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The Bone Healed Months Ago. So Why Does Your Wrist Still Hurt?
Some aching and a slightly weaker grip a year after a wrist fracture is common. Many wrists keep quietly improving between 6 and 12 months, and grip often stays a little below the other side.
A general ache after heavier days usually means one thing: the wrist was never properly loaded again after the cast came off.
Pain that is SPECIFIC, though, has a cause worth finding. Pain on the little-finger side, a clunk, pain over a plate, or a wrist that is getting worse is not just “how it healed.”
You know the list. Opening a jar. Push-ups. Carrying the laundry basket. Pushing up off the floor. The X-ray said healed, the surgeon said healed…and your wrist didn’t get the memo.
Here’s where people lose another year. Rest a wrist that only needs loading, and it gets weaker. Train hard through a wrist with a torn ligament or a long ulna, and you grind the problem in. Same pain, opposite fixes.
In Closing Window terms, a year out the BONE’s window is shut: the shape it healed in is the shape it keeps, so the goal changes from healing to managing what that shape causes. The STRENGTH window is wide open. Muscle responds to training at 12 months, at 24 months, at 60.
So this article does one job. It helps you work out which of the two you’ve got.
Is it normal for a wrist to still hurt a year after a fracture?
Some of it, yes. Here’s how I’d split it.
- Usually expected: an ache after a heavy day, stiffness first thing in the morning, grip a little weaker than the other hand, the last few degrees of bending the wrist back still missing, an ache when the weather turns.
- Not just “how it healed”: pain on the little-finger side with turning or gripping, a clunk or catch, pain that sits over the plate or the scar, pain that’s getting worse month on month, or numbness and tingling.
The first group mostly needs a program. The second group needs a diagnosis first, then a program.
Why does my wrist still hurt after a broken wrist?
- Undertrained, not damaged. Range came back, strength didn’t. Grip, forearm and weight-bearing work were stopped too early. The X-ray healed. The muscles never got their Rocky montage.
- The fracture healed shorter or at an angle, so the ulna now presses on the little-finger side of the wrist. See ulnar impaction.
- A TFCC or forearm joint injury from the same fall: little-finger-side pain with turning and gripping. See TFCC injury.
- A carpal ligament tear missed at the time, cos everyone was looking at the broken bone: a clunk and weakness with load. See scapholunate injury.
- Wear in the joint surface if the fracture went into the joint and healed with a small step in it.
- Hardware irritation: aching over a plate, or tendons catching on it. See wrist fracture plate surgery.
- Nerve irritation, including carpal tunnel symptoms after the fracture: numb, tingly thumb, index and middle fingers, often worse at night.
A wrist that only hurts when you load it is often a wrist that was never loaded again properly.
Where does it hurt? Sort it by location
- General ache after heavier days, no clicks: deconditioning, stiffness or mild wear.
- Little-finger side, worse turning or gripping: ulnar impaction, TFCC or the forearm joint.
- Middle of the back of the wrist, with a clunk: carpal ligament.
- Over the scar or plate: hardware or tendon irritation.
- Thumb side, worse pinching: tendon irritation or, less often, the thumb base joint.
- Burning, sensitivity, swelling and color change: CRPS. This one needs a clinician sooner, not later.
How do you find out what’s causing it?
A year out, guessing is expensive. This is what a proper work-up looks like.
- Grip strength, measured. A grip dynamometer on both hands. A number beats “feels a bit weak” and gives you something to train against.
- Pressing in the right places. Tenderness in the soft spot on the little-finger side points to the TFCC. Pain over the back of the wrist with a clunk on specific loading tests points to the scapholunate ligament. Tapping over the carpal tunnel points to the nerve.
- X-rays of BOTH wrists. To check the angle the radius healed at and whether it healed shorter than the ulna. Comparing sides matters, cos everyone’s “normal” is a little different.
- CT scan if the fracture went into the joint, to see whether the joint surface healed with a step.
- MRI, sometimes with contrast in the joint, for the TFCC, ligaments and cartilage.
- Nerve conduction studies if numbness or tingling is part of the picture.
- Wrist arthroscopy is the most direct look at ligaments and cartilage, and sometimes treats the problem at the same time.
What exercises help a wrist that still hurts after a fracture?
If the pain is the general, after-a-heavy-day kind, this is your fix. Three sessions a week for 8 to 12 weeks. Not three weeks and then “it didn’t work.” See wrist fracture exercises for the early-stage version.
- Grip. Squeeze firm putty or a stress ball, hold 3 seconds, 3 sets of 10. Progress to a firmer grade when 10 feels easy.
