Dealing with wrist pain

[HeavyDuty]

This getting old stuff sucks, but it’s still better than the alternative.

Over the years I’ve been lucky to be able to adapt to different grip angles with a little work, which is good because I’ve been a Glock guy for a long time. But in the last few months I’ve been having increasing hand pain, mostly in the wrist and and the base of the thumb. I’ve found that shooting my Glocks is getting more and more uncomfortable especially as compared to my other more grip angle neutral pistols. The little wrist angle adjustments I have to make for Glock are starting to hurt like hell, and that’s before the recoil.

I really don’t want to walk away from Glock completely. I’ve already tried making grip fillers out of cut down backstraps, that helps a little but not enough. So now I’m considering trying a humpectomy and triggerguard undercut on one or two to see if I can change the angle enough save them.

Has anyone else been down this specific road with Glock, where you were trying to get them to a wrist neutral hold?

[GJM]

Try a 19. The grip shape and placement of the hump makes it point more naturally for me. LTT grip anchor gives a full grip on the 19.

[HeavyDuty]

Try a 19. The grip shape and placement of the hump makes it point more naturally for me. LTT grip anchor gives a full grip on the 19.

19 is by far the worst, a full size is still workable.

[GJM]

19 is by far the worst, a full size is still workable.

Is your problem how the pistol points, and the wrist cam you have to do to make it point level, or something else?

[HeavyDuty]

Is your problem how the pistol points, and the wrist cam you have to do to make it point level, or something else?

Exactly that. I’ve been able to do it for years, but that motion now is really painful. Even static, and recoil doesn’t feel good at all. The cut down backstrap modifies it enough that recoil isn’t horrible, but it just isn’t working for me anymore. I’ve even tried wrapping my wrist when I shoot Glocks, no dice. None of this happens with more neutral angled pistols like my P30L, PX4s or Beretta 92s.

I’m thinking grip modification may save Glocks for me.

[Artemas2]

TL,DR: Layoff the glocks for a bit and rest like any other sport injury. It may also help to do some wrist stretches or carpal tunnel exercises.

I am (probably) more than a few years younger than you so this may not be completely appropriate, I went through a similar phase in 2019ish.
I was heavy into dry fire and live practice with glocks. I had a gun in my hand for 4-6 hours a day most days of the week, and after about 8 months of this, the pain started.
It began to progress to the point where it was affecting day-to-day life. I had little grip strength in my right hand and I could not hold anything more than a few pounds without noticeable discomfort

Once I narrowed the possible causes down and figured out it was the gun, I made some changes. One was lowering my holster, at the time I was still using a direct mount, IDPA style ride height which forced a significant wrist bend on every draw, the second was going to a CZ Shadow 2, and the third was a full 4 month stop to all practice. It sucked, but it had to happen.

I can shoot glocks again, but ended up liking the metal DA/SA life more anyway.

[Bigghoss]

I’ve been having increasing hand pain, mostly in the wrist and and the base of the thumb.

Has anyone else been down this specific road with Glock, where you were trying to get them to a wrist neutral hold?

A couple years ago my wrist really started hurting bad and your pain sounds similar to mine. I still haven't been able to grip my Gen 3 17 so I've been grabbing my gen 4 G19 with a cut down backstrap to flatten out the grip of the gun. I have other pistols that work with my grip better but I haven't been able to get to the range to prove them yet. I don't think I want to sell off all my Glocks and the loads of mags and holsters I have for them so I guess I'll have to have some grip work done. I'm mildly regretting my decision to sell off all my M&Ps but it happened so whatever.

[Sig_Fiend]

There's also the GripFix from OTDefense for chopping and replacing the hump.

I feel your pain as I still deal with this myself. For me, I've found the hump exacerbates my issues. I think it's because of how it focuses the grip pressure around the base of the thumb. I think this is because of the relationship between the hump vs. the arch, the valley it creates, amplifying the pressure placed on the hump. Contrast this with something that has a straight grip profile, like a USP, which I find far more comfortable.

Also, the amount of camming forward (ulnar deviation) of the wrist to bring the sights ends up being particularly irritating and exhausting for me.

There's always the option for a grip reduction. I can recommend @Texaspoff of Cold Bore Customs. I never dealt with Lane directly and have only bought third party used guns with his grip reductions. Had a gen3 G26 and G22 which I wish I never sold. The quality and feel were excellent and by far the most comfortable Glocks I've shot. With that G22, I never experienced the pain I normally feel after shooting Glocks for any length of time.

[Blades]

Do you wear wrist braces when you sleep at night? I have carpal tunnel in my right wrist and when it is terrible I wear my brace. It's annoying, but it helps with my wrist pain. The doctor told me driving was also bad for aggravating carpal tunnel so I try to keep my thumbs straight and not wrapped around the steering wheel. I don't know if your wrist pain is from carpal tunnel or something else, but maybe this helps. Good luck.

[BillSWPA]

For those of you dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome, I strongly encourage surgery.

Ask around and find out which surgeons in your area are doing the surgery using a small incision at the base of tbe palm. That may not make intuitive sense, but going in that way means having to cut through significantly less to get to the site of the problem. The surgery is done under local anesthetic. You will leave the surgery center with a few stitches and a hand aid.

If the nerve is being compressed, it is being damaged, and eventually the damage will be permanent. Talk to an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hands and arms before this happens.