Wrist and hand

You are likely to be experiencing symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is a common cause of wrist / hand pain with pins and needles or numbness into the palm of the hand (thumb index and middle finger).

Carpal tunnel syndrome is very common, with around 6% of adults experiencing symptoms at some point in their lives. Mild cases of carpal tunnel syndrome often improve within 2 to 8 weeks, though moderate to severe cases may take much longer to get better. Corticosteroid injections or surgery may be offered if symptoms do not improve.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is best managed with an active approach, which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), movement, exercise, pain relief (if required) and addressing lifestyle factors such as weight loss, quitting smoking and seeking help for any problems with mental health or poor sleep. Carpal tunnel night splints may also be helpful.

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, carpal tunnel syndrome can get worse over time if it is not properly managed and develop into persistent pain, which is complex and harder to treat. Persistent pain is complex and can be associated with lifestyle or psychological factors.

Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing persistent pain on the NHS Better Health website.

Further advice about carpal tunnel syndrome

Your wrist / hand symptoms are more likely to be a problem primarily coming from your neck rather than your wrist / hand.

Go to the neck pain symptom checker

You are likely to be experiencing symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is a common cause of wrist / hand pain with pins and needles or numbness into the palm of the hand (thumb index and middle finger).

Carpal tunnel syndrome is very common, with around 6% of adults experiencing symptoms at some point in their lives. Mild cases of carpal tunnel syndrome often improve within 2 to 8 weeks, though moderate to severe cases may take much longer to get better. Corticosteroid injections or surgery may be offered if symptoms do not improve.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is best managed with an active approach, which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), movement, exercise, pain relief (if required) and addressing lifestyle factors such as weight loss, quitting smoking and seeking help for any problems with mental health or poor sleep. Carpal tunnel night splints may also be helpful.

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, carpal tunnel syndrome can get worse over time if it is not properly managed and develop into persistent pain, which is complex and harder to treat. Persistent pain is complex and can be associated with lifestyle or psychological factors.

Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing persistent pain on the NHS Better Health website.

Further advice about carpal tunnel syndrome

Your wrist / hand symptoms are more likely to be a problem primarily coming from your neck rather than your wrist / hand.

Go to the neck pain symptom checker

You are likely to be experiencing symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is a common cause of wrist / hand pain with pins and needles or numbness into the palm of the hand (thumb index and middle finger).

Carpal tunnel syndrome is very common, with around 6% of adults experiencing symptoms at some point in their lives. Mild cases of carpal tunnel syndrome often improve within 2 to 8 weeks, though moderate to severe cases may take much longer to get better. Corticosteroid injections or surgery may be offered if symptoms do not improve.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is best managed with an active approach, which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), movement, exercise, pain relief (if required) and addressing lifestyle factors such as weight loss, quitting smoking and seeking help for any problems with mental health or poor sleep. Carpal tunnel night splints may also be helpful.

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, carpal tunnel syndrome can get worse over time if it is not properly managed and develop into persistent pain, which is complex and harder to treat. Persistent pain is complex and can be associated with lifestyle or psychological factors.

Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing persistent pain on the NHS Better Health website.

Further advice about carpal tunnel syndrome

Your wrist / hand symptoms are more likely to be a problem primarily coming from your neck rather than your wrist / hand.

Go to the neck pain symptom checker

You are likely experiencing a flare-up of wrist and hand osteoarthritis.

Around 1 in 4 adults will develop osteoarthritis in their hands during their lifetimes. The most common joints affected are the base of the thumb and the middle and end joints of the fingers.

Most acute flare-ups of wrist and hand osteoarthritis settle within 2 to 6 weeks, but it can take much longer to improve or even get worse over time if it is not managed properly.

It is best managed with an active approach, which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), movement, exercise, pain relief (if required) and addressing lifestyle factors such as weight loss, avoiding unsupportive footwear, quitting smoking and seeking help for any problems with mental health or poor sleep.

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, wrist and hand osteoarthritis can get worse over time if it is not properly managed and develop into persistent pain, which is complex and harder to treat. Persistent pain is complex and can be associated with lifestyle or psychological factors.

Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing persistent pain on the NHS Better Health website.

Further advice about wrist and hand osteoarthritis

Thank you for completing the symptom checker. Based on the information you provided, you may have sustained a soft tissue injury to your wrist or hand.

Soft tissue injury includes mild injuries to muscles, tendons, or ligaments. This can commonly happen if you stretch too far, twist suddenly or the wrong way or put too much pressure on your wrist or hand, causing a sprain or strain.

