Врач сказал не нагружать запястье до конца недели.

After verbs like сказать in Russian, an infinitive is often used to report an instruction, recommendation, or order.

So:

• Врач сказал не нагружать запястье = The doctor said not to strain the wrist

This structure is very common and sounds natural.

A more explicit version would be:

• Врач сказал мне не нагружать запястье = The doctor told me not to strain my wrist
• Врач сказал, чтобы я не нагружал запястье = The doctor said that I shouldn’t strain my wrist

The original sentence leaves the person understood from context.

Russian often omits things that are clear from context.

In English, you often need:

• The doctor told me not to strain my wrist

In Russian, if it is obvious that the doctor is speaking to the patient, мне can be left out:

• Врач сказал не нагружать запястье

This does not sound incomplete in Russian. It is a normal, compact way to say it.

Нагружать literally means to load, to put a load on, or to burden. In a medical context, it often means:

• to strain
• to put stress on
• to overuse
• to put weight or pressure on

So here не нагружать запястье means something like:

• not to strain the wrist
• not to put stress on the wrist

It does not necessarily mean carrying something heavy with your hand only; it can mean any kind of use that stresses the joint.

Нагружать is the imperfective form. That is natural here because the sentence is about avoiding an action over a period of time:

• не нагружать запястье до конца недели
  = don’t put stress on the wrist until the end of the week

The imperfective is commonly used for general instructions, ongoing avoidance, or repeated actions.

A perfective form like нагрузить would sound more like a single completed act, which is less natural here. The doctor is not warning against one single moment of strain, but against stressing the wrist at all during that time.

Запястье is the direct object of нагружать, so it is in the accusative case.

However, запястье is:

• neuter
• singular
• inanimate

For neuter inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks exactly like the nominative singular. So:

• nominative: запястье
• accusative: запястье

That is why the form does not change.

The preposition до requires the genitive case.

So:

• конец → конца
• неделя → недели

That gives:

• до конца недели = until the end of the week

This whole phrase is a time expression.

Here it means until the end of the week.

So the idea is:

• avoid straining the wrist from now up to the week’s end

In English, by the end of the week can sometimes sound like a deadline for doing something. That is not the main idea here. The Russian phrase here is about the duration of the restriction.

Both врач and доктор can mean doctor, but врач is the standard neutral word for a medical doctor in Russian.

• врач = physician / doctor
• доктор can also mean doctor, but it is sometimes less neutral depending on context

In everyday medical Russian, врач is extremely common and often preferred.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with gender and number.

• сказал = masculine singular
• сказала = feminine singular
• сказало = neuter singular
• сказали = plural

So Врач сказал tells you that the doctor is male, or at least the speaker is referring to the doctor with masculine agreement.

If the doctor were female, it would be:

• Врач сказала не нагружать запястье до конца недели.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and the basic meaning would stay the same.

For example:

• Врач сказал не нагружать запястье до конца недели.
• Не нагружать запястье до конца недели сказал врач.
• До конца недели врач сказал не нагружать запястье.

The first version is the most neutral and natural in most contexts.

Changing the order usually changes emphasis rather than core meaning.

Not really. The sentence is understood actively: someone should avoid stressing the wrist.

• не нагружать запястье = not to strain the wrist

Russian often uses this active infinitive pattern where English might also use passive-like wording, such as:

• The wrist shouldn’t be strained

But the Russian sentence itself is built as an active instruction.

A very natural version is:

• Врач сказал мне не нагружать запястье до конца недели.

If you want to make the subject of the action even clearer, you can use a чтобы clause:

• Врач сказал, чтобы я не нагружал запястье до конца недели.
  if the speaker is male
• Врач сказал, чтобы я не нагружала запястье до конца недели.
  if the speaker is female

The original sentence is shorter and more conversational when the context already makes the meaning clear.

The main stress is:

• врач
• сказа́л
• нагружа́ть
• запя́стье
• до конца́ неде́ли

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Врач сказал не нагружать запястье до конца недели
• vrach ska-ZAL nye nag-roo-ZHAT' za-PYAS-tye da kan-TSA nye-DYE-li

The most useful thing to notice is the stress in:

• сказа́л
• нагружа́ть
• запя́стье
• неде́ли