Training guide
Wrist mobility in training mostly means bending your wrist back to about a right angle with your weight on it, as push-ups, planks, handstands and the front rack ask. Daily life needs far less, which is why a wrist that is fine all day can complain on your hands. Moving the wrist, stretching it and loading it in steps builds the range over weeks, though trials of wrist stretching itself are few.
This guide covers how the wrist moves and what's typical, a simple check, what the evidence shows, how often and how long, the moves with doses and a step-by-step session, push-ups, front squats, handstands and desk work, and when pain on the back of the wrist, tingling fingers or an old fracture means our wrist pain guides come first.
In training, wrist mobility mostly means bending the wrist back (extension) to about a right angle under your body weight: push-ups, planks, all fours, downward dog, handstands and the clean-grip front rack. Daily life needs far less: most tasks fit within about 40 degrees each way. A sun salutation took the wrist to 85 degrees, and athletes who caught a clean well had more wrist extension than those who didn't.
Stretching for 2 weeks or more raised range by a moderate to large amount across 77 studies, and strength training through a full range did about as well. Those trials studied the legs, hips and shoulders: we found no training trial of wrist stretching in healthy wrists. A single long wrist stretch adds range for minutes.
Hold wrist stretches for 30 to 60 seconds, to a gentle pull, on most days, as our flexibility guide suggests, and load the wrist through its range 2 or 3 times a week with wrist rocks on all fours, wall push-ups and wrist curls lowered into the full bend.
A bent-back wrist under load raised pressure in the joint in cadaver wrists and shifted force towards the back of the wrist in volunteers. Wrist pain is common where hands take weight, in about half of young gymnasts and handstand practitioners, and warm-up habits weren't linked with less of it. Go from a wall to all fours to the floor, on fists or handles at first.
Pain on the back of the wrist every time you load it often has a cause that shows on a scan, most often a small hidden ganglion, and bending the wrist back squeezes the carpal tunnel. Pain in the same spot every time, or tingling fingers, is a reason to read our wrist pain guides rather than stretch harder: see the warning signs.
If your wrists already bend back a long way, put your time into strength and control. And mobility work isn't a shield against injury: stretching programmes didn't cut sports injuries across 25 trials, while strength training did.
The wrist joins the two forearm bones to eight small wrist bones. It bends forward (flexion) and back (extension) and tilts towards the thumb and the little finger, and the forearm turns the palm up and down. No muscle sits in the wrist itself: the forearm muscles move it, as our wrist and hand joint page and our strengthen your wrists guide explain.
Bending the wrist back to about a right angle with your body weight on it: push-ups, planks, all fours, downward dog, crawling, handstands and the clean-grip front rack. Bending it forward matters less in training, apart from some yoga and grip positions.
In one study of 30 adults aged 23 to 30, average range was about 62 to 80 degrees of bending forward and 60 to 76 of bending back, depending on sex, side and how the forearm was turned. In 1,000 young men the dominant side had slightly less range, and Chinese adults bent the wrist forward further and back less than Caucasian adults in another study. Mobility falls with age joint by joint, though we found no large study of the wrist by age. Compare your two sides, and yourself over time, rather than chasing a number.
Most daily tasks fit within about 40 degrees of bending each way, and every task in one study of 40 adults fitted within 60 degrees of bending back and 54 forward; other studies found about 30 to 40 degrees of bending back covered most tasks. Weight-bearing poses go further: 85 degrees in a sun salutation in 10 practitioners. That's why a wrist that is fine all day can complain on your hands.
The forearm muscles and their tendons (the finger muscles cross the wrist, so a fist or straight fingers changes the stretch); how much stretch your nervous system accepts, which is what changes most in programmes of a few weeks, while the muscles themselves lengthen only slightly; the joint capsule after an injury or a cast; and bone, since at the end of bending back the bones and soft tissue on the back of the wrist meet (our reading of our wrist pain when bending back guide). A pinch on the back of the wrist at the end of the bend is the joint, not a tight muscle.
Some wrists bend back much further than average (hypermobility) and need strength and control rather than stretch. If you're heavier, push-ups and planks put more load through your hands, so start on an earlier, easier step of the weight-through-the-hands ladder (our strengthen your wrists guide's suggestion). Growing gymnasts have a growth plate at the wrist that hand loading can injure: see the warning signs.
