Finger, hand, wrist, forearm or elbow pain? Start here.

It’s probably 2am somewhere for you right now. Your hand hurts, or it clicks, or it’s gone numb again, and the internet is either too vague to act on or scary enough to make everything feel worse. I’ve spent 20 years as a hand occupational therapist watching patients arrive after weeks of exactly that. This site exists so you can skip it.

Here’s what I want you to know first. Most minor hand and wrist pain settles on its own within 3 to 7 days. Pain that’s still there past a week isn’t being patient, it’s usually progressing: tendons thicken, joints stiffen, and the rest of your arm starts compensating. The mild ones heal. The rest get worse quietly. Knowing which one you have is the whole game, and it’s what every article on this site is built to tell you.

The problems that bring people here

A finger that clicks or locks in the morning: trigger finger. Numbness in the thumb, index and middle fingers that wakes you at night: carpal tunnel syndrome. Pain on the thumb side of the wrist when you lift a kettle, a pan or a baby: De Quervain’s, the one new parents know as mummy wrist. An elbow that aches when you grip, shake hands or wring a towel: tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow. A fingertip that droops after a ball hit it: mallet finger. A wrist that still hurts weeks after a fall: possibly a fracture that hid from the first X-ray.

And behind all of those, the people rebuilding after surgery: tendon repairs, wrist plates, carpal tunnel releases, joint replacements, wondering whether week 2 or week 6 is supposed to feel like this. All of it lives in the Conditions & Injuries section, with the full index of every condition this site covers.

When not to wait

Some signs skip the 3 to 7 day rule entirely. Numbness that doesn’t pass. A finger you can’t straighten, even with help from your other hand. A joint that looks bent or rotated compared with the other side. Wrist pain below the thumb after a fall, even with a “normal” X-ray. A fingertip that’s white, blue or cold. Those need assessment now, not next week. The full red flag list is here.

Two ways in

Conditions & Injuries, if something hurts now. Every condition I treat, from trigger finger to wrist fractures to recovery after surgery, with honest week-by-week timelines and the point where waiting stops being safe.

Anatomy, if you want to understand the machinery first. What’s actually under your skin, in plain language, and why the structure explains the pain.

Who’s writing this

I’m Nigel Chua, hand occupational therapist in practice since 2005. Tens of thousands of painful fingers, hands, wrists, forearms and elbows assessed and treated: sports injuries, overuse, fractures, post-surgery rehab. Everything here is written the way I explain things across the table in clinic. My credentials, and the longer story.