Source
r/kendo•
Issasdragonfly

Left hand grip/wrist exercises after a break

Hi all,

I took roughly a year out from kendo and recently started up again. In amongst all the (expected) technique issues that need tightening up, I’m noticing that my left hand grip strength seems to be lacking, and my wrist is aching by the latter half of the session, leading me to rely too much on my right hand.

Naturally, this will improve through normal practice, but I’m wondering if anyone has any advice for exercises/kit that might be able to speed up this process. Would a Powerball/grip strength squeezer likely help with this, or is the action distinct enough that I just need to be doing extra suburi where possible?

Cheers

Posted Jan 14, 2023, 10:47 AM UTC

66
ntgco•

My dog broke my wrist years ago. Did you get any physical therapy? Talk to your doctor.

You will probably feel it for the rest of your life to some extent.

Be careful, as scar tissue can build up from excessive use.

If it's not feeling good your body is trying to tell you to give it a rest. Not the news you want to hear I know. But pain is signal that something isn't right. If you ignore it, it will get worse.

I would try massage, stretching before practice. It took me over 2 years to not "feel" the injury.

I lost about 7 degrees of movement from my broken wrist.

5
JoeDwarf•

I think if your wrist is aching it’s probably a technique issue not a strength problem. Two things I can think of are incorrect grip and too much tension. Have your sensei give you some advice.

2
IssasdragonflyOP3 dan•

Good to know. I’ll ask my sensei

1
RisingSunOne•

While taking the year off, did you do any suburi to compensate for your lack of practice? Was this an injury that prevented you from doing suburi so you had to take a year off? I suggest staying away from the fancy stuff but just do lots of suburi till everything comes back. It’s either a game of catch-up or maintaining some type of practice if possible even while being away from it.

1
IssasdragonflyOP3 dan•

Sadly not — moved to the other side of the world and it took a long while to get everything together so that I could start practice again. Thanks for the advice!

1
RisingSunOne•

Sure, everybody has their reasons and turns in life. I completely understand and I’m sure it’s frustrating. It’s really best not to over do it. If you’re relying on your right to avoid any pain in the left, then that’s not beneficial to your overall practice and really not improving your kendo at all. Stop and access what you can do, and focus on that.

As an example, where I am it’s very cold right now, so my feet are cracking and it hurts. I used to not like wearing anything on my feet including tape so I used to avoid the pain in some way. This wasn’t beneficial to my practice and just stunted any improvement. Now I use tape or wear “tabi” as countermeasures but if it gets really bad I just stop and do suburi and give my feet a rest until I can be at 100%. For any improvement or practice for that matter, you should be at 100% for every session. That’s not only good for you but good for your partner as well. I certainly wouldn’t want to practice with an injured partner nor should I trouble them as well.

3