Mild soft tissue injuries can improve within 1 to 3 weeks, but more significant injuries can take 6 to 12 weeks to improve. Injuries like this are best managed with an active approach, which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), movement, exercise and pain relief (if required).

IMPORTANT - While many soft tissue injuries are mild and can be managed with relative rest and simple exercise, sometimes soft tissue injuries can happen alongside wrist and hand fractures, which require prompt medical assessment.

If you have sustained a significant injury within the past 24 to 48 hours and you have significant swelling or bruising or any change in appearance of your wrist or hand, then please attend A&E for URGENT assessment.

If your injury happened more than 48 hours ago but within the past 6 weeks and you still have severe pain or swelling, please contact your GP practice for URGENT advice or call 111. You may be seen by a first-contact physiotherapist at your GP practice.

If you do not think you have sustained a significant injury, have only mild swelling or pain and no change in appearance of your wrist or hand, then you can try to manage your soft tissue injury yourself.

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Is it painful in your knuckle joints when performing the test shown in this video?

Is it painful in your knuckle joints when performing the test shown in this video?

You are likely experiencing a flare-up of wrist and hand osteoarthritis.

Around 1 in 4 adults will develop osteoarthritis in their hands during their lifetimes. The most common joints affected are the base of the thumb and the middle and end joints of the fingers.

Most acute flare-ups of wrist and hand osteoarthritis settle within 2 to 6 weeks, but it can take much longer to improve or even get worse over time if it is not managed properly.

It is best managed with an active approach, which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), movement, exercise, pain relief (if required) and addressing lifestyle factors such as weight loss, avoiding unsupportive footwear, quitting smoking and seeking help for any problems with mental health or poor sleep.

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, wrist and hand osteoarthritis can get worse over time if it is not properly managed and develop into persistent pain, which is complex and harder to treat. Persistent pain is complex and can be associated with lifestyle or psychological factors.

Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing persistent pain on the NHS Better Health website.

Further advice about wrist and hand osteoarthritis

Thank you for completing the symptom checker. Based on the information you provided, you may have sustained a soft tissue injury to your wrist or hand.

Soft tissue injury includes mild injuries to muscles, tendons, or ligaments. This can commonly happen if you stretch too far, twist suddenly or the wrong way or put too much pressure on your wrist or hand, causing a sprain or strain.

Mild soft tissue injuries can improve within 1 to 3 weeks, but more significant injuries can take 6 to 12 weeks to improve. Injuries like this are best managed with an active approach, which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), movement, exercise and pain relief (if required).

IMPORTANT - While many soft tissue injuries are mild and can be managed with relative rest and simple exercise, sometimes soft tissue injuries can happen alongside wrist and hand fractures, which require prompt medical assessment.

If you have sustained a significant injury within the past 24 to 48 hours and you have significant swelling or bruising or any change in appearance of your wrist or hand, then please attend A&E for URGENT assessment.

If your injury happened more than 48 hours ago but within the past 6 weeks and you still have severe pain or swelling, please contact your GP practice for URGENT advice or call 111. You may be seen by a first-contact physiotherapist at your GP practice.

If you do not think you have sustained a significant injury, have only mild swelling or pain and no change in appearance of your wrist or hand, then you can try to manage your soft tissue injury yourself.

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Is it painful in your knuckle joints when performing the test shown in this video?

Is it painful in your knuckle joints when performing the test shown in this video?

Click here to continue the symptom checker

Click here to continue the symptom checker

Click here to continue the symptom checker

Is it painful when pressing over the area shown in this video?

Thank you for using the symptom checker

We are unable to complete the self-management symptom checker.

Please contact your GP practice for further advice and guidance, and mention your symptoms.

You are likely to be experiencing a flare-up of a condition called De Quervain's tenosynovitis, which is a common cause of pain and swelling on the thumb side of the wrist.

This happens when the tendons that control thumb movement become irritated or inflamed as they pass through a small, shared tunnel on the thumb side of the wrist.

Around 2% to 3% of people will experience De Quervain's tenosynovitis at some point in their lives, and women are 8 to 10 times more likely to get it than men. It is also common in new mums.

Mild cases of De Quervain's tenosynovitis often improve within 2 to 6 weeks if it is managed properly, though moderate cases may take between 6 to 12 weeks to improve and medication may be required. You will need to discuss this with a pharmacist if you are pregnant or breast feeding. Unfortunately, some cases can take 3 to 6 months or more to get better and require supportive physiotherapy rehabilitation, an injection or, in rare cases, surgery.

