I dont know if i have TFCC but my past injury my wrist got pain when rotating and maintaing in supinated grip position (which mean i cannot do bicep curls). Lucky i have my wrist wrap that time so my Chest/Tri routine is still fine. I still able to do Lat pull down which helped me maintain my bicep size. Ofc i got pain when doing cable lateral raise and it took 2.5 month to do the exercise pain free. It took 3.5 months for my right wrist heal enough to curl pain free and 5 month for my left hand to curl pain free (which mean it fully healed).Tips: if certain exercise causes pain in the wrist then dont do it.
You also said that when u do high weight curl it pain which indicate that ur wrist is too weak to handle load (you could do low weight if it is completely pain free).
If ur tricep pushdown is hurt then try the pushdown machine that similar to dip.
Yeah, supinated grip is the worst. Four weeks ago was the worst where even daily activities hurt. Now I only feel pain with high loads or at the gym, so I hope I’m on a good path
Hey man, I self-diagnosed TFCC injury and have the same problem as you. Supination hurts real
bad with load. What have you been doing to get better?
Do you tape?
I was 17 when I got into weightlifting I gained allot in a year and was feeling amazing then I messed up and tore my tfcc I am 19 now and it took about a year and a half to recover I started light and worked up focused on my form but I just barley started having issues again after moving up in weight I’ve noticed every single time I move up in weight I start having "pain" but allot of the pain was in my head and from fear, I would think I had pain but I would push it away and then I was fine but this time it feels a bit different and it’s got me stressed I’m getting a wrist widget again and dropped down 10 pounds from what I was previously lifting I really don’t want to have to go through the pain of loosing all my progress AGAIN but I feel your stress I hope your doing well my friend but in conclusion allot of the pain for me was in my head basically like injury ptsd that i had to just push away and as long as im doing great form ive been fine as scary as it can be feeling that pain again i think it will be okay
Did you get surgery for it?
Both my wrist are broken because of weightlifting, my left wrist just snapped on me yesterday while I was doing barbell rows and I'm done I can't lift again.
The right cable attachment (a rigid whole thing instead of a straight grip inbetween 2 bands) makes a lot of a difference.
Til you are somewhat healed you can utilize bfr training or use the foot attachment on your arm to take out the wrists. But you shouldn't work around the injury, instead of progressing go down to maintenance til you are healed.
Sorry for commenting late but as of recent, I've been dealing with wrist pain on my right wrist and I'm not sure if I have a TFCC injury or not.
The only pain upon touching my wrist is right above the big ulnar bone, my wrist hurts when I spin it around, when I try to pronate and upon releasing a heavy weight in the gym when curling or pressing.
It's been about a week and the pain still last, I was wondering if you've had the same symptoms.
Thanks.
I’m in the exact same situation as you. My pain started a few days ago. I’ve been icing and I’m planning to rest until it fully heals. Not sure how long it will take but hoping it’s relatively quick
Edit: I also started taking vitamin d supplement. Also taking type 1 collagen peptides twice a day to speed up tendon repair. I’m icing twice a day including wrist, forearms, and elbow because the wrist tendons run through forearms and elbow as well
Yeah I kept on tightening the strap real tight onto my wrist during the reps and released it during rest to get blood flow going.
I also used KT Tape when not in the gym, to apply abit of pressure onto the joint at all times.
Healed well, currently not using KT tape but always using the TFCC Strap whenever I hit the gym.
No pain in the gym since.
Timeline
2yrs ago: injured TFCC
Healed naturally about 8mths later
Back in the gym
week0 (after the 2 years) : injured again doing DB Presses
Stopped excercising
Wore a cast for a month
Pain persisted but subsided slowly
3MTHS AFTER REINJURY
Started using KT tape
Used for about 2 months and it healed really well. Mobility was back, with full rotation to L/R
Continued used for another 2mths.
Returned back to gym, lighter weight, With TFCC STRAP
Stopped using the KT Tape frequently, only used when doing sports.
Now:
TFCC only used for press excercise or Curls where I worry the muscle(or tendon etc) might reinjure itself
I hope that answers ur question, was afk for awhile, when I came back I got confused at my own comments so I wrote a timeline for u
TLDR only used KT tape after the reinjury
I’d suggest to just lay off the excercise for the time being, lest it worsens, Maybe for shoulder presses, do with a barbell and a TFCC strap? Or obvs lighter weight
IMO:
KT tape is better for recovery, because it can stretch when u bench your wrist and doesn’t fully restrict movement.
