Flexor Carpi Radialis: Pain Pattern and Treatment
The flexor carpi radialis runs down the front of the forearm from the inner elbow to the base of the index and middle finger bones. It bends the wrist and tilts it toward the thumb. Its documented pattern is pain at the front of the wrist crease on the thumb side, the spot that hurts pushing up from a chair or holding a plank. It is the muscle behind a wrist that has been called a sprain, tendinitis, or early arthritis when the wrist itself is normal. This is a sub-page of the forearm flexor group page.
Attachments and action
Origin: The medial epicondyle of the humerus, through the common flexor tendon.
Insertion: The bases of the second and third metacarpals.
Action: Flexion of the wrist and radial deviation, tilting the hand toward the thumb; it assists pronation.
Where the pain is felt: At the front of the wrist crease on the thumb side. A short way up the front of the forearm. Into the base of the palm on the thumb side.
Common causes: Push-ups, planks, and yoga on the hands; pushing up from a chair or a car seat; rowing and climbing; a fall onto the outstretched hand; a keyboard with the wrists bent up; wringing and kneading.
Patients say: "Right at the wrist crease, on the thumb side." "Push-ups are out." A wrist brace that helped for a week. "Turning a jar lid hurts the front of my wrist."
When to get evaluated: Wrist pain after a fall on the hand, especially with tenderness in the hollow at the base of the thumb, needs an X-ray for a scaphoid fracture first. A wrist that is hot, swollen, and stiff in the morning needs medical evaluation for inflammatory arthritis. Numbness in the fingers with weakness needs a nerve assessment.
How this muscle is examined and treated
Examination tests wrist flexion and thumb-side tilt against resistance, presses the muscle in the front of the upper forearm along the line to the wrist for the point that reproduces the crease pain, and checks the wrist bones for the tenderness of a fracture or arthritis. Needling here addresses the muscle in the front of the forearm, not the tendon at the wrist. Assessment and treatment happen in the same visit.
Related conditions
TendinitisSports & Performance InjuriesChronic Pain Patterns
This page is educational. It describes muscle referral patterns commonly associated with pain; it does not diagnose your condition. Individual patterns vary. For evaluation of your specific pain, see a licensed clinician. Seek immediate medical care for emergencies. Eugene Baek, L.Ac. · New Jersey License 25MZ00080600