Wrist Pain Could Be Due Shoulder Injury

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Once, I tried to be a hero and attempted to carry a heavy box containing lots of documents. The box was very heavy-  and at a sudden jerk movement, I lifted the box up- without following the normal precautions like bending my knees or lifting it gradually.

Immediately, I felt a slight discomfort on my lower back. Oops, I could feel problems coming. This time I got off light because I’ve always incorporate exercises to build my core strength and do a lot of stretching. As the discomfort came, I quickly did some stretching for my lower back and shoulders. The next day, when doing push ups on a ball, I could sense my left wrist hurting a little.

The pain on the wrist got a bit more- it felt like a mild syndrome of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.  However, we need to be aware that it is not always that the pain on the spot indicate the problem occurs there. It can easily be referred pain. For wrist pain, it is common that the cause of the pain originates from the shoulders and not the wrist itself.

Initially I have tried stretching my wrists but found no relief. This made me address the cause as originating from my shoulders. I did a number of stretches to relax my shoulders and after a few hours, the pain was gone.

I remembered last year a friend of mine suffered severe wrist pain for several months. The pain kept him up at night. He thought it was due to an occupational hazard of using his right hand to press on the calculator for hours at the time (he’s a bank manager so he has to reconcile the figures everyday).  He had tried everything but does not seemed to work- it looked like he is having CPS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). But one lady who is well versed in acupressure took one look and press a few points on his shoulders very hard. His condition disappeared almost immediately.

Some learning from here are:

• wrist pain may not mean that the wrist is injured or twisted- the problem could sometimes originate from another point- like the shoulders.
• when lifting heavy things, please adhere to correct posture of lifting- you would not see the effect now when you are young and healthy but as we age, we may suffer from lower back pain.

From the internet, I’ve also found a very useful article that provides information on wrist pain. Click HERE to read more.