Wrist Pain in Yoga & Pilates? You’re Not Alone
Yoga and Pilates are fantastic for strength, flexibility, and posture — but they can take a toll on your wrists. At Gold Coast Hand Therapy, we see lots of wrist injuries caused by repetitive weight-bearing positions like plank, downward dog, crow, and reformer exercises.
Why Your Wrists Hurt
The wrist is designed for mobility, not for supporting your full body weight repeatedly. If your shoulders, thoracic spine, or core aren’t doing their part, your wrists take the extra load. Over time, this can irritate the ligaments on the back (dorsal) side of the wrist, causing pain, weakness, or even clicking.
Ligaments Commonly Affected
Dorsal Intercarpal Ligaments – stabilize the small wrist bones and often overloaded during sustained wrist extension.
Scapholunate Ligament – central dorsal wrist pain, sometimes with weakness or catching.
Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex (TFCC) – pain on the little-finger side, aggravated by weight bearing or rotation.
These injuries usually develop gradually and get worse if you keep pushing through the pain.
Watch for Warning Signs
- Pain lasting longer than 1–2 weeks
- Pain or weakness in plank, downward dog, or reformer work
- Clicking, stiffness, or swelling
- Loss of confidence with wrist weight bearing
How We Can Help
At Gold Coast Hand Therapy, we provide targeted, hands-on care for yoga and Pilates-related wrist injuries
- Modify exercises and load without stopping your practice
- Wrist-specific strengthening and stability training
- Improve shoulder, scapular, and core control to take pressure off the wrist
- Custom splinting for short-term protection of irritated ligaments
- Wrist Warrior™ support during daytime practice to offload stressed ligaments
- Technique advice and structured return-to-practice plan
Both splints and Wrist Warrior™ are used strategically and temporarily, so you can recover while staying active.
Get Back to Pain-Free Practice
Wrist pain doesn’t have to stop your practice. With early, targeted hand therapy, most ligament injuries respond very well—getting you back to your yoga or Pilates routine stronger, more stable, and pain-free.
If your wrists are hurting, call Gold Coast Hand Therapy today to book an assessment and protect your wrists before a small issue becomes a long-term problem.
