Almost none of the muscles that move your hand live in your hand.
They sit in your forearm, and their tendons cross the wrist and anchor at the elbow. That is the single most useful fact about this whole region. Every time you grip, those muscles pull, and the tendon at the elbow takes the load whether the problem shows up there or at your wrist. It is why elbow pain and wrist pain so often turn out to be the same story told from two ends.
Tendon pain here is usually a capacity problem rather than an inflammation problem. The tendon was asked to do more than it was currently built for, too often, or with too little recovery in between, and it changed structurally in response. That distinction matters, because it explains why resting it feels good and then fails the moment you go back to normal. Rest lowers the demand. It does not raise the tendon's capacity. Only loading does that.
Nerves are the other half. The median nerve passes through the carpal tunnel at your wrist and the ulnar nerve runs behind the inside of your elbow, and both can get compressed or simply irritated by long stretches in the same position, gripping, or leaning on an elbow. Symptoms sit at the elbow or wrist but the neck can also refer pain into the forearm, which is why we check it. If your pain is specifically at the bony point on the outside or the inside of the elbow and it flares with racket sports or golf, our tennis and golfer's elbow page covers that case in more detail.
Tendon, nerve, or joint. They do not feel the same.
Where it sits, what provokes it, and whether there is numbness attached separates tendon pain from nerve symptoms before we lay a hand on you.
Pain When You Grip
Picking up a kettle, turning a key, shaking a hand. Grip loads the forearm tendons directly, so it is often the first thing to hurt and the last to come back.
A Sore Point On The Elbow
Tenderness right on the bone at the outside or inside of the elbow, sore to press and worse the day after a heavy session or a long match.
Numb Hands At Night
Waking to shake the hand out, or numbness in the thumb side of the hand. Nerve symptoms behave differently from tendon pain and get assessed differently.
Thumb-Side Wrist Pain
Pain at the base of the thumb when you lift, wring out a towel, or pick up a child. Common in new parents and anyone doing a lot of repetitive thumb work.
Ache By The End Of A Workday
Forearm and wrist ache that builds over hours at a keyboard or mouse, quiet on the weekend, back by Tuesday afternoon.
A Grip You Cannot Trust
Dropping things, losing the last bit of a lift, or a hand that gives out on a heavy carry. Grip strength is measurable, so we can track it instead of guessing.
Calm the tissue down. Then build it up.
A full one-on-one evaluation with a Doctor of Physical Therapy starts by separating tendon from nerve. We load the tendon in specific directions to see what reproduces your pain, we test grip and compare sides, we screen the nerves at the wrist and elbow, and we check the neck and shoulder, because the forearm is the end of a longer chain and what happens above it changes what the hand has to absorb.
Treatment runs on two tracks. Hands-on work, soft tissue treatment, instrument-assisted work and needling, gives the irritated tissue immediate relief and restores the movement it has lost. Then we load it, deliberately and progressively, because that is the part that actually changes a tendon. We work on grip in the positions you need it, and we look at how you are doing the thing that irritated it, whether that is a barbell, a racket, a keyboard, or a trade you do all day. If your symptoms look like nerve compression that needs a physician's opinion, we will say so.
No referral needed. Texas direct access lets us treat you for up to 30 consecutive business days without one.
What our patients say.
"Andrew and the team were amazing I walked in with really bad shoulder and trap pain on a random night and they welcomed me in, they have made my life 10 times better I’ve never felt so good about."Carlos C. · Shoulder and Trap Pain
Schedule an Appointment
No referral needed under Texas direct access, up to 30 consecutive business days.
Your first visit is a full one-on-one evaluation with a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Tell us what you grip, lift and type all day, and leave with a plan and something to do that day.
You’re all set.
We’ll reach out within one business day to confirm your appointment. If you need to speak with us sooner, call us directly.