Our suggestion. These guide your practice; they don't diagnose anything, and none has published norms.
Stand at a table, put your palms flat with your fingers pointing away from you, and lean forward until your forearms are upright: the wrists are now bent back to about a right angle, the position push-ups and planks ask for. Note where it pulls or pinches, and compare sides.
If the table is comfortable, try it on all fours with your shoulders over your wrists, and rock slowly forward. A stretch along the forearm is fine; a pinch on the back of the wrist means work below it.
Let one hand hang palm down and bend the wrist forward as far as it goes, then compare sides. A clear difference after an old injury is worth showing a physiotherapist.
Most studies are small lab studies, surveys or single sessions; we found no training trial of wrist stretching in healthy wrists.
In one study of 30 adults aged 23 to 30, average range was about 62 to 80 degrees of bending forward, 60 to 76 back, 15 to 26 towards the thumb and 28 to 45 towards the little finger, depending on sex, side and forearm position. In 1,000 young men the dominant side had slightly less range, Chinese and Caucasian adults differed, and range differed between age groups in 109 males aged 18 months to 54 years. The samples are small or selected, and we found no large study of wrist range by age.
A goniometer (a hinged ruler for joint angles) lined up on the back or palm of the wrist gave consistent results when the same therapist measured, and a phone app did too, with a change of about 2 to 6 degrees needed to be sure it was real.
In 40 adults, most tasks fitted within about 40 degrees of bending each way, and every task within 60 degrees of bending back and 54 forward. Other studies found 30 to 40 degrees of bending back enough for most tasks (10, 19 and 15 adults), and in 24 daily activities the finger and thumb joints stayed 5 to 28 degrees short of their full range.
A sun salutation took the wrist to 85 degrees of bending back in 10 practitioners. In 20 CrossFit athletes, those who caught a clean correctly had more passive wrist extension, measured at rest, than those who didn't: about 93 against 83 degrees in the paper's main table, though the paper's own summary figures disagree with it. Yoga poses on both hands put half to just over one times body weight through the arms in 20 practitioners, and handstand balance relies mainly on the wrists, though the handstand studies reported no wrist angles.
A push-up on a bent-back wrist raised pressure where the forearm meets the wrist bones in 8 cadaver wrists, and shifted force towards the back and little-finger side of the wrist in 14 volunteers, whom the authors judged likely to be safer on a straight wrist. That's why fists, handles or push-up bars are a sensible way in.
About half of young artistic gymnasts had wrist pain (53% across 25 studies, low to very low certainty), more with more training. In 321 adult handstand practitioners, 56.7% reported long-lasting wrist pain, and it wasn't linked to weekly hours, the type of warm-up, braces or grip devices. Wrists were 15% of injuries in 181 calisthenics athletes. None of these studies measured range.
In 25 people with pain on the back of the wrist when loading it bent back, 84% had a finding on MRI, most often a small hidden ganglion (76%, against 12% in a comparison group). Gymnasts with that pain showed different movement of the small wrist bones at 90 degrees of bending back. Pain in the same spot every time isn't a stiffness problem.
Across 77 studies, stretching for 2 weeks or more raised range by about one standard deviation, a moderate to large effect. Strength training through a full range did as well in 11 head-to-head trials, and loaded resistance training raised range across 55 studies; slow lowering (eccentric) training gave large gains in leg range across 17 studies. These trials studied the legs, hips and shoulders, not the wrist.
Forearm stretches held for 180 seconds or more raised wrist range more than 30 or 60 seconds did in 17 men, mostly by raising how much stretch they tolerated, and one 30-second stretch raised wrist range without weakening grip in 20 active women aged about 68. Long single holds help on the day; they aren't a better long-term plan.
A self-mobilisation with a strap raised wrist extension in 15 people with pain on the back of the wrist when weight bearing, over 5 sessions in a week. There was no comparison group.
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In 1,319 women aged 50 and over, range on the injured side at 12 months was 95% of the other side for bending back but 81% for bending forward. In 138 people, bending back rose from about 35 to 56 degrees over 8 weeks and tracked how well they could use the hand more closely than other movements.
Across 26 trials of low or very low quality, passive mobilisation and dynamic splints showed no clear benefit, and home exercise after instruction did about as well as supervised therapy.
