Apple Watch causing wrist pain

I have the same pain when I wear my Apple Watch . I just radiates deep in my wrists and makes it feel weak. A bump has formed. I stopped wearing it for a week and the bump went away. I put it back on a few days ago Monday 3/26 and the bump is back. This is a bit insane that the Apple Watch is affecting this many people in the same way. Apple needs to address this. I absolutely love the watch and it’s functionality, but I don’t want to be in pain for bit. I want this fixed or a fefund.

Dozer2010 wrote:

Just thought I’d search for this problem and I really thought I was just being paranoid, but since I got my Series 3 Apple Watch, I’ve been getting a burning sensation under the watch, and Ive also developed a small hard lump which is directly under the sensors. When I use my Microsoft Band 2 I never suffer anything at all, but after a couple of hours wearing my Series 3 I start to feel burning and the small lump gets really irritated. I’ll take a photo, but not sure if it will show up, but it sure does nip. I wondered if I was either sensitive to the light produced by the sensors, or to the tech inside the watch? Such a strange, and clearly common issue. Hope someone can resolve all this as these things aren’t cheap. The photo below is just as I’ve taken my Series 3 off!https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/cd3030b7-c4cc-43eb-bcb1-f57abc35bef4

You most likely are having an allergic reaction to material in the watch. You should stop wearing it until you consult with your doctor and any specialist they recommend.

I refer you to the RF exposure levels submitted for FCC approval, republished and available on Apple’s site at Legal - RF Exposure - Apple. Drill down and note the levels generated by your model of watch, then repeat and compare with your iPhone - which will probably be around 5x higher. That is clear evidence from mandatory testing to show which device has the higher emissions, which are in any case below the limits set by government.

If you don’t like my evidence to rebut your allegation, go see a lawyer.

Yes my pain is now radiating into my hand especially thumb joints!

stop wearing apple watch immediately these are repetitive motion injuries

I’m so glad to find a recent forum. After about a week of wearing it, today I experienced extreme wrist and joint pain and I even felt in my knuckles. Im going to try to wear it less but if i experience ir again after reducing usage, I guess I will have to return it. There has to be some sort of solution or alternative but if apple isnt willing to find one then I need my money back.

I honestly am at the point where I’m going to sell mine as I’m past the return date when I bought it through sprint and they only give you two weeks I moved back to my old Fitbit and I can still wear that Daily with no wrist pain but once I put the Apple watch on it lasts at her longest ten minutes before my wrist starts aching and I start getting like that full achy feeling in my wrist and have to take it off it’s a shame Apple hasn’t looked into this I see a lot of posts about this and I nevertheless had this issue with any of my galaxy watches or fitbits

I have the series 1, and i still also feel this pain. It's localized (unlike what I've read), maybe people could enlighten me on how long they've been wearing their watches before onset of symptoms?

honestly, if this gets me a new watch i'd be pretty down, but the main goal is to just solve this issue

I’ve had the same pains but was in denial because I really want to love my watch. I googled Apple Watch wrist pain and that’s how I got to this forum. However I also found an article that says if you wear your watch higher up on your arm it relieves the pain. I actually loosened the strap before I read this and by the time I got to the article my wrote had already stopped hurting. I’d recommend trying to move the watch further up away from your wrist (I loosened 1 notch on the sport band) and see how that works for you. Hope this helps us all.

I think this is one of those things that will effect some people and not others. Probably the majority of users are just fine. However, I'm an older man, not prone to aches and pains, but the Apple watch series 3 cellular GPS which is the only one I've tried, larger size, causes an ache at the point of contact on my upper wrist after about 3/4 of a day into wearing it. It didn't happen the first few days I had it but around the 4th day it did. The best analogy I can give is a very localized flu pain like you get in your joints... but that's not it exactly.

Anyhow, I've loosened it up but it continues. It doesn't radiate for me but it is uncomfortable enough and I'm concerned enough to return it... this happened within a week... and it took me almost another week to check the web to see if anyone else had this issue. I LOVE THIS WATCH! But somehow it is not comfortable for me. I have to it give back and wait. I'm sure Apple can figure this out. Again, I think epidemiologically, I think we are talking about a small number of users, but still, maybe we are special and you could learn something really good by seeing what this is all about.

I for one am not a scammer and am not gaining anything by returning the watch.... indeed I'm losing access to a product I was using more than any other. I'll check out the Apple 4 when it comes out.

Thanks.

Switch bands all the time only use sports band when working out and not to tight it actually flips around my wrist some times. Might be allergic to something don’t know but going to the Dr. to find out.

Looking at your photo I think I can see 2 darker lines which could be left by the watch. Leaving aside the possibility they are staining caused by the band (unlikely or almost impossible for a genuine Apple Sports band) that sort of suggests light bruising. The upper mark is too high for normal wearing a watch, and I would expect it to slip down to a thinner section of your arm.

The lower mark is roughly where I would expect you to wear a watch, but the mark seems to be skewed across your wrist joint. Wearing a watch band across the flexible part of your wrist is not correct, and I can imagine it putting pressure on internal elements as your wrist bends. The correct location is around the slimmest area of your forearm probably about 1” (2.5cm) above the bend of your wrist. The distal ends of the bones in your forearm have a slightly expanded end for the wrist joint, the watch should be clear above this wider part.

Also be aware your arm will swell and reduce slightly depending even on how active or hot you are, and this might mean you need to adjust the band fitting from time to time. As a general rule you should look for a snug fit so it can’t slip down over your wrist joint, but not so tight the band leaves “strap marks” all round your wrist when you take it off.

I, too, am experiencing “deep” wrist/bone pain wearing my Apple Watch 3, relieved by removing the watch. At first I thought it might be related to an old wrist fracture, but I have similar pain when worn on my other wrist, though not as severe.

Reading through all the “see your doctor” and “must be something wrong with you” replies belies the fact that LED light does have a biological impact. We’ve long used red LEDs to aid wound healing and diminish peripheral neuropathy as it promotes increased nitric oxide levels at local sites which encourages improved blood circulation. So I started looking around and see that green LED light has similar effects. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-11061-y

My son - also a Watch wearer but with no issues - suggested trying a simple “control”, wearing the Watch while powered down under the same circumstances where we have experienced pain or discomfort. If you still have similar discomfort, then it seems more likely that it could be allergy, tightness, pressure or repetitive motion as others have already suggested.

My personal feeling is that some people may be more sensitive to the effects of LEDs than others which I’m sure a biomedical engineer could explain. There are a lot of nerves, muscles and blood vessels in the area our Watch sets. I’d like to hear of anyone trying the “powered off” trial and their results. (Just powering it off at night and wearing while sleeping isn’t the same thing.)

DesertHorses wrote:

Reading through all the “see your doctor” and “must be something wrong with you” replies belies the fact that LED light does have a biological impact.

The advice to see your doctor if you're unexplained pain is good advice.

While it's an interesting preliminary paper, there's nothing in it that would indicate that the watch could cause "deep bone pain".

Same problem.

Have an old 1st generation watch, my wife use it daily, never any problem regardless of band.

Apple Watch 3, we both get uncomfortable feeling in the wrist after a few hours use.

I would not say it is strong pain, but enough for me to take it off which makes things return to normal.

In my case, old watch is silver

New watch 3 is black and lte model.

Could black color or lte have anything to do with this?

Does anyone have no pain with old watch but get pain with silver or wifi only versions of watch 3?