Avoiding or Reducing Wrist Pain

During a Pilates session, it is important to maintain proper hand/wrist alignment and muscle activation in the upper body and Powerhouse to prevent the risk of or reduce nerve disorders.

The nerves that run through the hand, wrist, elbow, and arm travel in their own tunnels, or channels. It is important to maintain proper alignment during movement so as to minimize stress or irritation to the nerves which may cause pain, muscle weakness, or numbness.

Always work to maintain a neutral wrist. This avoids stress in the wrist and helps to connect the hands and arms to the larger muscles of the back rather than the smaller muscles of the shoulder.


When bearing weight on the wrists, think of how we stand on our feet: distributing the weight evenly, lifting the arches, wrapping the inner thighs, hips in line with the knees and ankles, and engaging the Powerhouse. The same is true for bearing weight on the wrists. We want to distribute the weight evenly across the 5 first knuckles of the hand, lift the wrists, lengthen through the arms, "wrap" the arms/shoulder girdle (rotate the forearms in towards the body and the upper arms outwards away from the body and draw the shoulder blades into the ribs and down the back of the body), shoulders over the wrist, and engage the Powerhouse.