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Pressure in the carpal tunnel rose from 32 to 110 mmHg (millimetres of mercury) with the wrist bent back 90 degrees in 15 people with carpal tunnel syndrome, and from 2.5 to about 30 in 12 without. Holding the reverse prayer position raised it more than bending forward, and typing with the wrist bent back more than 30 degrees raised it in 20 adults.
Exercise and nerve glides have very low-certainty, short-term evidence, and a US orthopaedic guideline found that exercise doesn't improve long-term outcomes. Our carpal tunnel syndrome guide has the plan.
The Beighton score, which includes bending the thumb back to the forearm, is reliable across 24 studies, with 5 of 9 the suggested cut-off for adults. In 169 adults with hypermobility and hand symptoms, 12 weeks of daily wrist-stabilising exercise was no better than a hand splint. The NHS's main treatment is strength, and it advises: "do not overextend your joints just because you can".
Stretching programmes didn't cut sports injuries across 25 trials of 26,610 people, while strength training did, and stretching before exercise didn't change injuries in 1,538 army recruits. The extra range from one session fades within about 30 minutes, and any warm-up does the same.
Across 13 studies, 2 to 6 weeks off left range above where people started but below its peak, and only active people kept it (low certainty). Stretching 2 or 3 days a week kept a 4-week gain in 32 adults.
Slow wrist circles and the wrist and forearm flow, through every direction, daily: slow movement with no load is the first stage of the NHS wrist programme our wrist guides follow. A minute is enough before training (our wrist and forearm routine).
Hold each stretch 30 to 60 seconds, 2 or 3 times, on most days, to a gentle pull rather than pain: our flexibility guide's dose. The wrist flexor stretch (palm on a wall, fingers down) builds bending back; the extensor stretch builds bending forward. An expert panel suggests 2 to 3 holds of 30 to 120 seconds daily for the biggest ranges, the American College of Sports Medicine's minimum is about 60 seconds per stretch on at least 2 days a week, and over 65, 60-second holds gained range faster in a hamstring trial. One meta-regression, an analysis of how results change with the dose, found gains peaked at about 10 minutes per muscle a week, but other reviews dispute it, so treat it as a rough target.
Wrist rocks on all fours, wall and incline push-ups, and wrist curls lowered slowly into the full bend, 2 or 3 sets, stopping 2 or 3 reps short of failure, as our plans advise. Strength through a full range built range as well as stretching did in trials at other joints.
Lean through a table or wall, then all fours, then a bench, then the floor, on fists or handles at first, and move up a step when the last one leaves your wrists no worse the next day. Our strengthen your wrists guide has the full ladder, built from an NHS wrist rehabilitation booklet's stages.
A minute of wrist circles and the flow, then 10 rocks onto your hands, as our handstand guide's wrist preparation does. It readies the wrist for the session; the extra range fades within about half an hour.
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No trial has timed it in healthy wrists. Stretching trials at other joints gained range over several weeks, so expect change over weeks rather than days; people vary, so nobody can promise a number. Once you're happy with your range, 2 or 3 sessions a week kept range in a trial.
Forcing your palms flat in a deep wrist stretch; locking your elbows and sinking into your wrists in planks and handstands; stretching through tingling fingers; going straight back to floor push-ups or handstands after a lay-off; stretching and never loading the range (our editorial list). Each move's page teaches its technique.
Our editorial session, built from our wrist and forearm routine, the strengthen your wrists guide's ladder and the stages of an NHS wrist programme as our wrist guides give them. Do the moving and stretching most days and the loaded steps 2 or 3 times a week.
Loading the 3D figure…
The movement on the figure: Quadruped wrist rocks
Slow movement with no load comes first: the wrist and forearm flow for 60 seconds (our wrist and forearm routine) and 10 slow wrist circles each way (our yoga for wrists session). Tendon glides keep the finger tendons moving with the wrist straight, for stiff fingers or carpal tunnel symptoms: 4 to 6 of each position, holding each for 5 seconds, up to 4 times a day (an NHS hand-therapy leaflet's dose, which the move page gives).