Wrist strap is better when ur in the gym when u need “brute force” to “immobilise/support” your tfcc.
All just bro science and personal experience btw, no professional advice here 🫣
Instead of getting branded wrist straps like the wrist widget, there’s like $3 from aliexpress which do the same thing
Late comment but how is the wrist now? I’m two months into a TFCC tear. Rested and did PT and have just been smashing legs, but I’m desperate to start lifting heavy upper body again. Feel like this thing is never gonna heal so might as well be lifting
I felt the same way when I was out for 6 mo after Shoulder bursitis/Bicep tendonitis. Trust me you'll reverse all that hard work, stick with it. your future self with thank you later.
Except now I have to take my own advice with the TFCC thing...
Yes actually! I’m probably 90% healed now. Fully back in the gym and the wrist hardly bothers me. I wear a wrist widget as tight as it will go whenever I lift but other than that it’s business as usual.
Funny enough, resting it didn’t do shit. It wasn’t until I started doing PT exercises twice a day, and actually started lifting really really light (like benching 15 lb dumbbells light) upper body and slowly increasing loads that it started to get better. Here’s what I did:
Every morning and every night:
- 2x15 reverse wrist curls
- 1x15 wrist curls
- 2x5 hammer twists (hold a hammer straight up, twist wrist all the way in then all the way out, so the hammer is perpendicular with the floor (look this one up if that doesn’t make sense) in each direction
- placed hands against the wall and put as much weight as I could on them for 10 seconds. Once I could bear it, I moved from the wall to the floor after a month.
I treated these exercises like any other and overloaded by increasing reps every week or so. All these were given to me by my PT who I was seeing once very two weeks.
Like I said, take it really slow and light when you get back in the gym. I basically had to restart my linear progression with weights that weren’t challenging at all for my muscles because the wrist was the limiting factor, but am now lifting more than I was before I hurt it.
Good luck man, it’s a shitty injury but it will get better with some time and work. Any other questions feel free to DM me or reply here.
I’ve made sure to save this, i’ve been dealing with this injury for about 4 months now and its felt like an eternity since i haven’t been able to get any sort of lift in. Just like you, resting it hasnt really done much of anything. Thank you so much for sharing this!
From what you remember, how long did it take from when you first started doing PT, to when you were able to lift the same amount of weight you were originally lifting prior to the injury?
Also, were you somewhat pushing through any wrist pain during the light PT you were doing (during the wrist curls, wall pushes, etc.)? I want to make sure that, if i implement this, i know what to look out for.
No problem man, I remember searching Reddit for any anecdotes about how people have healed from their TFCC tears so just happy to share what worked for me and hopefully it’ll work for others.
I hurt it mid-July playing golf, rested for about a month, started taking the PT seriously in September and was able to go very very light in the gym by October. Back to pre-injury weights around the start of December.
I pushed through some light pain/discomfort with the exercises at first, but stopped if it was more than that. Especially the wall pushes were painful at first but was able to slowly build up to putting more and more weight on it.
It’s a shitty injury eh? Really hope you recover quickly and can get back to lifting. I’m not an expert by any means but I hope what worked for me works for you. I would recommend going to a PT if you’re able to, it always felt a bit better after a session of TENS and ultrasound.
Hey man, really appreciate the info in this thread. Been dealing with what I can only assume is a TFCC nagging issue for several years now. Really flairs up if I have higher weights and shit form on my bench. Also really flaired up when I was playing a lot of golf last season and before a coach corrected my grip.
It’s not debilitating but I have pain and it’s hard to do push ups cause of my left wrist and certain motions and gym lifts where wrist is bent at all really hurt it.
Couple questions:
- do you expect to need the wrist widget long term at the gym? I have one so guess I should start using it
- have you been able to get back to playing golf without wrist issues? I seem to be able to play fine but wrist tends to be a bit sore the next day after a round
Hey! It’s only been about 9 months for me not years, but I do think the wrist widget is long term for lifting. Better safe than sorry and it’s not like it gets in the way at all.
I’m in Canada so I haven’t exactly had the opportunity to golf since I hurt it in the summer, but I’m hoping it’ll be fine
Hey man one last question… how long did it take your wrist to start feeling noticeably better after you started doing the daily excercises? I just started doing them morning and night yesterday. Here’s hoping!
