Wrist Pain: Fact You Should Know

Wrist movement plays the major role in day to day life. Hence pain in the wrist joint can impact a daily activities. That’s the reason its very important for you to know the conditions and prevention of wrist pain.

Wrist joint is made up of various small joints between hand and forearm. Sudden jerk or any injury to the structure of wrist can cause the wrist pain. Structure can be Muscle, Ligaments, Bones or Tendons. Wrist pain also can occur due to repetitive stress on the structure leading to inflammation of wrist joint.

Most Common Condition of Wrist Joints:

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Wrist joint pain along with numbness and weakness in hand can be due to carpel tunnel syndromes where the nerve passing through wrist joint can get compressed by thickening of wrist ligament. People with Rheumatic arthritis can have increased risk of developing carpel tunnel syndrome. Thickening of ligament also can be due to repetitive stress from work like typing, lifting or handling the equipment that vibrates the hand.

Osteoarthritis

Inflammation in the cartilages that covers the bones causes the osteoarthritis of wrist joint. Inflammation of cartilages usually happen due to repetitive movement in wrist joint. Weak muscles of wrist joint are also the causes for inflammation when it doesn’t take the load during activities thereby transferring  the load to joint area leading to the inflammation of wrist joint. Tightness of  wrist muscle also can put extra load on joint causing inflammation.

Rheumatic Arthritis

Rheumatic Arthritis is an autoimmune disease where inflammation within the structure happens due to the body’s immune system. It takes time for wrist pain to subside.

De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis

De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis is the inflammation of the sheath, or synovium, that surrounds the two tendons that run between the wrist and the thumb with/without swelling. As the synovium swells and thickens, it becomes painful to move their thumb. It occurs due to overuse of the tendon during certain activities like golf, playing the piano, typing, carpentry, carrying a child.

Ganglion cyst

This cause of wrist pain is due to fluid-filled soft tissue cysts that often develop on the wrist opposite the palm but will occur on the palmar aspect of the wrist. Smaller cysts often tend to hurt more than large cysts.

Precautions:

There are a few things that can be done to reduce a person’s chances of developing wrist pain:

• Maintain proper posture when sitting at a workstation, and keeping the wrists in a relaxed position.
• Use wrist-friendly keyboard if long hours are spent at the keyboard.
• You should learn how to use hand tools properly, so less stress is placed on the hands and wrists.
• You should take regular breaks from using a keyboard.

Treatment and prevention of wrist pain

Treatment for wrist pain depends on the cause of the pain and its severity. The least invasive treatment is given first before treatments are recommended. They include:

• Home treatment– often simply resting the wrist as much as possible to allow it time to heal is effective. Pain medication and ice may also be recommended to reduce inflammation and pain.
• Splints– in some cases, wearing a wrist splint can help. Splinting may prevent certain wrist movements that cause irritation. A splint might also reduce squeezing of the nerve.
• Exercises– depending on the type of pain, wrist exercises may work. Certain exercises can be prescribed to stretch and lengthen muscles and tendons. When it comes to which exercises to do, patients should get recommendations from a doctor or physical therapist.

At PHYSIO X10, we train the wrist muscles to meet the demand of your daily activities which further helps in reducing the chances of the inflammation and pain. Our experienced physiotherapist will guide you the proper posture and the movement pattern of the wrist joint so that you don’t get wrist pain again and again.