Overview

This information shows you how to exercise your wrist, which will help you recover from your injury or surgery. 

It is important that you only do the exercises as instructed by your hand therapist.

This information covers:

• how often you need to do the wrist movement exercises
• the different types of active movement exercises
• the different types of passive movement exercises
• the arrangements for your follow-up appointments
• how to help yourself if you have a hand injury or condition

If you need more information or advice, please contact your hand therapist.

How often to do the exercises

Your hand therapist explains:

• how many exercises to do
• how often you need to do them

It is important to follow this advice carefully.

Active movement exercises

An active movement is when you use the muscles of your injured hand to do the exercises. This section lists the different active movement exercises that you can do.

Active wrist flexion

Bend your hand down and bring your palm towards your forearm.

Active wrist extension

Lift the back of your hand towards your elbow.

Active radial wrist deviation

Move your hand sideways towards your thumb and body.

Active ulnar wrist deviation

Move your hand sideways towards your little finger and away from your body.

Active wrist supination

Twist your palm upwards to face the sky.

Active wrist pronation

Twist your palm downwards to face the ground.

Passive movement exercises

A passive movement is when you do the exercises using your uninjured hand to move the injured finger or hand. This section lists the different passive movement exercises that you can do.

Passive wrist flexion

Use your uninjured hand to bend your injured hand or wrist down towards your forearm.

Passive wrist extension

Use your uninjured hand to lift your injured hand back towards your elbow.

Passive wrist radial deviation

Use your uninjured hand to move your injured hand sideways towards your thumb.

Passive wrist ulnar deviation

Use your uninjured hand to move your injured hand sideways towards your little finger.

Passive wrist supination

Use your uninjured hand to twist your injured hand towards the sky.

Passive wrist pronation

Use your uninjured hand to twist your injured hand towards the ground.

Follow-up appointments

If you have a smart phone, you can download our MyChart patient app. This app lets you cancel or change hospital appointments.

Your hand therapist will talk to you about your follow-up appointments and explain how often you may need them. Some injuries or conditions involve more follow-up appointments than others.

You need to book your next appointment before you leave the hand therapy department, unless:

• it is a video appointment
• your hand therapist has told you something different

Things you can do to help yourself

If you have a hand injury or condition, there are ways to help take care of yourself.

Talking therapies

Any injury to your hand or pain in the hand can be overwhelming, and affect your mental health.

If you are struggling with how you feel and need to talk to someone, you can get help from the NHS talking therapy services.

You can speak to your doctor about talking therapies or contact the service directly.

Stopping smoking

Smoking and vaping can delay your healing and affect your recovery, especially if you have a wound. Free services are available to help you stop smoking.

Living well

If you need to wait for hand surgery, there are things that you can do to get ready. The healthier that you are before surgery, the quicker your recovery is likely to be. Healthy living can also help you after your surgery.

Even if you have had your hand injury or condition for a while, a healthy lifestyle can help with your recovery.

We have information about keeping well before surgery. You can also read about diet, exercise, sleep and other healthy living topics on the NHS live well pages.