Passive finger extension is a stretch for a finger that will not fully straighten at the knuckle. With your palm flat on a table, you use your other hand to lift one finger at a time up off the table, keeping that finger straight, and hold it there. Passive means the finger's own muscles stay relaxed while the other hand does the lifting. Physios and hand therapists often give it for stiffness after a hand injury or a spell in a cast or splint.

How to do the passive finger extension

Sit upright at a table and lay the hand you are working flat on the tabletop, palm down, with the fingers straight and resting together.
With your other hand, take hold of one finger of the working hand, supporting it along its length so the middle and end joints stay as straight as you can keep them.
Lift that finger up off the table, bending it back at the big knuckle, as far as it goes without pain. Your palm and the other fingers stay flat on the table.
Hold the stretch there, keep breathing and let the hand being stretched stay relaxed.
Lower the finger gently back to the table, then move on to the next finger.

What you should feel

A stretch across the palm side of the knuckle and along the underside of the finger. It should feel like a firm pull that eases a little as you hold, not a sharp pain.

Common mistakes

Letting the palm lift off the table as the finger comes up.
Allowing the finger to bend at its middle or end joint, so the stretch is lost.
Pulling the finger back quickly or bouncing it at the top.
Tensing the hand being stretched instead of letting it relax.

How often

Many programs hold each stretch for 15 to 30 seconds, 3 to 5 times for each stiff finger, 2 to 3 times a day. Your physio will adjust this.

Stop and check with your physio if

Sharp pain in a finger joint, or pain that is still there an hour after you finish.
Numbness or tingling in the finger or hand. 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.
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 voice guide describes lifting one finger at a time, and the video shows the other hand working through the fingers in turn with only a short lift on each. Stretch only the fingers your physio has picked out. Keep it gentle. You are after a long, easy hold, not a hard push.

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. After a tendon repair on the palm side of a finger, stretching the finger straight pulls on the repair, so wait until your surgeon or hand therapist says this stretch is allowed. After a dislocated or badly sprained finger, bending the finger back can strain the healing joint, so ask your physio or hand therapist before you start. If a finger is bent by Dupuytren's contracture, do not force it straight; the Dupuytren's contracture page explains why. A finger that catches and then jumps straight may be trigger finger, so mention it to your physio.

To move the fingers through their range on their own, see tendon glides and open and close the hands.

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.

Passive finger extension