Painful wrists and hands

Introduction to hand and wrist pain

There are many things that can cause pain of the hands and wrists, from everyday activities at home to athletic activities that are more strenuous and perhaps dangerous.

Hand and wrist pain is among the most common complaint that a doctor uses as far as muscular and skeletal problems are concerned.

Symptoms

Wrist joint problems usually include swelling, pain, limitations in motion and weakness. These symptoms are usually limited to the wrist joint.

Sometimes, a person will experience numbness or pain in the hand, forearm or wrist and a lot of times this pain can awaken them during the night and lead to problems such as sleep depravation.

Sometimes a person can break a bone in the wrist or hand without even noticing it. This commonly occurs for breaks of the scaphoid bone of the wrist, which is a boat-shaped bone that is located on the outermost side of the hand located on the same side as the thumb.

Common causes

Traumatic arthritis is one of the most common causes of wrist and hand pain. It can happen when a bone is healing from traumatic stress or a sudden injury. Sometimes it occurs after an accident when the bone or connecting ligaments are broken or torn.

Pain can also result from having an inflammation of the tendons of the wrist.

Treatments

The typical treatment for such pain is the common RICE method of getting a lot of rest, icing down the wrist and hand, using compression to relieve the pain and elevating the part of the body that injured.

There are also natural methods for healing the pain. It is a good idea to try to stimulate the repair of the ligaments with methods such as prolotherapy, which is a treatment that causes a strengthening of the ligaments and a stabilization of the three bones that are found in the wrist and are typically prone to being injured.

It is important to see a doctor if the pain will not go away, because it should be treated before it gets any worse.

If the problem is left untreated, then it can become chronic, so it is better to treat it ahead of time in order to minimize the damage.

Physiotherapy can also help, especially the use of splints to keep the wrist or hand from moving and causing repetitive strain injuries.

In any case, it is best to consult a doctor or physiotherapist in order to see what is best for the patient.