Health Topics for Sports Medicine

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

UI Family Care

Wrist Injuries

Do you work with your hands for long periods of time? Do you play golf, tennis, bowl, or weight train? Do you play the piano, knit, or work at a computer keyboard all day? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you could be at risk for a wrist injury. Types of wrist injuries include sudden, overuse, and repetitive motion injuries.

Sudden wrist injuries are usually caused by accidents and are hard to prevent. They include broken bones, dislocations, and sprains. Sudden injury can occur from trying to break a fall with your hands, or from direct impact to the wrists. A sudden wrist injury that causes instant, severe pain and tenderness with swelling, lack of movement, or crookedness needs medical evaluation quickly. Immobilize it and apply an ice pack.

Overuse injuries of the wrist include tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and, in children, breaks in the growing part of the bones. These injuries develop over time from constant snap-and-twist motions of the wrist.

Tendonitis results from a sudden twist-and-snap motion. It can be caused by work- or sports-related activities, such as baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, weight lifting, and rowing.

Nerve damage may be caused by external pressure from handles of racquets, sticks, or bats, or by the pressure from leaning on bicycle handlebars.

Growing bone injuries in children may lead to stunted or abnormal growth at the ends of the forearm bones and damage to the joint.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common repetitive-motion injury. It is the biggest problem associated with regular use of a computer keyboard. It usually affects your writing hand and begins with pain and tingling or numbness at the base of the thumb. If not treated, the symptoms may progress to a weakened grip, severe pain in the forearm or shoulder, or permanent loss of muscle in the hand.

If you are experiencing the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, follow each work session with an ice massage over painful areas. Give your wrist a couple of weeks of rest. If the problem does not respond, or it gets worse, seek medical care.

Wrist splints may be helpful and are often used as initial treatment and should be ordered by a healthcare provider. Some splints bought at a drug store will not work. If you have continuing pain while using a splint, see your healthcare provider.

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