To a gentle pull, on most days, easing off at once for tingling in the fingers: the wrist flexor stretch for 30 seconds each side (our wrist and forearm routine) builds bending back; the extensor stretch, 3 holds of 30 seconds once or twice a day (an NHS Scotland tennis elbow booklet's dose, given on the move page), builds bending forward. The kneeling forearm stretch is the advanced version, with body weight taking the wrist into a deep bend: Hold 15 to 30 seconds, 2 to 4 times: about 60 seconds in all per stretch, on 2 or more days a week, as the ACSM recommends (the move page's dose). Swap it for the wall stretch while your wrists are sore, as our yoga for wrists guide does.
Build weight through your hands in steps, 2 or 3 times a week: wrist rocks at 10 each hand position, fingers forward then turned out (our wrist and forearm routine); wall push-ups at 2 to 3 sets of 10, leaning more weight through your hands each week, then incline push-ups at 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 (our yoga for wrists guide); wrist curls and reverse wrist curls at 2 or 3 sets of 12 to 15, lowering slowly into the full bend, and forearm rotations at 2 sets of 10 each way (our strengthen your wrists guide).
3D demoQuadruped wrist rocksBeginner · No equipment
3D demoWall push-upBeginner · A wall
3D demoIncline push-upBeginner · A bench or box
3D demoWrist curlsBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoReverse wrist curlBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoDumbbell forearm rotationBeginner · A dumbbell + A bench or boxBuild weight through your hands in steps, use fists, handles or push-up bars to keep the wrist straight while you do, and add wrist rocks and the wall wrist flexor stretch before you start. A straighter wrist loaded the joint less in lab studies. Our push-up wrist pain guide covers pain.
The clean-grip front rack bends the wrist back about 90 degrees. In 20 athletes measured at rest, those who caught a clean well had more passive wrist extension and more outward shoulder turning than those who didn't; no study measures the rack angle itself or tests wrist stretches for rack pain. Stretch the wrists, lats and upper back, and meanwhile use crossed arms, straps or a relaxed fingertip grip, as our front squat guide suggests.
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More than half of 321 handstand practitioners reported long-lasting wrist pain, unrelated to how they warmed up, so build time on your hands gradually rather than relying on stretching. A sun salutation took the wrist to 85 degrees, and poses on both hands put up to just over body weight through the arms. Our yoga for wrists and handstand guides build the load in steps.
Pressure in the carpal tunnel is lowest with the wrist near straight, and one lab study suggests keeping the wrist bent back less than 30 degrees at a keyboard. Wrist stretches at a desk are for comfort; the NHS's carpal tunnel advice is to stop or cut down on anything that makes you bend your wrist often or grip hard.
Range comes back slowly over months, bending back faster than bending forward, and home exercise after instruction did about as well as supervised therapy. The NHS says recovery usually takes around 6 to 12 weeks, and the wrist may be stiff and weak after the cast comes off. Follow your fracture clinic's plan; our broken wrist guide has the stages.
Mobility falls with age joint by joint, and stretching still works: one 30-second stretch raised wrist range in women aged about 68 without weakening grip. The NHS asks adults over 65 for activities that improve strength, balance and flexibility on at least 2 days a week, and grip and wrist work fit well.
Our wrist and forearm routine moves the wrists in every direction, rocks them under your body weight and then strengthens the forearms, in 10 minutes. Do the mobility half most days and the whole routine 2 or 3 times a week, and before push-ups, front squats or handstands.
Wrist mobility and forearm strength for desk work, climbing, push-ups and handstands.
10 minBeginner7 movesA wall, A dumbbellA 20-minute yoga class for wrists: a gentle warm-up, poses with the hands free, then weight through the hands in stages, from a wall to all fours to the forearms.
20 minBeginner18 movesA wall, Other / check instructionsA 20-minute grip session: warm up the wrists and fingers, train the hand and forearm muscles, then carry and hang to load your grip the way everyday life does.
20 minBeginner10 movesOther / check instructions, A bandA 30-minute practice session for the front squat: loosen your wrists and upper back, groove an upright squat, then find your grip and depth with a light bar.
30 minBeginner12 movesA wall, A bench or boxBuild toward a handstand: wrist prep, dolphin pose, pike push-ups, crow, the wall handstand and freestanding holds.
25 minAdvanced9 movesA wallA 15-minute warm-up and mobility routine for CrossFit-style training: easy rowing, shoulder, wrist, hip and ankle mobility, shoulder-blade work and squats.
