Intermediate Wrist and Hand Tendon Repair Rehabilitation

Program Overview — Intermediate Wrist and Hand Tendon Repair Rehabilitation (16 Weeks)

This program is for people recovering from wrist and hand tendon repair who have moved past early healing and are ready for a supervised, moderate-intensity plan. Carpal tunnel, distal radius, and ulna recovery may also be part of your picture. The goal is to steadily rebuild wrist motion, hand strength, and everyday function over 16 weeks, using graded exercise rather than pushing through pain. Your therapist adjusts the pace to your healing and symptoms, and all progress is guided by your clinician.

Before You Start

Your clinician should clear you before starting or advancing any exercise. This plan is not for anyone with compartment syndrome — that is a medical emergency with severe, worsening pain, swelling, or tightness, especially after activity, and needs urgent care. Stop and call your clinician if you notice new or increasing numbness, sudden weakness, a "snapping" feeling, marked swelling, or pain that keeps rising during or after exercise. Warm up before every session and avoid overloading.

Weekly Structure

You will do two sessions per week, about 30 minutes each, for 16 weeks. The plan moves through four phases: protected early healing, gentle motion, progressive motion, then strengthening. Early work is light and focused on protecting the repair while keeping fingers moving; later sessions add resistance and more demanding tasks. Your back brace, dip station, and pull-up bar are used only as your therapist directs, for supported positioning and graded loading — never to strain the wrist or hand.

What a Typical Session Looks Like

Each session follows a warm-up, main work, and cool-down pattern. Warm up with gentle shoulder and arm movement, then light finger and wrist motion. Main work includes your prescribed wrist flexor and extensor strengthening, putty exercises for the small hand muscles, nerve gliding, and joint mobilization as directed; equipment like the dip station or pull-up bar is used only for supported, controlled positioning your therapist approves. Cool down with gentle stretching and elevation. Electrical stimulation and splinting are set up as instructed by your clinician.

Tracking Progress

You move to the next phase only when your therapist confirms you meet the criteria for that phase — for example, comfortable wrist range of motion, a full fist, improving grip strength compared with your other side, and no worsening nerve symptoms. These are checkpoints, not deadlines; some people take longer. Your outcome measures — grip strength with the Jamar dynamometer, the Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire, DASH score, goniometry, monofilament testing, and the Purdue Pegboard — are repeated over time to show trends and guide decisions.

Recovery and Self-Care

Keep pain controlled and comfortable during activity; ease off if pain climbs or lingers. Use rest, elevation, and your splint as advised. Never add resistance or load beyond what your therapist sets. Seek prompt care for red flags: severe or worsening pain, tightness, swelling, numbness, color or temperature changes in the hand, or any sign of infection at the incision. These can signal serious problems and should not be worked through.