The exercises after a wrist fracture matter more than the fracture did.
The bone knits in about six weeks whatever you do. Whether you get a wrist that works is decided in weeks 6 to 12, which is exactly the period most people are discharged into with a photocopied sheet and no follow-up.
What comes out of the cast is stiff, weak, swollen and frightened of load. All four are normal. All four respond to work.
While still in the cast
This is the part people skip, and it costs them weeks later.
- Fingers, several times a day. Full fist, full straighten, and the four tendon glide positions. A stiff hand at cast removal is a second problem on top of the first
- Elbow and shoulder daily. Full bend, full straighten, lift the arm overhead. A stiff shoulder after a wrist fracture is common and entirely avoidable
- Thumb, all directions, if the cast leaves it free
- Elevation whenever sitting. Hand above heart level, fingers moving while it is up
Week 6 to 8, once the cast is off
Start with movement only. NO weight, no gripping loads, no press-ups.
- Wrist up and down. Forearm supported on a table, hand over the edge. Slowly up, slowly down. Ten repetitions, five or six times a day
- Wrist side to side. Forearm flat, hand flat, slide the hand towards the thumb and then the little finger
- Rotation. Elbow tucked at your side and bent to ninety, turn the palm fully up then fully down. This is the movement that predicts how the arm works in daily life, and it is the one most commonly left short
- Fist and straighten, still, every day
Short and often beats long and occasional. Five minutes six times a day works better than thirty minutes once.
Chase rotation. A wrist that bends beautifully but will not turn the palm up still cannot carry a plate or take change.
Week 8 to 12, adding load
- Soft gripping. A sponge, then putty. Not a spring gripper
- Light weight wrist curls, both directions, starting around 500g and building slowly
- Rotation with a light weight held at one end of a stick. The end-loading is what builds the rotation range you gained
- Weight-bearing, last. Hands on a table, lean gently through the wrist, progressing over weeks. Only when movement is comfortable
What is normal and what is not
Normal: aching after exercise that settles within an hour. Swelling in the evening. Stiffness in the morning. Weakness that persists for months. Full recovery commonly taking six to twelve months.
Not normal, and worth raising:
- Pain that is escalating rather than settling, with colour change, sweating, and skin so sensitive that clothing hurts. Read CRPS promptly rather than later
- The thumb stops lifting off a flat table, weeks or months after the fracture. That is a ruptured EPL tendon, not weakness, and exercises will not bring it back
- New numbness in the thumb, index and middle fingers
- Range that is going backwards rather than plateauing
If your fracture was plated rather than cast, the schedule moves earlier — movement typically starts within days, because that is the point of the metalwork. See plated wrist fracture rehab.
For the whole recovery arc, including what weeks 6 to 12 actually feel like, see wrist fracture recovery. If the hand as a whole has gone stiff, the stiff hand after a cast covers that specifically, and swelling and oedema covers the thing driving it.
The cast protected the bone. Nothing protected the wrist, and that is what the next six weeks are for.
Every article on this site is written using the Closing Window Method: name the window your condition runs on, find where you are in it, and act while it’s still open.