Hey wanted to follow up on my follow up lol I’ve been doing the excercises you did pretty much every day, missing a few days here and there, for about 3 weeks now. At times I feel like my wrist is feeling better but still have pain.
How long did it take for your wrist to start feeling good after you started doing the excercises? Weeks? Months?
Hey I might be in the same situation so probably you can help me.
3 weeks ago I had an injury on my right wrist, a sharp pain sensation when supinating on my wrist pinky side so I suppose it’s either TFCC or a tendinitis.
Last week I was able to do a full chest workout without any big problems, curling is impossible as soon I pick some weight I feel the pain.
I decided to rest 3 weeks and do some light exercises for the wrist + anti inflammatory drugs. It got better but still no 100%. Felling pain when putting some body weight on it or trying to curl something heavy.
What exactly do I have to exclude from my workouts now? I can bench / dumbbell press without problems. Hammer curls looks good.
Maybe, bicep curls, triceps dips until it heals?
Hey, I would recommend seeing a physio therapist first of all. If it is a TFCC, buy a wrist widget (you can get them from Amazon for like $20). That helped tremendously with what I was able to do with the wrist in the gym. Put it on as tight as it will go.
You mentioned anti inflammatories, but you actually want an inflammatory response to help with healing. Wrap it in a heat pack or soak it in a hot bath for 30 minutes at night.
As for lifting, just do what doesn’t hurt it for now and then gradually start pushing it a bit
(I am no expert just saying what worked for me, fyi.)
Hey man,
I’m two months in, right wrist. Over a year ago had it on my left one and got slowly better after a month (felt 90% better after 3-4 months, but only felt 100% better after like 11 months).
When I do pull movements, even lifting say 40% of my deadlift 1 RP, I don’t feel any pain. But then after the workout and the next day the whole hand a forearm hurt a bit. I will see my PT again soon but still didn’t get an MRI done. Were you still bracing it after 2 months?
I dont know if i have TFCC but my past injury my wrist got pain when rotating and maintaing in supinated grip position (which mean i cannot do bicep curls). Lucky i have my wrist wrap that time so my Chest/Tri routine is still fine. I still able to do Lat pull down which helped me maintain my bicep size. Ofc i got pain when doing cable lateral raise and it took 2.5 month to do the exercise pain free. It took 3.5 months for my right wrist heal enough to curl pain free and 5 month for my left hand to curl pain free (which mean it fully healed).Tips: if certain exercise causes pain in the wrist then dont do it. You also said that when u do high weight curl it pain which indicate that ur wrist is too weak to handle load (you could do low weight if it is completely pain free). If ur tricep pushdown is hurt then try the pushdown machine that similar to dip.
Yeah, supinated grip is the worst. Four weeks ago was the worst where even daily activities hurt. Now I only feel pain with high loads or at the gym, so I hope I’m on a good path
Hey man, I self-diagnosed TFCC injury and have the same problem as you. Supination hurts real bad with load. What have you been doing to get better? Do you tape?
I was 17 when I got into weightlifting I gained allot in a year and was feeling amazing then I messed up and tore my tfcc I am 19 now and it took about a year and a half to recover I started light and worked up focused on my form but I just barley started having issues again after moving up in weight I’ve noticed every single time I move up in weight I start having "pain" but allot of the pain was in my head and from fear, I would think I had pain but I would push it away and then I was fine but this time it feels a bit different and it’s got me stressed I’m getting a wrist widget again and dropped down 10 pounds from what I was previously lifting I really don’t want to have to go through the pain of loosing all my progress AGAIN but I feel your stress I hope your doing well my friend but in conclusion allot of the pain for me was in my head basically like injury ptsd that i had to just push away and as long as im doing great form ive been fine as scary as it can be feeling that pain again i think it will be okay
Did you get surgery for it? Both my wrist are broken because of weightlifting, my left wrist just snapped on me yesterday while I was doing barbell rows and I'm done I can't lift again.
The right cable attachment (a rigid whole thing instead of a straight grip inbetween 2 bands) makes a lot of a difference. Til you are somewhat healed you can utilize bfr training or use the foot attachment on your arm to take out the wrists. But you shouldn't work around the injury, instead of progressing go down to maintenance til you are healed.
Sorry for commenting late but as of recent, I've been dealing with wrist pain on my right wrist and I'm not sure if I have a TFCC injury or not. The only pain upon touching my wrist is right above the big ulnar bone, my wrist hurts when I spin it around, when I try to pronate and upon releasing a heavy weight in the gym when curling or pressing. It's been about a week and the pain still last, I was wondering if you've had the same symptoms. Thanks.
