What Kinds of Hand and Wrist Injuries Might I Get?
There are 29 bones and more than 25 muscles in your hand and wrist, as well as numerous nerves, ligaments, and blood vessels, and you can injure one or many of them.
Examples of some of the hand and wrist injuries The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre sees regularly include:
- Fracture of the finger
- Hand fractures
- Trigger finger
- Wrist sprains
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- De Quervain’s tendinitis
- Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
- Ulnar nerve entrapment
- Distal radius fracture (Colles’ fracture)
- Scaphoid fracture of the wrist
Some of these injuries are acute, like fractures, which cause instant and often severe pain. However, many types of hand and wrist injuries develop over time through wear-and-tear and overuse.
What Overuse Hand and Wrist Injuries are Most Common?
The most common hand and wrist injuries that can develop from overuse include:
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful wrist and hand problem that arises when there’s pressure on the median nerve where it passes through the carpal tunnel in your wrist. The pressure comes from a thickened ligament in the carpal tunnel. Symptoms are often worse at night and include numbness and pain in your hand and wrist that can travel up to your shoulder at times. You might also lose strength and grip in the affected wrist and hand, and experience numbness in the thumb side of your hand.
- Trigger Finger: There’s a sheath on the palm side of your hand through which the tendons in your thumb and each of your fingers pass. Overuse activities can lead to a thickening of the sheath, which irritates the tendon. As a result, the tendon becomes inflamed and swells, causing pain and making your finger lock in a bent position.
- De Quervain's Tenosynovitis: De Quervain’s tenosynovitis is a form of tendonitis that affects the thumb side of your wrist. It can be a highly painful condition that makes simple tasks involving pinching or twisting movements almost impossible. The cause is inflammation in the tendons that go into your thumb, where they pass under a ligament. The smallest movement of your wrist or thumb in a particular direction can cause instant pain.
How are Hand and Wrist Injuries Treated?
Initial treatments for hand and wrist injuries typically consist of conservative methods, including rest, painkilling and anti-inflammatory medication, and sometimes the use of a steroid injection.
For conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome, wearing a brace at night can help by keeping your wrist straight while you sleep, which relieves pressure on the median nerve.
If conservative methods aren’t working, you might need to undergo surgery. For conditions involving compression of the nerves, a minimally invasive procedure to release the pressure can be highly effective.
If you need repair to tendons or ligaments, or you have complex fractures, you might need to undergo arthroscopic wrist surgery.
If you have a hand or wrist injury that’s causing severe pain or isn’t getting better, call The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre today or book an appointment online.
