Seated wrist extension is a simple movement exercise for bending the wrist back. You sit at a table with your forearm resting on it, palm down, and lift the back of your hand up from the wrist, then lower it again. No weight is used, so it suits the early stage of getting a stiff wrist moving, for example once a cast comes off. Physios also use it as a warm-up before wrist strengthening.

How to do the seated wrist extension

Sit at a table with your feet flat on the floor, and rest the forearm of the arm you are working along the tabletop, palm facing down, with your wrist close to the edge of the table.
Let your hand relax level with your forearm, fingers straight but loose. In the video the heel of the hand stays on the table and the fingers reach just past the edge.
Keeping your forearm down, lift the back of your hand by bending at the wrist, so your fingers rise toward the ceiling.
Go only as high as you can without pain, and hold for a moment at the top.
Lower the hand slowly until it is level with your forearm again, then repeat.

What you should feel

Light work along the top of your forearm as the hand lifts, and a gentle stretch across the front of the wrist at the top. A wrist that has been in a cast often feels stiff at first.

Common mistakes

Lifting the forearm or elbow off the table so the whole arm helps.
Making a tight fist or clawing the fingers.
Letting the hand flop back down instead of lowering it.
Shrugging the shoulder or leaning toward the hand.

How often

Many programs use 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 slow lifts, 1 to 3 times a day, with a pause of 2 to 3 seconds at the top. Your physio will adjust this.

Stop and check with your physio if

Sharp or catching pain in the wrist, or a wrist that is more swollen, hot or stiff after the session.
Numbness or tingling in your hand or fingers that builds as you go. 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.
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 the hand hanging over the edge of the table. In the video the wrist sits close to the edge instead, and the hand starts level with the forearm and comes back to level after each lift, never dropping below the table. The steps follow the video. Has your physio asked you to bend the wrist down as well? Then slide your arm forward until the whole hand is past the edge, and put a folded cloth under your forearm so the edge does not dig in.

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. If the wrist is too stiff to lift on its own yet, assisted wrist extension lets your other hand do the lifting. The wrist fracture rehab program shows where movement and strength exercises fit after a break.

Once the wrist bends back freely, wrist flexion and extension moves it both ways, and isometric wrist extension or wrist extension with weight start to build strength. The muscles that lift the hand attach at the outer elbow. If you have tennis elbow and the lift is sore there, keep the movement small and tell your physio.

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.

Seated wrist extension