Filed under: Yoga Stuff
A lot of yogis, including me, experience wrist pain both during and after their yoga practice. The cause of this pain can be sloppy form in, say, Chaturanga Dandasana, repetition of vinyasas, or just plain old wear and tear. Fortunately, there are a number of products on the market that can help to relieve or totally eliminate wrist pain.
One new(ish) product on the market is called WAGS (Wrist Assured Gloves). These gloves are cleverly designed, well manufactured, and really stylish, to boot. Built into the palm of each gloves is a silicone pad, which is thicker at the heel. In effect, you have a built-in wedge in the glove, and this reduces the flex of the wrist when your hand is placed on the mat. When you come into a pose that requires you to hold weight in your hands (such as Plank Pose), your wrist will no longer have to extend to a 90-degree angle. The reduction in angle greatly relieves pressure in the wrist and hand (and probably also the elbow). For a full and better description of how the gloves work, and to see pictures, check out their website.
I’ve been using these gloves on and off for the past month or so. Vinyasas and arm balances feel much better with the gloves on, as I noticed significant relief in my wrists and elbows. In fact, the relief is so considerable, I would wear these gloves throughout my entire practice, and for every practice, were it not for one problem: the fabric between the fingers cuts into the webbing of my hand and causes tremendous discomfort when I’m in Down-Dog. I tried several modifications to my Down-Dog to deal with this problem, but nothing helped. I don’t know if everyone who uses these gloves will have the same problem, but, unfortunately for me, the pressure in between my fingers is significant enough that I don’t think I can make the gloves a permanent part of my practice. This is really too bad, since the gloves do an amazing job of relieving pressure on the wrists and elbows in many of the poses that I love to do, like Bakasana, Eka Pada Koundinyasana II, etc.
The company that produces WAGS is supposed to be launching a new “wrist-wrap” version of the gloves that will provide more support. I hope to try these out and will review them when I have a chance to give them a thorough test run. In the meantime, I would suggest to any yogis who have wrist problems that they at least try out WAGS. Some people seem to be able to use the gloves without experiencing the discomfort that I did, and the only way to find out is to actually put a pair on and try them. I do believe that the company offers a 30-day money back guarantee, so if you have the problem I did, you can always return them.
Overall: A+ or C-
This product is a godsend for yogis with wrist pain, but only if you can manage to use it without having your hands ripped apart in Down-Dog. I’m not sure how and if the manufacturer can resolve this issue, but I hope they do, because I, for one, would love to make WAGS a permanent part of my practice.
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I agree with your review. I had a fall a year ago and tried WAGs. They did help a lot for any kind of wrist pressure, but I had to abandon them because as you said, they ripped my hands apart between my fingers. I look forward to a new version! Thanks for the review.
Comment by KATE February 2, 2009 @ 1:31 amI happened to meet the owner of the company Paula Wilbert at the IDEA fitness conference in July, 2007. Btw, she is lovely woman who runs a conscious business–very yogi!!!
Being a fitness professional/yoga teacher, I was experiencing severe overuse injuries including a ganglion cyst on my right wrist and soft tissue damage in my palms, as our palms are really not meant for the pressure that is endured from a yoga practice. Since using the gloves, I am 100% healed!!!–to the point where I can practice without the gloves and feel no pain–I would NEVER do that now though as I understand how the wrists and soft tissue of the palm endures way too much stress and over time, in my professional opinion( of over 20 years) it is very likely that injury can occur if one practices yoga without the gloves. I came from bleeding knuckles as that is how I was practicing because before the gloves, I was unable to put any pressure on my hands and wrists, and now I am doing handstands again!
As far as the pulling between the fingers, I feel that oftentimes, when one settles into down dog ( as it can be a meditative pose and a challenging one truly get the form right, as there is sooo much going on within the body) there can be a tendancy to sink into the wrists, as well as press “back” as opposed to “up” from the hips and elbows–if one is REALLLY conscious of their form by lifting up and out of the wrists and arms, and placing more pressure through the knuckles and fingers ( as it is really easy to settle into the cushinesss of the gel of the glove, which will create that pulling discomfort), as well as pulling the hips “up and back”as opposed to just back the pulling is GREATLY diminished. What one can also do, is when one transitions to crescent pose, or a pose where they are off of their hands, ‘to just gently pull the gloves at the fingers up to relieve any bunching that occured. I feel, that the slight pulling is deffinetely curable by trying these tips I suggested.
I cannot express enough, how the form is everything in GREATLY diminishing the discomfort between the fingers, and I hope that users don’t abandon the gloves so quickly as we all know that being a yogi is also the practice of non-judgement! I invite you all to give these amazing and incredibely effective and unique gloves another try please!–I promise you, your body will thank you over time.
Comment by Amy February 24, 2009 @ 8:54 pmIn love, light an dgratitude–blessings to you all.
Amy
I’ve been looking for something like this. I’ll have to pick up the extra wrist support ones.
Comment by Amy Lundberg March 26, 2009 @ 7:48 pmI’d love to try these gloves, but $70 is a lot to pay – I’m a full time student. (yes, I know about the 30 day refund but still 70 + shipping…)
Comment by Ari October 30, 2009 @ 2:20 pmI have small hands and wrists and started having wrist problems in yoga lately. if any of you are trying to get rid of your size small WAGS gloves, I’d love to try them!
I have recently developed arthritis in my wrist/thumb joints and these gloves are a godsend. $70 is much cheaper than doctor visits. I even use these gloves for weight lifting as they offer so much pain relief. My only problem was ordering a medium and not returning them soon enough. I am going to order a small pair for yoga and keep the mediums for weight lifting.
Comment by monica May 28, 2010 @ 8:04 amHi, all! I wanted to be the first to say that we are coming out with a new design to address some of the issues above, that will also be more pocket-book friendly (price point around $30.00). This new pair of WAGs, called Flex, will release early this year (2011). We’d love another chance at a review!
Comment by Paula January 26, 2011 @ 5:55 pm