Apple Watch causing lump on hand and shooting arm pain

Yes, my Apple Watch is causing wrist pain ! I’ve had the same experience as I’ve been wearing my Apple Watch for the past two years, but I do not wear too tight and I do not sleep in it. I put it on the charger at night.. I started noticing this week that when I would go exercise the greenlight, will go off constantly and it felt like it shocked my left wrist and I started getting left wrist pain, felt like nerve pain.

It was on the pinky side of my wrist. I’m an Acupuncturist , and the pinky side of the wrist goes up to the heart and is the heart Meridian. So that seems dangerous that the electrical current from the watch or the EMFs or whatever it is, is affecting my wrist and goes up the left side of the arm as that Meridian travels to the heart.

That could be very dangerous.

. the shock and the intense pain scared me so I took my watch off immediately. The pain started going away.. so the next day I tried to wear my watch again, and the same thing happened, and when I would take my watch off, the pain will go away. The pain doesn’t always go immediately but pretty shortly after taking the watch off maybe 30 minutes or so after. The pain does not come back and less I wear the watch again.

Last night I took a 5 mile walk, and I wanted to keep track of my steps, so I wore my watch. By the end of my walk, the green light was going off constantly.

Is it normal for the greenlight to go off for a few hours at a time when exercising?

Mine will go off for hours at a time..

When I finished my walk, I had the left wrist pain really bad again, but felt like maybe nerve pain or just pain that went up my arm. So I took my watch off and I had a good night of sleep and I have not put my watch on today and my pain is all gone today… it’s becoming very clear to me that my Apple Watch is causing wrist pain. Again, my watch is not tight at all and it’s in the right place and I do not wear it at night.. this is very scary to me, and very concerning and upsetting.

I really got use to wearing my watch and having it keep track of my steps and my lap swimming but at the same time I’m absolutely not going to wear some thing that is going to affect my health and feeling good and I absolutely do not want to have wrist pain from the Apple Watch!

I’ve been reading that lots of other people are having the same issue too so this is a problem that really needs to be investigated… has Apple responded to anyone about this issue? I will call them about this….

I am experiencing a soft lump in my left wrist that’s causing a dull shooting pain through my thumb. I have been getting this for about a month into getting my Apple Watch series 8 (purchased December 2022). I am gonna try to switch wrists to see what happens and talk to my dr in the mean time. Thanks for the post.

sariadia wrote:

I saw a doctor at Mayo Clinic. He cannot categorically state that this is caused by the watch, but he did say that it's clearly an issue for me wearing the watch. I switched to my left hand and developed a large swollen area on top of my left wrist now. Both wrists are painful and have weakened. He has prescribed physical therapy, which has done little to rectify this. X-rays show some arthritic changes in both hands and wrists. I no longer wear the watch to bed, only during the day and while working out, ugh.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disorder. Osteoarthritis can result from age, overuse, injury or family history. Swelling happens with arthritis. Wearing something like an Apple Watch could certainly aggravate those conditions. But probably wearing any heavy watch would. Sounds like a good move not to wear it at night.

As there are millions of Apple Watches in use there may be a few others who have experienced similar issues however this doesn't necessarily mean that the watch is to blame.

Remember this is a user group, not Apple and we are just users like you so if you have any complaints you should report issues directly to Apple Support.

I have been experiencing the same exact thing . I thought I was going crazy or something. My thumb swelled up really big my arm and shoulder hurt . I haven’t had my watch on for a whole day and still my left hand and arm still feel like it’s waking up from being sleep . And it’s really weak. And my thumb is still swollen

Yes same, very painful left top of hand, thumb and started moving toward elbow. I’m older I wore it daily for a year and the pain started. I no longer wear it. Pretty expensive watch to not be able to wear

I have the same thing on my right wrist. There's a small hard and painful, mobile lump under my skin where the watch touches my wrist. I switched it to my left wrist, and by the end of the day, the top of my left wrist was red and swollen. This is so strange. I've had my watch for 6 months and this just started. I'm going to try putting it higher onto my forearm and see if this fixes it, ugh.

hads86 wrote:

It’s not rheumatoid arthritis, I had my doctor check for that and I also went to see a specialist. The rheumatologist sent me to a physiotherapist and I was told it’s the area between my neck and shoulders. I just want to say that no matter how many doctors I saw… I just haven’t been wearing my watch for a few months now and my wrist pain in both my arms and the shooting pain towards my shoulders.. it’s all gone! It was $1000+ of pain that was not worth it!

If it's an issue between your neck and shoulders, it seems unlikely that the watch caused the issue.

I loved my AppleWatch but after I had worn it for a few months I began feeling the vibration of the watch from texts, etc, when I wasn't wearing the watch. It was quite eerie, then I remembered that the pain in my left arm (my watch arm) began after I started wearing my watch. I began using lower weights at the gym then stopped doing upper body exercises all together and it was hard to sleep at night because the pain was so bad. After I began feeling the ghost vibration I stopped wearing the watch and, after a few weeks, I am now pain free, without having changed anything except stopping wearing the watch. I'm back to all my old exercises at the gym and sleeping like a baby.

Same with me. Doctors, tests, x-rays, physical therapy. It's a sensitivity to the watch and its mechanism somehow.

Well, one option is to get a different heart rate monitor, such as an Oura ring→https://ouraring.com/

Another was suggested by IdrisSeabright, wear the watch on the other hand.

sariadia wrote:

I have the same thing on my right wrist. There's a small hard and painful, mobile lump under my skin where the watch touches my wrist. I switched it to my left wrist, and by the end of the day, the top of my left wrist was red and swollen. This is so strange. I've had my watch for 6 months and this just started. I'm going to try putting it higher onto my forearm and see if this fixes it, ugh.

Stop wearing the watch. Make an appointment with your doctor. Contact Apple using the Support link at the bottom left of every page of these forums.

I saw a doctor at Mayo Clinic. He cannot categorically state that this is caused by the watch, but he did say that it's clearly an issue for me wearing the watch. I switched to my left hand and developed a large swollen area on top of my left wrist now. Both wrists are painful and have weakened. He has prescribed physical therapy, which has done little to rectify this. X-rays show some arthritic changes in both hands and wrists. I no longer wear the watch to bed, only during the day and while working out, ugh.