Assisted wrist extension is a gentle movement exercise in which your other hand bends the stiff wrist back for you, lifting the hand while the forearm rests on a table. The working wrist stays relaxed and just lets itself be moved. Physios often give it when a wrist has gone stiff, for example after time in a cast following a wrist fracture, to work on the backward bend you need for pushing up from a chair or placing a hand flat on a surface.

How to do the assisted wrist extension

Sit at a table and rest the forearm of the stiff wrist on it, palm down, so the hand hangs over the edge.
Let the hanging hand relax completely, with the fingers loose.
Cup the palm and fingers of the hanging hand from underneath with your other hand.
Use the helping hand to lift the hand up slowly, bending the wrist back as far as is comfortable. Keep the forearm flat on the table.
Pause for a moment at the top, as in the video, then lower the hand back down slowly and repeat.

What you should feel

A gentle stretch across the front of the wrist and along the palm side of the forearm as the hand lifts. Some stiffness is normal in a wrist that has been in a cast, but sharp pain is not.

Common mistakes

Letting the working hand help, instead of keeping it relaxed.
Lifting the forearm off the table as the hand goes up, which takes the bend out of the wrist.
Forcing the wrist past a comfortable stretch or bouncing at the end.
Pushing only on the fingertips, which bends the fingers back rather than the wrist.

How often

Many programs start with about 10 slow movements, 3 to 4 times a day in short sessions, while the wrist is stiff. Your physio will adjust this.

Stop and check with your physio if

Sharp or increasing pain in the wrist, rather than a stretch.
Tingling or numbness in your thumb and first fingers as the wrist bends back. If it stays after you stop, or keeps getting worse, get medical advice the same day. If one side of your face or body suddenly goes numb or weak, or your speech becomes slurred or muddled, call emergency services, even if it goes away.
Swelling or pain in the wrist that is worse after the session and still there the next day.
Since the fracture or cast, the hand is getting more painful rather than less, the skin becomes very sensitive to light touch, or the hand changes color, temperature, swelling or sweating compared with the other one, or looks shiny. See your doctor or physio as soon as you can, within a few days at most, as this can be complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and early treatment may help.

From the clinic

The muscles listed are the ones on the palm side of the forearm that get a gentle stretch. The stiff wrist does no work itself. A folded towel under the forearm makes the table edge kinder to the skin. Move slowly and stop at a firm stretch rather than pushing through pain.

After a broken wrist, hand or forearm, or surgery on any of them such as a tendon repair, start only when your doctor, surgeon, physio or hand therapist says the bone or repair is ready for this, and follow their plan for how much to do. When the wrist moves more freely, wrist flexion and extension has you move it on your own. Isometric wrist extension then starts to build strength without the wrist moving.

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-28.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. If you have pain, an injury or a health condition, see a physiotherapist or doctor before starting new exercises.

Assisted wrist extension