Wrist & hand Orthopaedic Rehabilitation
Wrist Pain
- Pain gripping or weight-bearing through the hand
- Swelling or stiffness
- Reduced wrist movement
- Pain on the thumb side with lifting
Quick answer
Wrist pain has many causes — tendon overload, ligament sprain, previous fracture, nerve compression or arthritis — and treatment depends entirely on which. Assessment identifies the structure involved. Most soft tissue causes settle within four to eight weeks with loading and modification.
Typical recovery
4–8 weeks for most soft tissue causes
A typical range, not a promise — how long it takes depends on how long it has been going on, and on what you do between appointments.
The wrist is eight small bones, a dense network of ligaments, and the tendons of every muscle that moves the hand. Pain there is not one condition, and getting the diagnosis right matters more than in most joints.
The common causes
- Tendon overload, particularly on the thumb side (De Quervain's), common in new parents from repeated lifting
- Ligament sprain after a fall on an outstretched hand
- Residual stiffness after a fracture — see Colles' fracture
- Carpal tunnel syndrome when there are pins and needles
- Ganglion cyst — a visible lump, often painless
- Osteoarthritis, especially at the base of the thumb
Why assessment comes first
These are treated very differently. Loading is right for tendon overload and wrong for an acute ligament injury; splinting helps carpal tunnel and stiffens a post-fracture wrist. A wrist that is painful after a fall and tender in the anatomical snuffbox needs imaging, because scaphoid fractures are frequently missed on the first x-ray and can fail to heal.
How physiotherapy helps
Once the structure is identified: restoring movement, progressive loading, grip retraining, splinting where appropriate, and modifying the daily tasks that keep provoking it.
How long it takes
Most soft tissue causes settle within four to eight weeks. Post-fracture stiffness takes longer, and arthritis is managed rather than resolved.
Medically reviewed by Kapil Kumar, BPT, MPT, Orthopaedic Physiotherapy · Last reviewed September 2026