Wrist pain

An illustration of wrist pain

Wrist pain or open wrist is a type of syndrome that prevents the patient using their hand due to a painful wrist. The pain may be sharp, sometimes steadily increasing after trying to apply force. Typically pain is caused after exerting too strong a demand on the wrist, as is the case with weight lifters, athletes in general, or with any weight-bearing activity to the wrist.

Types

Common causes of chronic wrist pain include:

• Scaphoid fracture nonunion (a break of the scaphoid bone)
• Thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) joint osteoarthritis (breakdown of joint cartilage)
• Scapholunate ligament instability (rupture of this ligament leads to wrist instability)
• Triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) (injury and degeneration)
• De quervain tenosynovitis (when two tendons that control movement of the thumb become constricted by their tendon sheath in the wrist)
• Extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) tendinopathy (Triangular fibrocartilage)
• Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) (nerve compression of the median nerve in the wrist)
• Ganglion cyst (fluid-filled closed sac with a joint or tendon sheath in the wrist)
• Kienbock's disease (breakdown of the lunate bone in the wrist)
• Wrist fracture, wrist sprain

Treatment

After applying hot or cold pads in the first moments, if there is no inflammation, the use of a simple leather or neoprene wrist brace (or even a steel-reinforced one), is recommended in order to rest the wrist.

See also

• Sprained ankle
• Wrist brace

Bibliography

• "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Fact Sheet". National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
• "Symptoms". Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Mayo Clinic.