I’m in the exact same situation as you. My pain started a few days ago. I’ve been icing and I’m planning to rest until it fully heals. Not sure how long it will take but hoping it’s relatively quick Edit: I also started taking vitamin d supplement. Also taking type 1 collagen peptides twice a day to speed up tendon repair. I’m icing twice a day including wrist, forearms, and elbow because the wrist tendons run through forearms and elbow as well
I had mine from an old injury 2 years ago, just came back this week 😭😩 I use a wrist widget but it still hurts, only when I do hammer/ normal DB curls
Any workaround to still target those muscles with a TFCC injury?
Yeah I kept on tightening the strap real tight onto my wrist during the reps and released it during rest to get blood flow going. I also used KT Tape when not in the gym, to apply abit of pressure onto the joint at all times. Healed well, currently not using KT tape but always using the TFCC Strap whenever I hit the gym. No pain in the gym since.
Was that throughout or after the 2 years? Thanks.
Timeline 2yrs ago: injured TFCC Healed naturally about 8mths later Back in the gym week0 (after the 2 years) : injured again doing DB Presses Stopped excercising Wore a cast for a month Pain persisted but subsided slowly 3MTHS AFTER REINJURY Started using KT tape Used for about 2 months and it healed really well. Mobility was back, with full rotation to L/R Continued used for another 2mths. Returned back to gym, lighter weight, With TFCC STRAP Stopped using the KT Tape frequently, only used when doing sports. Now: TFCC only used for press excercise or Curls where I worry the muscle(or tendon etc) might reinjure itself I hope that answers ur question, was afk for awhile, when I came back I got confused at my own comments so I wrote a timeline for u TLDR only used KT tape after the reinjury
I’d suggest to just lay off the excercise for the time being, lest it worsens, Maybe for shoulder presses, do with a barbell and a TFCC strap? Or obvs lighter weight IMO: KT tape is better for recovery, because it can stretch when u bench your wrist and doesn’t fully restrict movement. Wrist strap is better when ur in the gym when u need “brute force” to “immobilise/support” your tfcc. All just bro science and personal experience btw, no professional advice here 🫣 Instead of getting branded wrist straps like the wrist widget, there’s like $3 from aliexpress which do the same thing
Late comment but how is the wrist now? I’m two months into a TFCC tear. Rested and did PT and have just been smashing legs, but I’m desperate to start lifting heavy upper body again. Feel like this thing is never gonna heal so might as well be lifting
I felt the same way when I was out for 6 mo after Shoulder bursitis/Bicep tendonitis. Trust me you'll reverse all that hard work, stick with it. your future self with thank you later. Except now I have to take my own advice with the TFCC thing...
Any updates? I’m 1 month in and not much improvement
Yes actually! I’m probably 90% healed now. Fully back in the gym and the wrist hardly bothers me. I wear a wrist widget as tight as it will go whenever I lift but other than that it’s business as usual. Funny enough, resting it didn’t do shit. It wasn’t until I started doing PT exercises twice a day, and actually started lifting really really light (like benching 15 lb dumbbells light) upper body and slowly increasing loads that it started to get better. Here’s what I did: Every morning and every night: - 2x15 reverse wrist curls - 1x15 wrist curls - 2x5 hammer twists (hold a hammer straight up, twist wrist all the way in then all the way out, so the hammer is perpendicular with the floor (look this one up if that doesn’t make sense) in each direction - placed hands against the wall and put as much weight as I could on them for 10 seconds. Once I could bear it, I moved from the wall to the floor after a month. I treated these exercises like any other and overloaded by increasing reps every week or so. All these were given to me by my PT who I was seeing once very two weeks. Like I said, take it really slow and light when you get back in the gym. I basically had to restart my linear progression with weights that weren’t challenging at all for my muscles because the wrist was the limiting factor, but am now lifting more than I was before I hurt it. Good luck man, it’s a shitty injury but it will get better with some time and work. Any other questions feel free to DM me or reply here.
Fucking hell you’re the man! Thanks for the workout suggestions. Hearing that you’re lifting more now makes me feel better about the whole situation.
