Quick answer: Hand exercises can help reduce arthritis pain and improve hand function. Perform exercises like finger spreads, making a fist, and thumb circles daily for at least eight weeks. These activities, which also include using therapy putty and wrist circles, aim to strengthen muscles, increase grip strength, and enhance fine motor skills. Warming hands beforehand can further improve effectiveness.
Why Hand Exercises Matter
Your hands contain 27 bones, 27 joints, and over 30 muscles. Osteoarthritis of the hands affects 1 in 5 adults over 60 in the UK, causing pain, stiffness, and difficulty with everyday tasks like opening jars, typing, and buttoning clothes.
The Evidence
A 2022 systematic review in Arthritis Care & Research found that regular hand exercises:
- Reduced pain by 25% over 3 months
- Improved grip strength by 18%
- Enhanced fine motor function by 22%
- Were most effective when performed daily for 8+ weeks
8 Best Hand Exercises
1. Finger Spreads
Place your hand flat on a table. Slowly spread your fingers as wide as possible. Hold 5 seconds. - Reps: 10 per hand - Targets: Finger abductor muscles2. Fist Making
Slowly make a gentle fist, wrapping your thumb across your fingers. Hold 5 seconds. Open slowly. - Reps: 10 per hand - Targets: Finger flexors, grip strength3. Finger Lifts
Place your hand flat on a table. Lift each finger individually, hold 2 seconds, lower. - Reps: 5 per finger, both hands - Targets: Finger extensor muscles4. Thumb Circles
Hold your hand out, thumb extended. Make slow circles with your thumb, 5 clockwise, 5 anticlockwise. - Reps: 10 total per hand - Targets: Thumb carpometacarpal joint5. Putty Squeeze
Using therapy putty or a stress ball, squeeze firmly for 5 seconds. Release. - Reps: 10 per hand - Targets: Overall grip strength6. Finger Walks
Place your hand flat on a table. Slowly "walk" your fingers toward you, bunching the hand. Then walk back out. - Reps: 5 per hand - Targets: Finger flexors and extensors7. Wrist Circles
Extend your arm. Slowly circle your wrist 5 times clockwise, then 5 times anticlockwise. - Reps: 10 total per hand - Targets: Wrist joint mobility8. Rubber Band Extensions
Place a rubber band around all five fingertips. Slowly open your fingers against the resistance. - Reps: 10 per hand - Targets: Finger extensors (counteracts gripping)Daily Hand Care Tips
- Warm your hands before exercises — soak in warm water for 5 minutes
- Use larger grips — foam tubing on pens, built-up handles on cutlery
- Protect your joints — use both hands to carry heavy items
- Rest during flares — gentle range-of-motion only, no strengthening
- Apply hand cream — massage improves circulation
When to Use Splints
Your GP or occupational therapist may recommend splints for:
- Thumb base OA (CMC joint) — a thumb spica splint
- Night-time stiffness — resting splints
- During repetitive tasks — working splints
Programme by Lisa Morgan, HCPC Registered Occupational Therapist
Practical next steps for Hand Exercises for Arthritis Pain Relief
If you came here about Hand Exercises for Arthritis Pain Relief, pick one change you can keep for a fortnight rather than overhauling everything at once. Note what hurts, what helps, and what you have already tried, then take that list to your GP, rheumatology nurse or physiotherapist so the conversation stays concrete.In many areas you can ask your NHS trust about self-referral to physiotherapy or lifestyle support without waiting for a hospital letter. Check your GP surgery website or the NHS App for the route that applies where you live.
Pacing on good and bad days
On better days it is tempting to catch up on everything at once. Spread chores and exercise across the week instead. Use the two-hour rule many physiotherapists suggest: if pain or fatigue is clearly worse two hours after activity, the dose was too high — trim the next session rather than stopping altogether.
Building a joint-friendly routine
Start with short sessions you can repeat on most days. Warm water, cycling, or paced walking often suits stiff joints better than sudden high-impact bursts. Increase time or resistance slowly, and leave a rest day when a joint is hot, swollen or unusually painful. If you are unsure where to begin, ask about NHS physiotherapy or an exercise referral scheme via your GP surgery.
Talking with your clinician
Bring the bottle or a photo to pharmacy or clinic appointments. Pharmacists can flag interactions with methotrexate, anticoagulants and other common arthritis medicines. Document start dates so you and your team can judge benefit honestly after several weeks.
Quick questions about Hand Exercises Arthritis Pain
Is this a substitute for seeing a clinician? No. Use it to prepare questions and understand options, then confirm decisions with your NHS team.How long before I judge whether a change helped? Give most habit or exercise changes at least two to four weeks, unless pain or swelling clearly worsens — in that case scale back sooner.
What should I track? Joint pain (0–10), morning stiffness time, sleep quality, and how far you can walk or how long you can type or stand. Patterns beat one-off ratings.
Safety and when to get urgent help
This page is general information for people in the United Kingdom, not personal medical advice. Seek urgent help via NHS 111 or A&E if you have sudden inability to move a joint, hot swollen joint with fever, chest pain, severe shortness of breath, or symptoms that feel immediately dangerous.
Keep learning with us
Explore related guides on Living With Arthritis UK — try the guides hub, diet hub, exercise hub, or site search to filter by topic and length. If benefits or work questions are on your mind, start at the Benefits & PIP hub.
Keep expectations kind while you work on hand exercises for arthritis pain relief. Arthritis symptoms fluctuate; a quieter week does not mean you imagined earlier pain, and a flare does not mean every helpful habit has failed. Adjust one variable at a time so you can see what truly helps.
Continue reading
- Best Knee Exercises for Arthritis | Living with Arthritis — Physiotherapist-approved knee exercises to strengthen muscles, reduce pain and improve mobility with arthritis.
- Swimming for Arthritis: A Complete Guide — Why swimming is one of the best exercises for arthritis.
- Yoga for Arthritis: Gentle Poses That Help — A guide to gentle yoga poses recommended for arthritis.
- Grip Strength Exercises: A Gentle Progression for Hand OA — Squeezing a soft ball, tendon glides and finger lifts rebuild grip without flaring inflamed joints.