Apple Watch causing wrist pain

Sorry to hear that. Did you try switching to the other wrist? I did a couple of weeks ago and so far so good. The bad news is, that even though I stop wearing the watch. The wrist pain will show up for a minute or two. So I guess the pain wasn’t temporary but atleast it’s not everyday as when I was wearing it on my left wrist.

If you have bruises and it looks like you were tied you are either wearing it in the wrong place, keeping it too tight, have low platelets that cause you to bruise easily, or a combination of all of them.

I thought I was going crazy... I had the series 1 and never had an issue. Recently got a series 3 and after wearing it for a week on vacation, developed a bruise on my inner wrist and lots of pain radiating from my elbow to pinky. Doc thought maybe it was my tendon so put me in a brace. I wore the brace for about a week and a half but still had the dull ache with frequent sparks of intensified pain so I removed it. Pain started to lessen over the course of the following 2 weeks but after wearing my watch again today - which I haven’t done for awhile.. the pain is back? So I googled and found this forum.

The reason why it hurts is that people usually have a vain running atop of the wrist bone. If you are wearing the watch too close to your wrist bone it will continuously press on the vain, and eventually give you that radiating feeling.

The reason why classic watches do not cause this issue is simply because they are lighter.

In order to prevent the Apple Watch from hurting in this way you'd have to wear it further away from your wrist bone. You can use a hair rubber band or similar to prevent the watch from sliding back.

Oh my goodness! I have been experiencing the same pain but it wasn’t as bad until yesterday. The pain is sharp, and deep on the posterior part of my wrist. The pain was only relieved after removing the watch. I placed it on my other wrist and only had minor pain, but I was so nervous I just removed it. I have had the watch off now for about 12 hours and only feel residual pain in the left wrist. I’m really worried about putting the watch back on today.

I also have series 1, pain in wrist and palm of hand started a week ago as my activity increased and I’ve been meeting more goals. The pain is unbearable at times so thanks for posting, now I will take a break from iWatch and see if pain goes away. Last night the pain was so bad in my hand, I dropped my soda while pouring it over ice. Soda went all over the counter. Again thanks for everyone’s input.

This certainly validated my same experience! Thank you!!!Going to Dr to rule out anything .. but this is crazy. Ibuprofen doesn’t even help??ice. No just Constant pain. I can’t even sleep from the chronic ache.

I hope more people complain and Apple looks into this issue. I am going to try not wearing it for a week and see if I get relief ?? But not wearing it for a couple of days has not changed the chronic throbbing ..burning wrist and fore arm pain .. any other tips out there for relief ???

It validated that you have a medical problem? Good, perhaps it will get you to see your doctor sooner rather than later. If you are still having pain days after wearing your Watch you have injured a nerve somehow. Ice it and take ibuprofen if you aren't allergic to it.

I have the same issue deep throbbing radiating pain that starts anywhere from a couple of days to a week after wearing my Apple watch series 2

Can get bad enough to radiate to the elbow.

I used to have this same issue with my Fitbit when I would turn on the Heart Rate monitor

With the Apple watch the heart rate monitor is always on and tricky to turn off. Go into privacy settings in the Apple Watch app on your phone, and turn if off there.

No pain with the heart rate monitor off, takes a little while for the pain to go away but does not come back (for me) after I turn the heart rate monitor off.

Some people are sensitive to this, and some people are not.
Worth a try, it's a great watch I would have been super upset if I had not figured this out! I love my Apple Watch, I just use the heart monitor sporadically and turn it off when I don't need it.

If you have a problem with the heart rate’s green light shining on your wrist you have a bigger problem than just an Apple Watch. The exact same wavelength as the green light is contained as part of white light (contains all wavelengths) so you should experience the issue when you are exposed to sunlight or any other source. You have made a false association, your heart sensor is not the cause of your discomfort.

I wore my Apple Watch Series 3 daily for about a month and then just last week my wrist started hurting. I stopped wearing the watch and the pain went away after a couple of days. I tried wearing it again this week but after less than an hour of wearing it, I noticed that I had a good sized lump where the sensor was touching my wrist.

I spoke with the local Apple Store staff this afternoon in Anchorage, Alaska and was instructed to try the following:

1) Wash the watch

2) Change the orientation of the buttons (I set the buttons to be on the right side)

3) Change wrist the watch is on (I am left handed and wear it on my right wrist)

4) Purchase a new watch band and swap it with the one the watch came with (sport band)

5) Purchase a stainless steel watch

I changed the orientation of the buttons which seemed to help for a bit, and I purchased a new nylon band but after about an hour I removed the watch due to pain in my wrist then radiating up my forearm.

I am not going to switch the watch to my left arm as I can not stand bulky items on my left wrist and I really do not want pain in both arms.

I will try washing the watch, but if that does not fix the issue, I plan to return to the Apple Store for more information on how to fix this issue.

Hope this helps someone else!

OMG, I’m at Dr’s office because the pain on my left wrist, where I wear the watch. The pain started after wearing my Iwatch since mother’s day. While waiting for my Dr’s appointment, I was thinking about why I have this pain, it must be a reason? I google it and here I’m on this page.

gracielafromarlington wrote:

OMG, I’m at Dr’s office because the pain on my left wrist, where I wear the watch. The pain started after wearing my Iwatch since mother’s day. While waiting for my Dr’s appointment, I was thinking about why I have this pain, it must be a reason? I google it and here I’m on this page.

Leave the diagnosing to your doctor, not Google.

Interesting as it ONLY hurts when the heart rate monitor is on. Literally no other times do I have any wrist pain.
It could be that something about this technology might cause pain that hasn't been correlated yet. Turning the heart rate monitor off works for me, it might work for others.

JillLewis wrote:

I have made a false association, that works 100% of the time.

But you know you've turned the heart rate monitor off. What we believe has an affect on pain perception. Unless you had no way of knowing if the heart rate monitor was on or off, you can't be sure that you're not experiencing a placebo effect. Which, by the way, is a lot more plausible than that little lights will cause intense wrist pain.