TPI Physical Screen - Wrist Hinge Test
By Mark Pajich
A TPI golf screen is a physical assessment of how well your body moves in relation to your golf swing. There are 16 movement patterns that we check and depending on your results we may find that you have one or more of the 12 most common swing faults, each of which will have a direct effect on your game.
This series of articles will go through the TPI Physical Screen and how each movement pattern can impact your golf. Today’s article will focus on movement pattern no 13, Wrist Hinge Test.
WARNING: All TPI Tests should be performed with no pain whatsoever. Perform in a safe environment with proper form.
Movement Pattern No 13: The Wrist Hinge Test
The objective of the Wrist Hinge Test is to measure if your wrists can perform the hinging motion up and down to a sufficient degree. The proper terminology that this motion is targeting is radial and ulnar deviation. This test shows if the golfer has enough radial deviation to achieve the ideal club position at the top of the backswing, and enough ulnar deviation to perform a descending blow through impact. There are two main causes of lacking sufficient wrist hinge:
Bone structure complications.
Muscle strength and mobility complications.
Fixing this will result in a more efficient swing as well as prevention of other injuries.
How to do the Wrist Hinge Test
Firstly, stand up straight with your feet together and bring both your arms up to parallel while keeping your elbows tucked by your sides. From this position, keep your hands in a neutral position with your palms facing each other. Now, clench your fist with your thumbs on top of your fists. Next, hinge your wrists downward as far as possible to determine the degree of ulnar deviation for both wrists, and for radial deviation simply hinge upwards. Ideally, you would like to achieve a position where your wrist (in flexion and extension) is at the same degree or more than 20 degrees for radial and 30 degrees for ulnar.
Watch the following video for the proper technique. You can check yourself in a mirror to see if you are doing it correctly.
Swing faults: TPI research shows that if you have limitations in the Wrist Hinge Test then you have a 10% chance of having a flat shoulder plane, swinging over the top, casting the club or scooping and having “chicken wing” positionings during the swing. These swing faults can cause you to have inconsistent impact, wrist strains, and/or golfer’s elbow.
Exercise: Weighted Wrist Hinge
Start by standing tall and bringing your right arm up to parallel with your elbow tucked to your side. From here, grab a golf club or stick with some resistance and hold the end of it to point it straight up. Now simply perform the wrist hinge movement with the club in your hand and repeat this for 8 to 12 times without pain. Repeat the exercise on the left side as well. Make sure the resistance from the club is not too heavy to avoid injury. This will strengthen the muscles that are activated in the wrist hinge movement. Watch the following video for the proper technique.
Exercise: Forearm Myofascial Release
Start by standing up straight and bringing your right arm straight in front of you with your palm facing down to the ground. From this position, you should see a somewhat large muscle just below the elbow which is called the extensor carpi radialis. Now take your thumb or a massage ball and put pressure on this muscle to perform myofascial release in that area. While you’re putting pressure there, start to open and clench your fingers, this will make the release more efficient. Repeat this motion for 30 seconds each arm with no pain. Watch the following video for the proper technique.