News is just out that Henrik Stenson is suffering from a left wrist injury in Shanghai which may complicate his plans to play 7 tournaments in a row on the 'Race to Dubai.' Of course it is no surprise to us at Handmaster Plus that a golfer of this stature is having problems with his wrist, especially the extensor side of the left arm as a right-handed golfer. This is the same mechanical imbalance that has lead to innumerable famous golf injuries including Tiger Woods left elbow and Mike Weir's right elbow. But wait a minute Henrik Stenson has a wrist injury, whereas Tiger Woods and Mike Weir (and probably nearly every journeyman PGA golfer) had an elbow injury? That's different, right?

The leading medical health experts would say that these are not the same. One is elbow. One is wrist. And that is how the statistics are kept - i.e. according to 1) the name of the joint and 2) the catchy medical sounding name of the condition of which the 'symptoms' are to be treated (of course usually by drugs and surgery, the main tools of the medical 'expert'). Do you recognize tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis), golfer's elbow (medial epicondylitis), carpal tunnel syndrome and wrist tendonitis? These are the four main golf injury conditions of the golfer's distal upper extremity. All are categorized separately. All are common in golfers, but as individual categories, they each fall behind the number one golf injury, back pain.

This is where the archaic thinking of the joint injury and not the mechanics of the joint injury leads to a limited understanding of the cause of the problem. Because back injury is not the #1 health problem in golf, hand and wrist muscle imbalance is. Repetitive grip in training and practise and getting through heavy rough is. And the result of chronic hand and wrist imbalance, to name a few, are tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis), golfer's elbow (medial epicondylitis), carpal tunnel syndrome and wrist tendonitis. Sound familiar? So group all hand, wrist carpal tunnel & elbow injuries into one category called 'repetitive grip imbalance injuries.' Let's call this 'new' condition RGII's and then see what the #1 injury in professional golf is.... is it back pain or RGII?

We know, through sEMG studies, that when we grip anything (whether it be a golf club, a tennis racquet, a guitar, a dumbbell, a kettlebell, etc.), BOTH the muscles that close the hand contract AND the muscles that open the hand contract. Grip is a co-contraction.
This means that the hand opening (extensor/abductor) muscles contract to support the contraction of the hand closing (flexor/adductor) muscles so that the hand can grip. Stay with me now... The problem is that the 9 muscles that close the hand contract through a relatively full range of motion, BUT the muscles that open the hand contract in relatively one position STATICALLY.
Thus, the entire extensor chain of muscles (from the back of the fingers to outside of the elbow) contract over and over in one position - creating a weak, overused, inflexible stabilizer band that is very open to INJURY.


This extensor band of muscles also affects the stability of the fingers, hand, wrist, carpal tunnel & elbow because it also offsets the flexor band to keep the joints balanced. In other words imbalance between the flexor band and the extensor band are a root cause of a lot of injures and painful conditions, not just elbow injuries!!!

Balanced hand exercise where all muscles that open and close the hand is the key to minimizing these debilitating injuries. We developed Handmaster Plus FOR golfers, because Dr. Terry Zachary was a professional golfer and noticed this same training imbalance in the 1990's. Since then golf equipment technology research has expanded exponentially, grip training not so much. Only recently have the trainers of the big tours started to take notice since Handmaster Plus is now in the hands of many pros on all senior and regular circuits around the world.



Henrik Stenson is predictably experiencing wrist extensor tendinitis on his lead wrist (the left wrist for right handed golfer). Tiger Woods experienced elbow tendonitis in his lead elbow (the left elbow for a right handed golfer). Mike Weir experienced elbow tendonitis in his lead elbow (the right elbow for a left handed golfer). Though grip hand, wrist and elbow imbalance can also lead to elbow injuries in the trail elbow (i.e. John Daly), the lead wrist and elbow are most common. The lateral elbow and posterior wrist of the lead arm are most open to injury in golf, as are the medial elbow and anterior wrist of the trail arm. That said, 'the imbalance is the imbalance' and golf is a stressful game on the hands, wrists and elbows. All golfers 'grow' differently to adapt to their body types and swing technique patterns differently. The location of injury can be anywhere and somewhat unpredictable (John Daly's elbow injury was lateral elbow on the trail arm, the right arm, not easily predictable).

What is completely predictable is that unless accomplished golfers, both professional and amateur, start to train their grip muscles properly hand, wrist, carpal tunnel & elbow injuries will continue at a high rate.

Visit #1 complete hand strengthener to find more information about Handmaster Plus.

Contact us at info@doczac.com for more information regarding grip and grip muscle training for golf or any other grip related sport, music or workplace activity.

Labels: golf injury, grip, Handmaster Plus, Henrik Stenson, lateral epicondylitis, tendonitis, tennis elbow, wrist injury

I get a lot of questions asking about the agonist/antagonist theory to hand exercise and grip muscles, which confuses a lot of people. What is the role of the finger extensor muscles and why do I keep harping on training them properly?


The grip muscles are not an agonist/antagonist relationship as are the biceps/triceps, quadriceps/hamstrings, for example. They are a co-contraction kinetic chain. We have clearly demonstrated this is http://www.doczac.com/emg.html. The finger extensor muscles contract during grip as do the flexor muscles, obviously, together. You can view any activity that we have studied to show that the finger extensor muscles contract to support the flexor muscles, they do not relax. Hand exercise and grip is a co-contraction.

The problem with this mechanically is that, in the long term, where gripping is repetitive, the extensor muscles are obviously contracting in a small ROM (not opening hardly ever through their full natural ranges of motion (ROM)) so they become a shortened, static, unhealthy muscle group/chain over time, thus becoming weak and even easy to injure. The weaker they become, the less they can do their part to support grip and the more the grip (flexor muscles) have the full un-aided responsibility of the grip action. 

Thus for best grip performance, strength, hand speed, stamina, ROM, and injury prevention, both the supportive muscles (extensors/abductors) and the action muscles (flexor/adductors) must be strengthened in the best way, that being through their full natural ROM's, like any other muscle or group. So for the grip stabilizer muscles (again, the hand opening muscles, extensors and abductors), this means they must be trained through full opening and spreading which keeps them at their best health, strength and function and stimulates the most healthy circulation for repair and maintenance of tissues. In turn, they are able to perform their best role in being there to support the grip muscles. They are then also able to offset shortening of the flexor muscles to keep the fingers, thumb, hand, wrist, carpal tunnel and elbow stable (i.e. not allowing flexor domination, collapse and joint instability). 

By the way, the finger extensors would then also be best available to open the hand in hand opening functions as well... but name me a function we perform where the hand opening muscles are used - none or very few will come to mind. 

So grip support seems to me to be the main role of the finger extensors, we simply need to understand that they are healthiest and strongest themselves ONLY when trained through full natural ROM's. 

Handmaster Plus does this easily and conveniently, plus stimulates all peripheral nerve routes (neuropathy) and maximizes blood flow (repair). Pretty complete, I'd say, and why people get such wonderful results with an array of conditions using Handmaster Plus... compliments all grip activities (including repetitive grip during gym training) so that weakness, imbalance & injury are held at bay and performance is always maximized!

Labels: agonist, antagonist, finger extensor, grip, hand exercise, Handmaster Plus, kinetic chain., muscles