15 minBeginner14 movesCardio machine, A wallA quick stretch break you can do beside your desk: neck, back, chest, wrists, hips and quads.
5 minBeginner7 movesA wallThe calisthenics plan, the push-up challenge and the kettlebell plan all put weight through your wrists: work up the weight-through-the-hands ladder before you start them.
A 12-week calisthenics plan for beginners: three bodyweight sessions a week with push-up, pull-up, squat and dip ladders, and a bar if you have one.
3 training days40 minBeginner3 days a weekA free 30-day push-up challenge, from wall to archer push-ups: 3 short sessions a week, optional practice days and a push-up test at each end.
3 training days15 minBeginner3 days a weekAn 8-week kettlebell plan for beginners: two strength sessions and a swing-interval day each week, with how to choose a bell and swing safely.
3 training days35 minBeginnerPain in the same spot on the back of the wrist every time you bend it back under load is a reason to stop loading that position, use fists or handles instead, and read our wrist pain when bending it back guide, not to stretch harder. Get it checked if it hasn't improved after 2 weeks (our suggestion, following that guide and our wrist pain hub).
Tingling or numbness in the thumb and first fingers while you hold the wrist bent back (a front rack, prayer hands, a long plank) means the nerve, not a stretch: come out of the position and see our carpal tunnel syndrome guide (our suggestion, following a laboratory study of carpal tunnel pressure that our yoga for wrists guide cites).
Tingling and numbness are different: stop and get advice if an exercise brings them on and they don't fade quickly, or if your grip or thumb gets weaker.
After a broken wrist or a cast, follow your fracture clinic's or hand therapist's plan first, and use this guide once they're happy for you to load the wrist; our broken wrist guide has the stages (our suggestion).
You're over 50 and have broken your wrist: ask about a fracture liaison service to check your bone health.
If you're already very flexible, put your time into strength and control through the range you have. Stretch only areas that feel genuinely tight, and only to a mild pull, and avoid hanging at the end of your range or pushing joints back past straight. The strength and control moves below are a place to start, and our hypermobility guide has a full routine, the evidence and the warning signs. If you do Pilates, our Pilates for hypermobility guide covers which moves to adapt.
Keep your elbows soft rather than locked, and make fists if your wrists bend back too far, as our hypermobility guide says. Physiotherapy trials in hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome are few and small (6 trials of 20 to 57 people), though they found less pain and better joint sense.
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With arthritis in the hands or wrists, including rheumatoid arthritis, keep the moves gentle and within a comfortable range, keep weight through your hands light during a flare, and follow your rheumatology team's or hand therapist's advice (our suggestion).
An ache on the back or thumb side of the wrist, just above the crease, in a growing gymnast (or cheerleader or diver) that builds with training and may still hurt the next day: possibly gymnast's wrist, a stress injury of the growth plate. Stop weight-bearing on the hands and get it checked: it needs weeks to months off hand loading, not a few days.
You have diabetes and a hand problem: the NHS says hand problems can be more serious if you have diabetes.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can come with pregnancy, and the NHS says it sometimes gets better by itself in a few months, particularly then. If your hands tingle, keep your wrists near straight in weight-bearing moves and use a wall or fists rather than flat hands on the floor (our suggestion, following the NHS carpal tunnel page).
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If you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise.
For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; severe difficulty breathing; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining, or comes with numbness or weakness, difficulty speaking or loss of vision. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
Call 999 or go to A&E after an injury (don't drive yourself) if the arm, wrist or hand is numb, tingling or has pins and needles; a bone is sticking out or a bad cut is bleeding heavily; or the wrist, thumb or a finger has changed shape, is at an odd angle, or has turned blue, grey, white or cold.
Call 999 or go to A&E: sudden, severe pain in a muscle of the forearm or hand, which may be worse when you stretch it, with swelling, numbness, weakness or pins and needles, or tightness or difficulty moving the fingers. This can be acute compartment syndrome, which needs surgery as soon as possible. It usually follows an injury, a crush, or a cast or bandage that is too tight. Do not drive yourself to A&E.
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Same day (NHS 111): severe wrist pain; you feel faint, dizzy or sick from the pain, or you feel unwell, hot, cold or shivery; you heard a snap, grinding or popping noise when you hurt it; you can't move your wrist or hold things; your wrist has changed shape or colour; a lump on your wrist is very painful, hot or red (redness may be harder to see on brown and black skin); or you have lost the feeling in part or all of your hand. These might be signs of a broken wrist or an infection.