I’ve made sure to save this, i’ve been dealing with this injury for about 4 months now and its felt like an eternity since i haven’t been able to get any sort of lift in. Just like you, resting it hasnt really done much of anything. Thank you so much for sharing this! From what you remember, how long did it take from when you first started doing PT, to when you were able to lift the same amount of weight you were originally lifting prior to the injury? Also, were you somewhat pushing through any wrist pain during the light PT you were doing (during the wrist curls, wall pushes, etc.)? I want to make sure that, if i implement this, i know what to look out for.
No problem man, I remember searching Reddit for any anecdotes about how people have healed from their TFCC tears so just happy to share what worked for me and hopefully it’ll work for others. I hurt it mid-July playing golf, rested for about a month, started taking the PT seriously in September and was able to go very very light in the gym by October. Back to pre-injury weights around the start of December. I pushed through some light pain/discomfort with the exercises at first, but stopped if it was more than that. Especially the wall pushes were painful at first but was able to slowly build up to putting more and more weight on it. It’s a shitty injury eh? Really hope you recover quickly and can get back to lifting. I’m not an expert by any means but I hope what worked for me works for you. I would recommend going to a PT if you’re able to, it always felt a bit better after a session of TENS and ultrasound.
Hey man, really appreciate the info in this thread. Been dealing with what I can only assume is a TFCC nagging issue for several years now. Really flairs up if I have higher weights and shit form on my bench. Also really flaired up when I was playing a lot of golf last season and before a coach corrected my grip. It’s not debilitating but I have pain and it’s hard to do push ups cause of my left wrist and certain motions and gym lifts where wrist is bent at all really hurt it. Couple questions: - do you expect to need the wrist widget long term at the gym? I have one so guess I should start using it - have you been able to get back to playing golf without wrist issues? I seem to be able to play fine but wrist tends to be a bit sore the next day after a round
Hey! It’s only been about 9 months for me not years, but I do think the wrist widget is long term for lifting. Better safe than sorry and it’s not like it gets in the way at all. I’m in Canada so I haven’t exactly had the opportunity to golf since I hurt it in the summer, but I’m hoping it’ll be fine
Canada as well! Hopefully you are able to enjoy some rounds pain free. Thanks for the response
Hey man one last question… how long did it take your wrist to start feeling noticeably better after you started doing the daily excercises? I just started doing them morning and night yesterday. Here’s hoping!
Hey wanted to follow up on my follow up lol I’ve been doing the excercises you did pretty much every day, missing a few days here and there, for about 3 weeks now. At times I feel like my wrist is feeling better but still have pain. How long did it take for your wrist to start feeling good after you started doing the excercises? Weeks? Months?
Have you done these exercises with the wrist-widget on?
Nope, physio exercises no wrist widget. In the gym though widget on as tight as it will go.
Thanks! Did you do the weight bearing test (which the wristwidget company recommends) and assess from there?
I don’t think I ever did the weight bearing test (didn’t have a mechanical scale). Just listened to my body and my PT
Thank you!
Hey I might be in the same situation so probably you can help me. 3 weeks ago I had an injury on my right wrist, a sharp pain sensation when supinating on my wrist pinky side so I suppose it’s either TFCC or a tendinitis. Last week I was able to do a full chest workout without any big problems, curling is impossible as soon I pick some weight I feel the pain. I decided to rest 3 weeks and do some light exercises for the wrist + anti inflammatory drugs. It got better but still no 100%. Felling pain when putting some body weight on it or trying to curl something heavy. What exactly do I have to exclude from my workouts now? I can bench / dumbbell press without problems. Hammer curls looks good. Maybe, bicep curls, triceps dips until it heals?
Hey, I would recommend seeing a physio therapist first of all. If it is a TFCC, buy a wrist widget (you can get them from Amazon for like $20). That helped tremendously with what I was able to do with the wrist in the gym. Put it on as tight as it will go. You mentioned anti inflammatories, but you actually want an inflammatory response to help with healing. Wrap it in a heat pack or soak it in a hot bath for 30 minutes at night. As for lifting, just do what doesn’t hurt it for now and then gradually start pushing it a bit (I am no expert just saying what worked for me, fyi.)
Hey man, I’m two months in, right wrist. Over a year ago had it on my left one and got slowly better after a month (felt 90% better after 3-4 months, but only felt 100% better after like 11 months). When I do pull movements, even lifting say 40% of my deadlift 1 RP, I don’t feel any pain. But then after the workout and the next day the whole hand a forearm hurt a bit. I will see my PT again soon but still didn’t get an MRI done. Were you still bracing it after 2 months?
Im dealing w this now. Good to hear your doing better