Wrist Supports – Which One is Right for You?

One of our goals is to be a resource for answering all your questions about wrist supports.

Recently a customer asked us this question:

My 16-year-old daughter has a stress fracture in her wrist. Once the doctor clears her to resume playing high school basketball again, do you have a specific product she can wear during practices and games to help her protect the wrist?

Our reply:

First let me say that I am not a doctor and anything I say should be run past the doctor who is treating your daughter. Second, the short answer is no, we do not have a specific product for this circumstance.

Having that out of the way, let me just say a few things about your daughters need and wrist supports in general.  The thing to remember is that wrist supports come in a whole range of support/stiffness.  If your daughters fracture is in her shooting hand, she won't be able to tolerate much stiffness because she needs to flex the wrist during the shooting process.

If this is the case then she will likely have to use a support much softer than a Tiger Paw. A new Tiger Paw, even with no insert in it, is in my opinion, too stiff to allow proper motion to shoot a basketball.  If the fracture is in her other hand, her ball handling will be impacted somewhat, but she'll probably adapt soon enough.

It is also possible that if you were to purchase a Tiger Paw and have her work out and play in it, without the insert in it, that it may soften enough to use it on either hand, shooting or otherwise. The bottom line is that there are a lot of variables, and it's hard to say what the correct approach is.

At this time, we do not sell a wrist support other than the Tiger Paw that would be of any use for your daughter.  We do have plans on expanding our line soon to include softer supports. If you want to try a soft support, Amazon has a lot of selection.  Maybe do both, a soft one and a Tiger Paw.  One thing for sure is that a Tiger Paw will provide a lot of protection from impacts, possibly preventing re-injury.

In case you are not aware of it, we do sell Tiger Paws in left or right, not just pairs. Just look under the bowling wrist supports in the navigation menu at the top of the site.  And rest assured that if you choose to make a Tiger Paw a part of your daughters solution, you are buying a quality American made product that will hold up well.

The customer replied:

Thanks, Steve. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your response. Of the soft supports on the market that would make sense for basketball, do you like any in particular?

We said:

The main thing to notice is that they come in two basic versions, those that wrap around the wrist (adjustable) and those that slide over like a sock (non-adjustable). My site will soon be carrying supports made by Chase Ergonomics. One of their models is a support labeled Body Glove, called the Body Glove Economy wrist wrap

It is inexpensive, adjustable, and made from a breathable material, a consideration for use in sports.  Another nice model that offers a tad more support than the Body Glove is the ProFlex 675 Ambidextrous Double-Strap Wrist Support

The claim a lot of flexibility, which would be good for your purposes. It's also a little longer than the BG unit so it should provide more protection.

Hope this helps.

If you have any questions about wrist supports, feel free to drop us a line either here or through the contact form at the store site!