Concept2 Forum

I've been diligently SkiErging for almost a year now. I do 3K daily, and recently my wrists (mainly my dominant right) have become painful at night. Thinking of taping or Ace wrap or something. Not that big a deal, just curious.

Interesting situation here, especially since 3K daily is not a whole lot of volume. How are your workouts structured & where on the wrist is your pain?

Well, 3K is about all the volume I can handle. I'm a 76 year old disabled vet. After that 3K I also do about an hour of upper body exercises. Free weights and circuits on machines, walk around with 30 pound medicine ball at chest height, and farmer's carrys walking around the gym with a 40 dumbbell. The rest of my age group is in the Silver Sneakers class doing stretches.
Anyway, it's probably just osteo. I'm heading out now with a Mueller wrist brace, feedback to follow. Thanks, Eric!

Have you changed anything about your workouts lately Eric?

If you are putting the hammer down a bit, you could be gripping a bit harder and that's what's leading to the pain?

Or you might find that subtly changing the angle that you hold the handles might alleviate things a bit. Don't internally rotate though, as that will put much more strain on your shoulders.

It's a bit difficult to know... you haven't given us much to go on

Poles for skiing and walking have straps, which reduces load on the wrists. I walk about an hour a day using the sticks half the distance (uphill) and never any problem. Can you use straps on a skierg? The up-and-through grip avoids losing the handle, as in skiing, so there's no force in the hands.

Thanks all....I did a 3K yesterday and just today concentrating on not gripping so hard. It helped a lot, and also have a neoprene wrist brace for added support. I really love the SkiErg after using the Rower for over 20 years.

As mentioned by another poster, try the straps used on Nordic Walking poles
I put a pair of these on my SkiErg when I had one about 6 years ago.
Made by a firm called LEKI
Well worth a try

It's a gym machine. Can't modify. So far, so good with neoprene wrap and less on the grip.

Eric, glad to hear your wrists are better. I would've guessed that the volume, intensity of your other activities were the source of your problems since your skierging is such a minor part of your workouts. Glad that you figured it out.

As a recent owner of the Skierg I have noticed some wrist pain too. Left wrist only, on the inside tendons just about where you would take a pulse. I did a 5km yesterday and it stung after for sure.

Quite possibly a technique thing, trying to crack the whip at too high a DF maybe. I'm going to try some strapping.

Not to criticize C2, but has no one there ever seen or used a pair of ski-sticks?

winniewinser wrote: ↑

May 14th, 2021, 3:25 am

As a recent owner of the Skierg I have noticed some wrist pain too. Left wrist only, on the inside tendons just about where you would take a pulse. I did a 5km yesterday and it stung after for sure.

Quite possibly a technique thing, trying to crack the whip at too high a DF maybe. I'm going to try some strapping.

Both lower DF & less cracking the whip should help. Another thing to consider is your hand positioning. Palms facing each other or rotated so they are facing more towards the front. Something to experiment with.

mict450 wrote: ↑

May 14th, 2021, 4:06 am

winniewinser wrote: ↑

May 14th, 2021, 3:25 am

As a recent owner of the Skierg I have noticed some wrist pain too. Left wrist only, on the inside tendons just about where you would take a pulse. I did a 5km yesterday and it stung after for sure.

Quite possibly a technique thing, trying to crack the whip at too high a DF maybe. I'm going to try some strapping.

Both lower DF & less cracking the whip should help. Another thing to consider is your hand positioning. Palms facing each other or rotated so they are facing more towards the front. Something to experiment with.

Thanks Eric.

Trying to find an optimal DF at the moment.....I'm not upper body strong and only when sprinting can I see high 1:40's......practice practice practice

winniewinser wrote: ↑

May 14th, 2021, 3:25 am

As a recent owner of the Skierg I have noticed some wrist pain too. Left wrist only, on the inside tendons just about where you would take a pulse. I did a 5km yesterday and it stung after for sure.

Quite possibly a technique thing, trying to crack the whip at too high a DF maybe. I'm going to try some strapping.

Try and relax your grip at the end of the stroke and during the return. It might be you're using the dreaded "death grip".

kini62.... Good advice. I had the same issue. I'm skiing 4K daily with no issues. Hilo or Kona side? My kid used to work in Naalehu. Visited and stayed over at Captain Cook and Hilo. Ever been to Tina's in Hilo? Aloha!