beginnerSource-checked11 min read

The Forearms & Hands: An Overview

The muscles that move the wrist and grip with the fingers, and why elbow pain can come from here.

You will be able to

Name the forearm's main muscle groups and their primary actions.
Explain why wrist flexor/extensor tendon problems are felt at the elbow.
Distinguish the wrist flexors/extensors (move the wrist) from the finger flexors (grip).

Simplified front (palm-side) view of the forearm showing the wrist flexor group running from the elbow down to the wrist, and the deeper finger flexor tendons continuing across the palm into each finger. — Forearm & hand — wrist flexors and finger flexors (simplified). A beginner-level schematic of the forearm's wrist-flexor muscle group and finger-flexor tendons.
Illustration: Anatomy Learning Platform (original) · CC0-1.0 (public domain dedication)

⚠ Safety note

Numbness or tingling into the fingers, a weak or worsening grip, or a deformed-looking wrist after an injury needs prompt medical evaluation. A trainer coaches grip and wrist-loading technique; they do not diagnose nerve compression or fractures.

Two systems in one region

The forearm contains two related but distinct muscle systems:

Wrist movers: the wrist flexor and wrist extensor groups, which bend the wrist down or up.

Both share a common tendon origin at the elbow — the flexors at the medial epicondyle, the extensors at the lateral epicondyle.

Grip: the finger flexors, deeper muscles whose long tendons cross the wrist and palm to reach

each finger, doing the actual work of closing a grip.

There's also the brachioradialis — despite living in the forearm, it is functionally an elbow flexor, not a wrist muscle at all.

Why tennis and golfer's elbow are forearm conditions

Because the wrist flexor and extensor groups originate right at the elbow's epicondyles, overuse of these forearm muscles is felt as pain at the elbow — this is exactly what's happening in tennis elbow (wrist extensors) and golfer's elbow (wrist flexors), introduced in the Elbows region and revisited here now that the muscles themselves are covered.

Sources for this lesson

“The wrist flexors and extensors originate near the elbow epicondyles and act on the wrist; the finger flexors are the primary grip muscles.”

Anatomy and Physiology 2e — OpenStax, Rice University · Ch. 11.5 Muscles of the Pectoral Girdle and Upper Limbs

Peer-reviewed textbook · License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Last checked 2026-07-19

Take the quiz (3 questions)Explore the Forearms & Hands