Wrist Pain Causes: Why Your Wrist Hurts and Where It Hurts

Most wrist pain comes from one of four things: overuse (tendons or the joint lining getting irritated by repeated load), an injury such as a fall onto an outstretched hand, a squeezed nerve such as in carpal tunnel syndrome, or a joint problem like arthritis or a ganglion cyst. Where exactly it hurts, what makes it worse and how it started will usually point you towards the right group, and the map further down this page will help you narrow it down.

I teach pole, so I've spent years around people who load their wrists in strange positions every single day, and I know how easy it is to keep training through a niggle until it turns into a proper problem. This article is the starting point for our wrist pain guides. It won't diagnose you (only someone who can examine your wrist can do that), but it will help you understand what's likely going on, what you can safely do at home and when it's time to get it checked.

What are the most common causes of wrist pain?

Your wrist is far more than a simple hinge. It's eight small carpal bones sitting between the two forearm bones (the radius on the thumb side and the ulna on the pinky side), held together by ligaments, wrapped in tendons and crossed by nerves on their way to your hand. Any of those parts can be the source of pain, so it helps to sort the possibilities into groups.

Overuse: tendons and the joint lining

This is the group most active people end up in. When you repeat the same movement a lot, or load the wrist harder than it's used to, the tendons and the soft lining around the joint can get irritated. The pain tends to build up gradually, it's worse during or after the activity, and it often feels achy or sore rather than sharp. Typical examples are tendon irritation on the thumb side (De Quervain's tenosynovitis), irritation of the tendon that runs along the pinky side, and the pinching ache on the back of the wrist that some people get from lots of push-ups, planks and handstands. Mayo Clinic notes that any activity that moves the wrist repeatedly, from hitting a tennis ball to bowing a cello, can inflame the tissues around the joint.

Injuries: falls, twists and sprains

Falling forward onto an outstretched hand is the classic way to hurt a wrist, and it can cause anything from a mild sprain to a broken bone. One fracture worth knowing about is the scaphoid, a small bone on the thumb side, because it can feel like "just a sprain" and doesn't always show up on the first X-ray. Twisting injuries, like a grip slipping while your body keeps turning, can strain the ligaments and the cartilage on the pinky side of the wrist.

Nerves: carpal tunnel and its cousins

Nerve problems feel different from tendon or joint pain. Instead of an ache in one spot you tend to get tingling, pins and needles, numbness or a burning feeling that spreads into the fingers. Carpal tunnel syndrome, where the median nerve is squeezed as it passes through the palm side of the wrist, usually affects the thumb, index and middle fingers and is often worse at night. When the ulnar nerve is irritated on the pinky side (sometimes seen in cyclists who lean on their handlebars for hours), the ring and little fingers are the ones that tingle.

Joints: arthritis, cysts and wear

Osteoarthritis in the wrist is fairly uncommon and usually follows an old injury, and it tends to feel like a deep, dull ache with stiffness. Rheumatoid arthritis often affects both wrists at once and comes with swelling and morning stiffness. Ganglion cysts, which are harmless fluid-filled lumps that most often appear on the back of the wrist, can ache too, especially when you bend the wrist a lot. There's also a group of problems where the bones of the wrist press on each other more than they should, such as ulnar impaction syndrome on the pinky side.

Where does your wrist hurt? A quick map

Location is one of the most useful clues you have. Press gently around your wrist with the fingers of your other hand, move it through its range and notice which spot complains. Then use this table as a rough guide, and follow the link to the article that goes deeper into that area.

Pain doesn't always stay neatly in one box, and it's normal for a sore wrist to feel a bit vague. If you can't pin it down, that's a perfectly good reason to let a physio or doctor have a look.

Is it overuse or an injury?

The way the pain started tells you a lot. If you can point to a moment, like a fall, a slip off the pole or a heavy rep that went wrong, and the pain came on straight away with swelling or bruising, you're more likely dealing with an injury, and injuries deserve a proper check rather than a wait-and-see approach. If the pain crept in over days or weeks, gets worse with a particular activity and eases with rest, overuse is the more likely story.

Overuse pain often shows up after a change, so it's worth asking yourself what's different lately. Maybe you went from one class a week to four, started a new handstand programme, moved to a spinning pole, began a desk job or had a baby. The body adapts well to load that rises gradually, and it complains when the load jumps faster than your tendons can keep up with.

Masha's tip: Keep a quick note on your phone for a week of what you did and how your wrist felt the next morning. Patterns jump out surprisingly fast, and it's exactly the kind of information a physio will ask you for.

What can you do at home for the first couple of weeks?

For mild wrist pain without any of the warning signs below, the NHS suggests sensible self-care for around two weeks before seeing a GP. In practice that looks something like this:

• Back off the aggravating activity. You don't usually need to stop moving completely, but skip or modify the moves that clearly hurt, like full-weight handstands or tight twisting grips.
• Use ice for fresh pain. A cold pack wrapped in a tea towel for up to 20 minutes every two to three hours can ease pain and swelling in the first few days. The NHS advises against heat for the first two to three days after an injury.
• Keep it gently moving. Slow, pain-free circles and bends stop the wrist stiffening up. Our wrist warm-up for pole and aerial is a good place to start once the sharp pain has settled.
• Ask a pharmacist about pain relief. They can tell you whether a painkiller or an anti-inflammatory gel suits you, and you should always follow the label. Our guide to wrist pain medicine and treatments explains the options in more detail.
• Take rings and bracelets off if your wrist or hand is swelling.

When the pain has settled, the next step is building the wrist back up so it copes with your training again. Strength work for the forearm and grip makes a real difference, and you'll find simple progressions in how to strengthen your wrists.

When should you see a doctor about wrist pain?

Please don't sit on these. Get urgent help (in the UK that means NHS 111 or A&E, elsewhere your local urgent care) if:

• you fell or hurt your wrist and it's very painful, swollen, bruised or looks a different shape
• you heard a snap, crack or grinding noise when it happened
• you can't move your wrist or hold anything
• part or all of your hand has gone numb, pale or a strange colour
• the wrist is hot, red and swollen, or you have a fever, which can be a sign of infection

Book a non-urgent appointment with your GP or a physio if the pain hasn't improved after two weeks of looking after it, if it keeps coming back, if it wakes you at night, if you have tingling or numbness that doesn't go away, if your grip feels weak, or if you have diabetes. And if you fell on your hand and the thumb side is still tender a day or two later, get it checked even if you can move it, because scaphoid fractures are easy to miss and heal best when they're found early (OrthoInfo explains why).

Where do wrist wraps fit in?

I'll be honest with you here, because I make wrist wraps and it would be easy to oversell them. A wrap can't fix a fracture, a torn ligament or a pinched nerve, and if you have any of the red flags above you need a professional, not a product. What a good wrap can do is give you firm, comfortable compression and a feeling of stability while you train, add a bit of warmth to the joint and remind you to keep your wrist stacked well instead of collapsing into it.

That's why I designed SneakyDeez the way I did. I was teaching every day with sore wrists, and everything I tried either felt flimsy or locked my wrist so much that I couldn't grip the pole properly. Our wraps sit low on the wrist with firm elastic where the load is, so your hand and grip stay free. If you want to know more about how and when to wear them, have a read of our tips for using wrist wraps.

Whatever the cause turns out to be, the best thing you can do is take your wrist seriously early on. Most wrist pain settles with a bit of rest, smarter loading and patience, and the earlier you adjust, the sooner you're back to training the way you love. If you pole, you might also like our guide to wrist pain in pole dancing, which looks at the moves that load the wrist the most.