The 5 Best Exercises to Relieve Wrist Pain, According to Physical Therapists

Reported by Women's Health Magazine.

Wrist pain has a way of arriving uninvited — mid-workout, mid-commute, mid-lifting-a-toddler — and most of us respond the way we respond to most inconveniences: we wait it out. That strategy, according to Women's Health Magazine, is exactly wrong. The pain isn't random. It's the product of accumulated micro-stress on tendons that haven't built enough capacity for the repetitive demands of daily life — typing, scrolling, carrying kids, gripping a stroller handle for an hour straight. The result is typically tendonitis or tenosynovitis, inflammation of the tendon or its surrounding sheath. And for women specifically, the risk is compounded: pregnancy and postpartum hormonal shifts increase relaxin, a hormone that loosens ligaments and alters how well wrist joints handle load, per a 2025 review published in Joint Diseases and Related Surgery.

Stop, Then Strengthen

The short-term move is to pause whatever's triggering the flare — push-ups, planks, grocery bags — for two to three days. But Lena Płaczek, PT, DPT, a physical therapist at Reload PT in New York, is clear that rest is not a fix. "Rest alone doesn't change the underlying capacity of the tendon; it only reduces symptoms temporarily." The real work is rebuilding strength. Once pain subsides, Płaczek and Milica McDowell, PT, DPT, founder of Clearwater PT in Montana, recommend five targeted moves using a light weight (think: soup can) and a stress ball. Eccentric wrist extensions and wrist flexion curls train the tendon through its full range with slow, controlled lowering — the kind of load that actually remodels tissue over time. Forearm rotations, isometric wrist holds, and grip squeezes round out the protocol, building the stability that prevents the next flare before it starts.

Mechanics matter just as much as exercise. McDowell points to how most people pick things up — palm down or palm up — as a quiet, constant source of strain. The fix is deceptively simple: use a handshake grip, thumb up, pinky toward the floor. That neutral alignment centers weight over the forearm bones instead of torquing the tendons. The same logic applies to lifting children (bring them close to your body first, keep wrists straight), pushing a stroller (loosen your grip, rotate hand positions), and phone use (rest your elbow on your opposite arm wrapped across your body, alternate hands). Small adjustments, compounded over thousands of daily repetitions, add up.

Ignoring the ache is genuinely not an option. McDowell's analogy is blunt: "It's kind of like having a pebble in your shoe — if you leave that pebble in there, eventually it's going to cause a problem." A chronic wrist issue doesn't stay in the wrist — the brain compensates by recruiting the shoulder or neck, creating a cascading pattern of dysfunction. If a week of this protocol doesn't move the needle, or if you're noticing grip failures or persistent tingling, see a professional immediately.

Your wrists carry more than you think — treat them like the load-bearing structures they actually are.

Read the original at Women's Health Magazine.