Same day: after a fall onto an outstretched hand, pain or tenderness at the base of the thumb on the back of the wrist (the hollow called the snuffbox), even if the wrist moves well or the first X-ray was normal. A broken scaphoid can hide on the first X-ray and is slow to heal if it's missed, so ask what follow-up is planned.
Same day: you have lost the feeling in part or all of your hand.
Same day (urgent GP appointment or NHS 111): sudden, severe pain in one joint, with swelling, a change in skin colour or difficulty moving it, especially if you feel unwell, hot, cold or shivery or have a high temperature (although not everyone has one). It could be an infection in the joint, gout or calcium crystals (pseudogout), and only a sample of fluid from the joint can tell them apart.
Same day after a fracture: the cast feels too tight, or the fingers are numb, swollen, blue or white.
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Same day: both hands numb or clumsy (dropping things, trouble with buttons or handwriting), especially with unsteady walking or falls. Pressure on the spinal cord in the neck can do this, and it is often first mistaken for carpal tunnel syndrome.
Call 999, even if it passes: sudden weakness or numbness in one arm, with a drooping face or slurred speech. These are signs of a stroke.
A pop or tearing at the front of the armpit or chest during a lift, followed by bruising into the chest or upper arm, a change in the shape of the chest or armpit, or weakness pushing, can be a torn chest tendon. Don't wait for it to settle: get help the same day from NHS 111 or an urgent treatment centre, as our pec strain guide explains.
A sudden pop at the front of the elbow during a heavy pull, with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow or a bulge in the upper arm, can be a torn biceps tendon. Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E (in the US, urgent care or the emergency department), and don't wait for it to settle: repair is best done within the first 2 to 3 weeks.
Not improved after 2 weeks of looking after it at home, getting worse, keeps coming back, or stopping you doing normal activities. In many areas you can refer yourself to NHS physiotherapy.
Any tingling or loss of feeling in the hand or wrist.
Carpal tunnel symptoms that are getting worse, not going away, or not helped by treatment at home; sooner if the thumb is weak or the muscle at the base of the thumb looks thinner.
See a GP if your wrist is painful, warm, swollen and stiff, or you have wrist pain and also feel unwell with a high temperature.
After an injury or operation, pain that is getting worse instead of better or far worse than you'd expect, with swelling, colour or temperature changes, or skin that is very sensitive to touch: contact your fracture clinic, physiotherapist or GP promptly. It can be complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and early treatment may help.
Burning, tingling, numbness or pins and needles down an arm or leg while stretching usually means a nerve is under tension, so ease off to a position without it. A pinch at the front of the hip or ankle at the end of a stretch is the joint, so work below it. See a GP or physiotherapist if either keeps happening (our suggestion).
See a GP if you think you or your child have joint hypermobility syndrome, for example joints that keep dislocating, ongoing joint or muscle pain and stiffness, frequent sprains, tiredness even after rest, poor balance or thin, stretchy skin. A GP may check your Beighton score, arrange tests to rule out other conditions and refer you to a physiotherapist.
Slowly and with control, in the middle of your range, stopping short of locking your knees or elbows or hanging at the end of a joint's range. If a joint feels about to slip, stop or make the movement smaller (our editorial rule, the same as in our shoulder dislocation guide).
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Stop straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, the NHS says, and contact 111 if your symptoms worry you or don't go away.
Some discomfort during these exercises is fine and doesn't mean you are doing damage. Keep it to about 5 out of 10 or less. It should settle within half an hour or so, and your hand should be no worse the next morning. If it is, do fewer, smaller or lighter next time, not nothing. An NHS wrist rehabilitation booklet uses the same limit: an unpleasant stretch of about 5 out of 10 that settles within 30 minutes.
Don't rest the hand completely for long, either: for repetitive strain, the NHS says resting for more than a few days makes the area weaker and less flexible. If a joint becomes hot, red and swollen, stop and get it checked.
A dull ache in your muscles for a day or two after something new is normal. Joint pain that's sharp, gets worse during a set or lingers into the next day means switching to the easier option, and seeing a GP or physiotherapist if it carries on (our plans' rule). Our muscle soreness guide has more.
