Amongst all the joints in our body, the wrist is probably the most useful and the most complex of them all. For one thing, your daily activities most often depend on the dexterity and strength of your wrist. For another thing, your wrist is made up of an intricate network of eight carpal bones, five metacarpal bones and two forearm bones, all tightly packed and connected with nerves, blood vessels, and ligaments. As such, whenever you experience a sore wrist, you had better hop on to its treatments pronto.
What is the Big Deal?
You might ask why the urgent emphasis on seeking treatment, either in the doctor's office or in the home or both, for a painful wrist. It's simple, really. When you fail to seek treatment as soon as possible, your concerns will be magnified three-fold due to more serious complications, which will have significant bearing on your quality of life. Think lose of feelings and dexterity on the injured, infected and inflamed wrist.
Your common daily duties such as working at your computer, washing dishes or playing sports such as golf can aggravate a sore wrist that has not been treated appropriately. In the end, you could wind up with more expensive treatment plans, complicated surgery and even potentially more pain for not paying attention to your sore wrist in the first place. When you are experiencing pain in your wrist, you should take notice and take action. When you do, you will have longer and healthier use of the most important joint in your body.
Causes
Many things can cause pain in your wrist; it could be a medical condition, injury, or overuse that causes soreness and inflammation in this joint. In order to arrive at a correct diagnosis your physician will ask you several questions. He or she will ask about the history of the pain or injury, how often it hurts, location, type of pain such as burning or stabbing, list of your current medications and other questions.
Your sore wrist may be caused by medical conditions such as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and arthritis and ganglion cysts. It can also be brought on by repetitive motions that place low-level stress on the wrists such as when you pound at the keys for long period of time without proper form and support. You might also have placed your injured wrist to trauma like sprains and bone fractures.
Of course, as you probably already know many of these causes can be related. For instance, you can develop carpal tunnel syndrome by doing repetitive motions such as keyboarding without utilizing simple hand exercises or after long periods of use.
Treatment Options
You want to have the correct diagnosis before you begin treatment for a sore wrist. The wrong treatment is as bad as no treatment at all! Some instances will call for a RICE protocol such as in case of a sprain, while carpal tunnel syndrome may need surgery.
The best person to advise you on a proper course of treatment is your personal physician. That being said the RICE, (rest, ice, compression and elevation) is nearly universal treatment both for first aid and after care. If it is arthritis you are dealing with you may have to make some lifestyle changes as well. Talk with your doctor about the pros and cons of treatment particularly when it comes to surgery, medications and cortisone shots. These can be quite painful not to mention expensive.
Undeniably, a sore wrist can be a pain in the neck. With the right medical attention and personal care, however, it can be a pain of the past. - 30540
What is the Big Deal?
You might ask why the urgent emphasis on seeking treatment, either in the doctor's office or in the home or both, for a painful wrist. It's simple, really. When you fail to seek treatment as soon as possible, your concerns will be magnified three-fold due to more serious complications, which will have significant bearing on your quality of life. Think lose of feelings and dexterity on the injured, infected and inflamed wrist.
Your common daily duties such as working at your computer, washing dishes or playing sports such as golf can aggravate a sore wrist that has not been treated appropriately. In the end, you could wind up with more expensive treatment plans, complicated surgery and even potentially more pain for not paying attention to your sore wrist in the first place. When you are experiencing pain in your wrist, you should take notice and take action. When you do, you will have longer and healthier use of the most important joint in your body.
Causes
Many things can cause pain in your wrist; it could be a medical condition, injury, or overuse that causes soreness and inflammation in this joint. In order to arrive at a correct diagnosis your physician will ask you several questions. He or she will ask about the history of the pain or injury, how often it hurts, location, type of pain such as burning or stabbing, list of your current medications and other questions.
Your sore wrist may be caused by medical conditions such as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and arthritis and ganglion cysts. It can also be brought on by repetitive motions that place low-level stress on the wrists such as when you pound at the keys for long period of time without proper form and support. You might also have placed your injured wrist to trauma like sprains and bone fractures.
Of course, as you probably already know many of these causes can be related. For instance, you can develop carpal tunnel syndrome by doing repetitive motions such as keyboarding without utilizing simple hand exercises or after long periods of use.
Treatment Options
You want to have the correct diagnosis before you begin treatment for a sore wrist. The wrong treatment is as bad as no treatment at all! Some instances will call for a RICE protocol such as in case of a sprain, while carpal tunnel syndrome may need surgery.
The best person to advise you on a proper course of treatment is your personal physician. That being said the RICE, (rest, ice, compression and elevation) is nearly universal treatment both for first aid and after care. If it is arthritis you are dealing with you may have to make some lifestyle changes as well. Talk with your doctor about the pros and cons of treatment particularly when it comes to surgery, medications and cortisone shots. These can be quite painful not to mention expensive.
Undeniably, a sore wrist can be a pain in the neck. With the right medical attention and personal care, however, it can be a pain of the past. - 30540
About the Author:
Tom Nicholson has spent years helping carpal tunnel sufferers. You can click here to learn more regarding having asore wrist.
