Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Wrist drop physical examination
Introduction
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Physical Examination
Physical Examination
Extremities
An exam of the arm, hand, and wrist may find:
- Decreased ability to extend the arm at the elbow
- Decreased ability to rotate the arm outward (supination)
- Difficulty lifting the wrist or fingers (extensor muscle weakness)
- Muscle loss (atrophy) in the forearm
- Weakness of the wrist and finger
- To demonstrate wrist drop, hold your arm out in front of you with your forearm parallel to the floor. With the back of your hand facing the ceiling (i.e. pronated), let your hand hang limply so that your fingers point downward. A person with wrist drop would be unable to move from this position to one in which the fingers are pointing up towards the ceiling.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Cafer Zorkun, M.D., Ph.D. [2]