- Wrist curls, palm up and palm down. Forearm resting on a table, hand over the edge, start with 0.5 to 1 kg (1 to 2 lb), 3 sets of 10 to 15 each way. Slow on the way down.
- Forearm rotation. Hold a hammer near the head, elbow tucked at your side, turn palm up and palm down. 3 sets of 10 to 15. Slide your hand further down the handle to make it harder.
- Carries. Hold a shopping bag or kettlebell at your side and walk for 20 to 30 seconds. 3 rounds. Grip endurance is what daily life actually asks for.
- Weight-bearing, in stages. Wall push-ups, then a kitchen counter, then a bench, then the floor. Start on fists or push-up handles so the wrist stays straight, 3 sets of 10 at each stage before moving down.
The pain rule I give: up to about 3 out of 10 during the exercise is fine, as long as it’s settled by the next morning. Settled? Add a little load next week. Worse the next day? Drop back one step, don’t stop.
(If 12 weeks of properly progressed loading changes NOTHING, that’s useful information too. It moves you into the “needs a diagnosis” group.)
Can I do push-ups, lift weights and heavy work again?
Most people can. The order matters more than the timing.
- Push-ups and planks: fists, handles or parallettes first. Flat-palm push-ups on the floor come LAST, cos full wrist extension under body weight is the position a healed wrist fracture finds hardest. See gym wrist positions.
- Pressing and curling at the gym: keep the wrist stacked straight over the forearm, build load over weeks, and use wrist wraps for the heavier sets if they help.
- Heavy manual work: build up the same way, with the carries and grip work above. A TFCC-style wrist brace can take the edge off heavy tasks while the little-finger side settles.
- Racquet sports and golf: once grip is close to the other side and turning the forearm under load doesn’t hurt.
Should I get the plate removed?
Not routinely. Most plates stay in for life without causing any trouble.
- When removal comes up: pain that clearly sits over the plate, a screw you can feel, or a tendon creaking or catching over the metal.
- When it’s done: only once the bone has fully healed, and after a discussion with your surgeon about the risks of a second operation.
- What it won’t fix: pain from the TFCC, a ligament, or the angle the bone healed at. Take the plate out for the wrong reason and you have the same pain plus a new scar.
What if the wrist healed crooked?
This is where the window is shut for the original goal, and the goal changes. The bone won’t remodel itself straight in an adult. But that doesn’t mean nothing can be done.
- Ulna pressing on the little-finger side: a surgeon may discuss shortening the ulna slightly to take the pressure off.
- Radius healed at a significant angle: a corrective osteotomy (re-cutting and re-setting the bone) is an option for the right person.
- TFCC or ligament damage: arthroscopy to clean up or repair, depending on what’s found.
Most people don’t need any of these. Some do, and they deserve to know the option exists rather than being told to live with it.
Will my wrist ever be back to normal?
- Months 3 to 6: daily tasks largely back, heavy tasks still limited.
- Months 6 to 12: continued gains, especially in strength, with a structured program.
- After 12 months: remaining pain with a specific pattern deserves investigation. Remaining weakness usually still responds to training.
Honest version: many people end up with a wrist that does everything they need, with grip a little below the other side and the last few degrees of bending back missing. Most don’t notice those day to day. For the full picture from day one, see wrist fracture recovery.
What a hand therapist does differently
- Measures, then compares. Grip, pinch, range in degrees, both sides. Progress becomes visible.
- Finds the position that hurts. Turning a key, pushing up from a chair, a plank. Then builds the program around getting that exact position strong.
- Spots the pattern that needs a doctor. Little-finger-side pain, a clunk, nerve symptoms. Those get referred on instead of being trained through.
- Uses splints and braces as tools, not crutches. Support for heavy tasks while strength catches up, then weaned off.
Get it checked today if
- Your thumb suddenly can’t lift up off the table, or a finger or thumb suddenly can’t bend. A tendon may have ruptured over a bone edge or a plate.
- The scar becomes red, hot and swollen, leaks fluid, or you have a fever.
- Burning pain with swelling, color change and skin that can’t stand being touched.
Get it checked if
- Pain is getting worse, not better.
- There’s a clunk, catching or giving way.
- Pain is focused on the little-finger side or over the plate.
- Numbness or tingling has appeared.
- Twelve weeks of properly progressed strengthening haven’t changed anything.
General ache usually needs loading. Specific pain needs a diagnosis.
Written by Nigel Chua, hand occupational therapist in practice since 2005. Thousands of hands, wrists and elbows assessed and treated. My credentials are here. This article explains; it doesn’t examine. A wrist that’s still hurting a year out deserves one proper assessment before you accept it as permanent.
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.