Ways to Exercise With a Broken Finger
Updated on July 31, 2025
A broken finger can preclude you from certain activities and make your daily life awkward, from driving to sending a text message. And it can take between six and eight weeks to heal, as well as an additional four to six weeks for you to regain full strength. This can be a barrier to some exercises, as you should avoid lifting heavy objects until around 12 weeks of recovery.
However, certain exercises will allow you to continue working out with a broken finger — provided you stick to the proper guidelines and follow your doctor’s advice.
How to Work Out With a Broken Finger
Fitness enthusiasts needn’t sit out their entire workout with a broken finger. You can still exercise. However, you may need to make some modifications, especially for upper-body workouts. If you work with a personal trainer, for example, they may modify a routine to prevent further aggravation of the site of the fracture while continuing to improve finger strength and flexibility when it’s safe to do so.
Deformity and finger stiffness can impair finger function, such as when gripping objects. You might find that an upper-body workout with a broken finger is quite difficult when you start. However, depending on the severity of your pain, you may want to try specific exercises that require minimal grip strength or hand use. These might include:
- Chest-press machines or shoulder-press machines that allow you to use open palms
- Abdominal crunches
- Body-weight exercises that use the lower body, like body-weight squats, split squats, and standing and walking lunges
- Cardiovascular training
Your cardio routine should remain relatively unaffected by your broken finger, unless you prefer activities like biking, rowing, or others that require gripping a bar or handle. Outdoor activities like walking and jogging shouldn’t cause any issues with your finger. However, be careful of falls, as putting your hands out to break a fall is a common cause of fractures, and you risk reinjuring the finger.
If you’d prefer to spice up your cardio training, try playing a sport that doesn’t involve much use of your arms, such as soccer. Sticking to noncontact sports might be the best option until the pain subsides, but you should be able to resume contact sports as soon as the pain allows.
You should avoid certain exercises with an injured finger, such as:
- Any strength training exercises that use grip strength, which include upright rows, pull-up variations, and barbell or dumbbell exercises
- Cardiovascular exercises that involve a tight grip while holding a bar, such as biking and rowing
- Push-ups, as these require your hands to carry a lot of weight
- Catching or throwing a medicine ball
Rehab Your Broken Finger
Once your doctor approves it, you can perform specific strengthening movements for your finger, as this body part likely experienced a degree of weakening while you were healing. Rehab exercises can also reduce stiffness and swelling and support a better outcome for recovery.
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) recommends the following exercises:
- Range of Motion Use your uninjured hand to straighten out and bend the injured finger. Stop immediately if you feel pain.
- Grip Strengthening Make a fist with the hand that has the injured finger, or squeeze a stress or tennis ball.
- Finger Extension Put your hand with the injured finger flat on a table and try lifting up the finger.
- Picking Up an Object Use the injured finger to pick up a small object like a coin using the finger and thumb.
- Do Activities Using Your Fingers Try writing or tying your shoes.
You may not be able to complete all these exercises, so consult a doctor, physical therapist, or hand therapist to determine a suitable rehab routine first. Certified hand therapists (CHTs) rehab many hand injuries. They’re either a physical or occupational therapist who specializes in hand treatments.
Each injury is unique, and your return to a regular workout routine will be highly individualized. When speaking with a doctor, be sure to ask about when you can expect to see improvements, what to do if you feel worse, and which daily activities to avoid while still healing.
Takeaway
- While a broken finger can temporarily limit certain activities, you can still engage in cardiovascular exercises like walking or jogging with little risk.
- Avoid any strength training exercises requiring significant grip, such as pull-up variations and weightlifting, as they might worsen the injury.
- Once your doctor approves, incorporating finger-specific rehab exercises can significantly enhance the recovery process and support better outcomes by improving finger strength and flexibility.
- Seek professional guidance on suitable workouts and avoid rushing back into activities that could risk reinjury of the finger.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
- Finger (Phalanx) Fracture. National Health Service. February 7, 2024.
- Everything You Need to Know About Musculoskeletal Injury. American Council on Exercise. March 13, 2025.
- McDaniel DJ et al. Phalanx Fractures of the Hand. StatPearls. August 8, 2023.
- Broken Finger. Cleveland Clinic. December 26, 2024.
- Exercising Your Finger After Injury. American Academy of Family Physicians. June 2025.
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Scott Haak, PT, DPT, MTC, CSCS
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Scott Haak, PT, DPT, has been a member of the Mayo Clinic staff since 2000. Dr. Haak serves as faculty for the Sports Medicine Fellowship program at Mayo Clinic Florida. He is cert...
Jennifer Purdie, MAEd, NASM-CPT
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