Chronic Wrist pain...help!!

[physiomitch]

Hi Mira

The majority of pains like this are soft tissue related, but not necessarily soft tissue where the pain is! If you have pain on flexion/extension resistance, this may mean the muscles of the forearm are unable to perform fully as their fascial sheathing may be tight around them. This has the effect of 'strangling' the muscle and as a muscle needs all it natural space to work in, it will become weak to a degree if not. What you feel in the wrist is often the compensation for this weakness, ie overuse of local intrinsic muscles and muscles not normall used for flexion/extension. This overuse stresses these muscles and related fascia thus pain occurs. If you have limited ROM in flexion/extension this will be further proof of fascial tightening. You will need some myofascial release done to the forearm fascia to release this, thus allowing muscles to work correctly, which then reduces the need for compensation, thus no pain. It will be very unusual for a joint to be the cause in something so acute...remember joint movement depends on soft tissues giving them the space in which to work.

Try that

Hope it helps

Pete

[oscar]

could be a torn tfcc (triangular fibro cartilidge complex), I tore mine several years ago falling into my wrist. I had a MRI scan to confirm it....the pain has pretty much gone now and I decided not to go down the sugery route as the tear was very small..I also got pain on extension/ulnar deviation type movements

[mira_16]

Thanks for the input guys. I am going to see someone about this tomorrow..hopefully i'll find some answers...or have to wait 4 months for an MRI...
I'll keep you updated!

[mira_16]

Okay, so we discovered the lunate doesn't sit properly, it seem to keep subluxing. Also my wrist extensors are tight and there is a slight thickening and area of tenderness on the dorsal wrist primarily around the lunate.

I am splinting my wrist for the next two weeks. I am taking it off at night doing gentle AROM. I find when I flex after extending, my wrist clicks (centrally and slightly ulnarly). I think it's a tendon clicking..perhaps the extensor dig. communis.

Do you think the extensor retinaculum or an extensor tendon is tights and therefore pulling on the lunate causing this subluxing?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!