De Quervain's tenosynovitis is best managed with an active approach which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), using a thumb spica splint, pain relief (if required) and addressing lifestyle factors such as weight loss, quitting smoking and seeking help for any problems with mental health or poor sleep.

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, De Quervains Tenosynovitis can worsen over time if it is not properly managed and develop into persistent pain, which is complex and harder to treat. Persistent pain is complex and can be associated with lifestyle or psychological factors.

Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing persistent pain on the NHS Better Health website.

Further advice about managing De Quervain's tenosynovitis

You are likely experiencing symptoms of trigger finger or thumb, which involves swelling and irritation of the tendons on the palm side of the hand.

About 2% to 3% of people will develop trigger finger or thumb at some point in their lives. It is much more common in people with diabetes (affecting 1 person in 10) and in those who do repetitive gripping or manual work like gardening.

Around half of trigger finger cases get better within 8 months, even without treatment, and the thumb is most likely to recover on its own. Mild cases can improve with rest and gentle exercise within 6 weeks. Moderate cases may need anti-inflammatory gel (please discuss this with a pharmacist) and a trigger finger splint or may require a steroid injection. If symptoms are severe and have not responded to treatment, surgery is sometimes required.

Trigger finger is best managed with an active approach which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), using a trigger finger splint, movement, exercise, pain relief (if required) and addressing lifestyle factors such as weight loss, quitting smoking and seeking help for any problems with mental health or poor sleep. 

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, trigger finger can get worse over time if it is not properly managed and develop into persistent pain, which is complex and harder to treat. Persistent pain is complex and can be associated with lifestyle or psychological factors.

Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing persistent pain on the NHS Better Health website.

Further advice about managing trigger finger

Click here to continue the symptom checker

You are likely to be experiencing symptoms of Dupuytren's contracture, which involves developing thickened fibrous cords in the palm of the hand.

Around 3 in 100 people will develop some symptoms of Dupuytren's contracture in their lifetimes. It is more common in males, those with a family history, northern Europeans and in people with diabetes or epilepsy. Lifestyle factors also play an important role, including smoking and drinking excess alcohol.

In most mild cases of Dupuytren's contracture, stretching the hands and addressing any contributing lifestyle factors is all that is required. However, if symptoms become bothersome, surgical treatment can be offered. This is usually when the deformity stops you from being able to put your hand flat on a table. If contractures are left to get too severe then surgical treatment is less likely to be successful.

If your fingers do start to contract, please read the self-help and decision-making advice and then contact your GP practice to discuss the most appropriate management plan.

Find self-help and decision-making advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, Dupuytren's contracture can get worse over time, and lifestyle factors can be a cause of this. Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing continuing pain on the NHS Better Health website.

For further advice about Dupuytren's contracture

Do you have a family history (blood relative) with Dupuytren's contracture?

You are likely experiencing symptoms of trigger finger or thumb, which involves swelling and irritation of the tendons on the palm side of the hand.

About 2% to 3% of people will develop trigger finger or thumb at some point in their lives. It is much more common in people with diabetes (affecting 1 person in 10) and in those who do repetitive gripping or manual work like gardening.

Around half of trigger finger cases get better within 8 months, even without treatment, and the thumb is most likely to recover on its own. Mild cases can improve with rest and gentle exercise within 6 weeks. Moderate cases may need anti-inflammatory gel (please discuss this with a pharmacist) and a trigger finger splint or may require a steroid injection. If symptoms are severe and have not responded to treatment, surgery is sometimes required.

Trigger finger is best managed with an active approach which includes relative rest (resting just enough to allow symptoms to settle but staying active to maintain your movement and strength), using a trigger finger splint, movement, exercise, pain relief (if required) and addressing lifestyle factors such as weight loss, quitting smoking and seeking help for any problems with mental health or poor sleep. 

Find further self-help advice and suggested exercises

(You will need to enter 2025 where asked to 'Enter your year of birth')

Unfortunately, trigger finger can get worse over time if it is not properly managed and develop into persistent pain, which is complex and harder to treat. Persistent pain is complex and can be associated with lifestyle or psychological factors.

Find tips and advice on how to improve your overall health and wellbeing and reduce your risk of developing persistent pain on the NHS Better Health website.

Further advice about managing trigger finger

Is there a small lump in any of the areas shown in this image?

Are all of your fingers affected?

Are all of your fingers affected?