If you experience wrist pain when bending or moving the wrist, it can affect your day-to-day living more than you think. You might find it difficult or impossible to carry things. The wrist joint can eventually become deformed. It can even be painful just to straighten your hand and wrist. And those are just a start.
If there’s anything as numerous as the potential symptoms of wrist pain, it is the causes of the pain.
Causes of Wrist Pain
Considering their number, it may be difficult for you to determine the exact causes of your pain. Talk to your doctor or visit a Markham physiotherapy clinic to learn more.
- Wrist Injuries – When you fall, especially forward, your wrist can take the brunt of the impact, causing strains, sprains, and even wrist fractures. One type of wrist fracture is a scaphoid fracture that happens when the scaphoid wrist bone, located on the thumb side of your wrists, is damaged in a fall. Â
Repetitive stress injuries happen from any repeated wrist motions, like playing tennis, that inflames the wrist joint. Some repetitive stress wrist injuries can cause pain in your hand, including at the base of your thumb.
- Arthritis – Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common type of arthritis to effect the wrist joint, with osteoarthritis being less common, appearing most often in people with previous wrist injuries.
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – Causes wrist pain, numbness, and tingling due to increased pressure on or pinching of the median nerve that travels through the carpal tunnel of the wrist.
- Ganglion Cysts – These are benign cysts of fluid that are harmless except for the fact that they can grow large enough to put pressure on nerves in the wrist, causing pain, numbness, and tingling.
- Wrist Tendonitis – Many different tendons pass through your wrists connecting the muscles of your forearms to the bones in your hands and fingers. When those tendons become inflamed, often due to repetitive wrist motion, wrist tendonitis can result.
These are some of the more common causes of wrist pain, but definitely not all. Again, if you’re not sure about your wrist pain, talk to your doctor.
If you liked this post, check out our recent article on why you have lower back pain when you bend forward.
