist usage philosophy from these videos.

There is a fine balance to be found with experience but these are good starting points.

 

[Addryn]

A lot of people injure themselves using the wrist (and even the upper arm) to do things in table tennis that the wrist and upper arm/shoulder cannot support - the wrist is something you mostly transmit power to, not something you actively use. And if you actively use it, you need to build up the muscles in it with the right kinds of exercises first. You want it to be flexible so that it can be whipped over a short range, but you don't want to be muscling it actively.

I learned most of my wrist usage philosophy from these videos.

There is a fine balance to be found with experience but these are good starting points.

Thanks for sharing these videos. At this stage, it is difficult for me to determine where is bad advice, and where is useful. I will train my wrist to avoid injury

 

[davidsyd828]

I play has the same thing. Let it rest for one or two weeks. Rehab by doing simple exercises and stretches. Slowly build stronger strength . It may take 1 or 2 months slowly to get stronger.

 

[Jslick89]

If your wrist is swollen and painful, you can ice for a day or two until the swelling subsides. From there, the fastest way to recover is with heat.

If you have the budget, consider investing in a thermotex far-infrared heating pad. I swear out of all of my athletics recovery devices (TENs Machine, Chinese cupping, massage gun), these heat pad works the best, if not for the simple fact that you can use it so much (unlike Chinese cupping which works very well but is limited to 1-2 sessions a week due to skin damage).

Also, check out Bob & Brad's youtube channel. They have a ton of great tips for all sorts of injuries and ailments. They are some of my favorite physical therapists on the internet (besides