Wrist Sprain Hand Therapy
Wrist injuries, sprains and pains are one of the most common conditions that is treated, simply because we use our hands all the time AND we use our hands as natural protection to protect ourselves from falls or forces (to protect our head and neck).
With falls, sports or accidents, when we block the force or fall, there will be a force that goes into our wrist which will be dispersed into the tissues in there such as bones, tendons, ligaments, cartilage…and can cause things like
- bone fractures
- tendon injuries or tears
- other tissue injuries
Contents
What’s a wrist sprain?
Ligaments are pretty strong and fibrous bands of tissues that can withstand a LOT of force, and their main goals are to
- keep our bone joints together sturdily and stably
- for the purpose of movement and function
A wrist sprain means that the ligaments in the wrist are stretched beyond their normal range and limits, causing small-to-full tears (full ligament tears are known as ruptures).
With sprains, there will definitely be pain, from mild to severe. Patients often report ache in their wrists after the sprain; which becomes much more painful with movement and carrying loads in certain (bad) angles.
The hand therapist (or hand physiotherapist) will assess and diagnose your wrist sprain and pain with a combination of clinical interviewing as well as physical examination. They may also refer you to an orthopedist or hand surgeon to run a diagnostic imaging such as MRI or xray to get an accurate diagnosis.
- MRIs are good to look for soft tissue problems, such as tendons / ligaments / nerves which dont show up in xrays
- XRays are mainly to look for presence of fractures
The doctor and hand therapist will also do differential diagnosis testing, to rule out possible related conditions such as repetitive strain injuries (RSI) conditions like de Quervain’s, tendinities, cartilage damage or even fractures. These may also cause similar pains as wrist sprains so we gotta make sure we know what we’re dealing with (accuracy = best and right healing method).
If the hand therapist finds that your wrist is stable and safe enough to stand your wrist and hand therapy, you may begin your wrist program which may include:
- paraffin wax bath (moist heat treatment)
- hot pack (gentle controlled heat treatment)
- gentle, graded friction massage
- progressive range of motion exercises (from gentle assisted, to active, to resistive)
- progressive strengthening exercises
- ultrasound therapy which helps with soft tissue healing
- customized splinting to increase healing and stability of the injured wrist joint
The hand therapist (or hand physiotherapist) will assess and diagnose your wrist sprain and pain with a combination of clinical interviewing as well as physical examination. They may also refer you to an orthopedist or hand surgeon to run a diagnostic imaging such as MRI or xray to get an accurate diagnosis.
- MRIs are good to look for soft tissue problems, such as tendons / ligaments / nerves which dont show up in xrays
- XRays are mainly to look for presence of fractures
The doctor and hand therapist will also do differential diagnosis testing, to rule out possible related conditions such as repetitive strain injuries (RSI) conditions like de Quervain’s, tendinities, cartilage damage or even fractures. These may also cause similar pains as wrist sprains so we gotta make sure we know what we’re dealing with (accuracy = best and right healing method).
If the hand therapist finds that your wrist is stable and safe enough to stand your wrist and hand therapy, you may begin your wrist program which may include:
- paraffin wax bath (moist heat treatment)
- hot pack (gentle controlled heat treatment)
- gentle, graded friction massage
- progressive range of motion exercises (from gentle assisted, to active, to resistive)
- progressive strengthening exercises
- ultrasound therapy which helps with soft tissue healing
- customized splinting to increase healing and stability of the injured wrist joint
3 degrees (and symptoms) of wrist sprains
Grade 1: Mild wrist sprain
Ligaments are slightly over-stretched. These kinds are the gentlest and mildest, and tends to have highest chance of 100% recovery. Patients typically have aches which improves with rest and time, and don’t require much interventions be it surgery or hand therapy.
Grade 2: Moderate wrist sprain
Ligaments are stretched beyond normal range, with at least 5%-50% tear. Patients tend to experience
- more pain compared to those who have mild sprains
- pain takes longer to normalize
- some degree of instability (depending how much of the ligament was torn)
Grade 3: Severe wrist sprain
These kinds usually mean more than 50% tear, up to full ligament ruptures and tend to be unstable and painful with any sort of movement. Without movements, there is usually ache that takes a long time to improve.
Will likely need reconstructive surgery to bring about stability in the wrist (as well as improve movement and function); as well as decrease the likelihood of developing arthritis in the wrist.
Why arthritis will come about is because when the ligament is torn, the bones that were being supported in balance will shift out of place, accelerating arthritis (a personal example is how my left knee developed grade 2 osteoarthritis by the time i was 26 when my anterior cruciate ligament was ruptured when I was 16, no surgery was done then)
Who tends to get wrist sprain injuries?
Most of the time, people injure their wrists during an accident:
- slips and falls on outstretched hand (medically known as “FOOSH”) – anyone generally
- sports event (especially contact sports) – active and sporty individuals
- motorvehicle accidents – drivers and pedestrians
Common signs of wrist sprains
The most tell-tale sign is pain with movement in the wrist, but other signs are:
- pain and swelling in the wrist joint or around your wrist
- bruised and bruising at your skin near the wrist or hand
- tenderness at your wrist if you press onto it (worse if you accidentally bumped it…which seems to happen frequently)
- dull / nagging / numbness / tingling sensation in your wrist and hand
- wrist feels a little unstable or “loose”
- wrist “feels off”, weak, poor coordination, and cant seem to use your hand as normal
Wrist sprain hand physiotherapy
The hand therapist (or hand physiotherapist) will assess and diagnose your wrist sprain and pain with a combination of clinical interviewing as well as physical examination. They may also refer you to an orthopedist or hand surgeon to run a diagnostic imaging such as MRI or xray to get an accurate diagnosis.
- MRIs are good to look for soft tissue problems, such as tendons / ligaments / nerves which dont show up in xrays
- XRays are mainly to look for presence of fractures
The doctor and hand therapist will also do differential diagnosis testing, to rule out possible related conditions such as repetitive strain injuries (RSI) conditions like de Quervain’s, tendinities, cartilage damage or even fractures. These may also cause similar pains as wrist sprains so we gotta make sure we know what we’re dealing with (accuracy = best and right healing method).
If the hand therapist finds that your wrist is stable and safe enough to stand your wrist and hand therapy, you may begin your wrist program which may include:
- paraffin wax bath (moist heat treatment)
- hot pack (gentle controlled heat treatment)
- gentle, graded friction massage
- progressive range of motion exercises (from gentle assisted, to active, to resistive)
- progressive strengthening exercises
- ultrasound therapy which helps with soft tissue healing
- customized splinting to increase healing and stability of the injured wrist joint
Where To Next?
- Go to Home / Start
- Learn and find out more about your pains (bones, muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, nerves etc) at Pain Conditions & Injuries
- Visit our shop to see products we recommend for pain relief, heating, treatments and more
- Contact us