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Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for a headache that's triggered or made worse by coughing, sneezing, bending down or exercising. In the US, contact your doctor or urgent care.
Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before heavy lifting or hard straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled, or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists. After a recent shoulder dislocation or shoulder surgery, follow our shoulder dislocation guide or your surgical team first.
Speak to a GP first if you haven't exercised for some time, or if you have a medical condition or concerns. Get advice first, too, if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, have recently had a heart attack or an operation, or are pregnant or have recently given birth.
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If you have a heart condition, follow your cardiac team's advice on how hard to work, and stop for the warning signs above. People with long-term conditions may wish to ask their specialist before starting. With uncontrolled high blood pressure, avoid straining against a held breath; the high blood pressure guide has more.
No trial has tested it. Warm-up and stretching habits weren't linked with less long-lasting wrist pain in handstand practitioners, and stretching programmes didn't prevent sports injuries.
Load and wrist position usually matter more: a straighter wrist loaded the joint less in lab studies. Pain on the back of the wrist every time often has a cause that shows on a scan. Change the position first, then build back up, as our strengthen your wrists guide says.
Wrists differ in range by sex, side and ancestry, and daily life needs far less. Very flexible wrists shouldn't be pushed there at all.
Bending the wrist back raises pressure in the carpal tunnel, and holding the reverse prayer position raised it more than bending forward. Our carpal tunnel syndrome guide's swaps come first.
We found no study showing it. Stretching's short-term effect is on range and how much stretch you tolerate, and it fades within about 30 minutes.
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Braces weren't linked with more or less wrist pain in handstand practitioners. Wraps and braces change the wrist's position while you wear them, not its range.
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Range you can't control isn't an advantage. One review argues flexibility shouldn't count as a major part of fitness at all, and people with very flexible wrists need strength and control rather than more stretch.
Move your wrists slowly through every direction daily, stretch the direction you lack for 30 to 60 seconds on most days, and load the range 2 or 3 times a week with wrist rocks on all fours, wall push-ups and wrist curls lowered into the full bend. Stretching and strength training through a full range both build range, though most trials studied other joints. Our wrist and forearm routine puts it together in 10 minutes.
No trial has measured it in healthy wrists. Stretching trials of the legs, hips and shoulders gained range over a few weeks, and a single long stretch helps for a few minutes. Expect change over weeks, and keep 2 or 3 sessions a week going to keep it.
Build weight through your hands in stages: a table, a wall, all fours, a bench, then the floor, on fists or handles at first, since a straighter wrist loads the joint less. Add wrist rocks and the wall wrist flexor stretch before you start. Our strengthen your wrists guide has the full ladder.
The front rack bends the wrist back about 90 degrees, and athletes who caught a clean well had more wrist extension in one small study. Stretch your wrists, lats and upper back, and meanwhile use crossed arms, straps or a loose fingertip grip, as our front squat guide suggests.
Warm up the wrists every session and add time on your hands gradually: more than half of handstand practitioners in one survey had long-lasting wrist pain, whatever warm-up they used. Our handstand guide starts each session with a minute of wrist preparation.
In one study of 30 young adults, about 62 to 80 degrees of bending forward and 60 to 76 of bending back, depending on sex, side and forearm position. Daily tasks need only about 40 degrees each way. Compare your two sides rather than chasing a number.
Often they're not used to bending back under load. Stiffness after a fall, a cast or an operation, morning stiffness in several joints, or a hot, swollen wrist is different: see our wrist pain guides and the warning signs.
Usually not: build strength and control in the range you have, keep your elbows soft, and use fists if your wrists bend back too far, as our yoga for wrists guide says. The NHS's main treatment for joint hypermobility is strength.
Not reliably: the evidence for exercise and nerve glides is very low certainty and short-term, and bending the wrist back raises pressure in the tunnel. Our carpal tunnel syndrome guide has the plan.
Usually load and position, and a straighter wrist helps. If it hurts in the same spot every time for more than 2 weeks, get it checked: most people with that pattern in one study had a small hidden ganglion or another finding on a scan.
Follow your fracture clinic's plan. Most bending back returns within a year and bending forward more slowly, and home exercise after instruction worked about as well as supervised therapy. Our broken wrist guide has the stages.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
