Hand & Wrist
Hand and Wrist problems are very common. Pain, tingling, or numbness can affect your ability to do day to day tasks. Sometimes your symptoms can be caused by an injury, while other times symptoms start on their own.
Generally our hands and wrists are very good at their jobs of pushing, pulling, lifting, and gripping. In most cases, your wrist and hand will get better by itself over time, but there are some steps you could take to help.
How Can I Help Myself?
There are actions you can take to help yourself while your hand or wrist is hurting. You could make a few adjustments to what you do, but try to continue to use it as normally as possible. Some examples of changing how you use your hand/wrist would be to:
- Take more breaks, do ‘little and often’.
- Changing how you do an activity e.g changing your grip to open a jar lid.
- You can also try taking pain relief medication and/or using ice or heat.
- Use a splint or brace.
What Exercise Can I Do?
It is safe to exercise even if your wrist/hand is hurting or uncomfortable. This can help to promote normal activity of the wrist/hand again.
Exercise does not mean you have to go to the gym, but is anything to help regain movement and strength in the joints.
There are some examples of exercises to do below. You can use our symptom tracker to check if what you are doing is helping you to improve. If you feel your symptoms are worsening, please stop these exercises and await formative review with a healthcare professional.
I am Getting Some Tingling and Numbness, What Should I Do?
Pins and needles, or tingling and numbness are not uncommon in the hand, and can be caused by an irritated nerve. You should continue to move the wrist and fingers as normal, and exercising it will not cause any damage. If this persists, you may benefit by having an assessment with your GP or Clinician.
Would an X-Ray or Scan Help?
X-rays and scans can help for a small number of people and in certain situations. However, most of the time it shows us things that are normal for the age of your hand/wrist and are not related to your pain. These sorts of findings will not help the hand/wrist get better. This is why your GP or clinician may say that it is not needed.
Should I Self-Refer?
Most hand and wrist pain will settle naturally in time with little or no help. Occasionally you may need some extra help to get your hand/wrist better.
If you feel you would like to talk to a healthcare professional to help you further with your hand/wrist you can fill in a self referral form.