6 Common Hand and Wrist Injuries

Your hands and wrists are among the body parts that you use the most throughout the day. Whether it’s to play sports or for your job, they truly are a vital part of your body. For this reason, they’re also prone to injury if you’re not careful. Such injuries could involve bones, ligaments, or tendons.

At Preva Surgicare - Imperial Surgery Center, our staff is ready to help you get treatment for whatever wrist or hand problem is bothering you. Our skilled team of doctors not only diagnoses your injury, but also helps you get the treatment you need, whether it’s rest and medications or in some cases, surgery.

Hand and wrist injuries

If you’re active in sports or just enjoy a little exercise, you’re more prone to injuries, especially to your hands and wrists. But injuries don’t just occur from athletics. Falls and accidents are very common causes of hand and wrist injuries. 

Here are six of the most common hand and wrist injuries we see:

Sprained wrist

A sprained wrist is often associated with sports or a fall. A sprain is when the ligaments in your hand either stretch past their normal range of motion or tear. This ultimately causes pain and swelling in your wrist.

Broken fingers

Finger fractures are a common sports injury, but they also happen through trauma like a fall. The most common symptoms are pain, swelling, and bruising. 

Wrist fracture

A fracture, or broken bone, may be the result of a car accident or a fall, or it could be due to weakened bones from conditions like osteoarthritis. Fractures can be mild or severe, and could involve more than one bone in your wrist.

Tendinitis

This condition occurs when the tendons in your hand or wrist become inflamed and painful. Tendinitis is often the result of overuse, but medical conditions like gout can also be to blame.

Carpal tunnel syndrome

This condition is caused by compression of a nerve in your arm known as the median nerve. This nerve becomes compressed in the carpal tunnel canal, which is a tiny passage in your wrist. The median nerve can be compressed from previous fractures or from overuse.

Osteoarthritis

This type of arthritis is the result of wear-and-tear over time. The cartilage that covers your bones and joints wears down, resulting in inflammation and pain. Other types of arthritis, such as rheumatoid arthritis, also can affect your ability to use your hands or wrists.

What treatment you can expect

The type of treatment that we recommend depends on the type of injury you’ve sustained, as well as the severity of the injury. For less severe injuries or conditions, we recommend starting with conservative treatments, such as:

• Ice
• Rest
• Physical therapy
• Splinting or bracing
• Steroid injections

If it’s indicated, we also could recommend regenerative medicine or biologic treatments like bone marrow aspirate concentrate to help your injury heal without invasive surgery. We may also have you try over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications.

But conservative treatments do have their limits. We may need to treat more severe cases surgically to ensure proper healing of your wrist or hand. Surgery is also indicated if your condition doesn’t improve after you’ve tried conservative treatments.

At our facility, we offer many different types of hand and wrist surgeries, depending on the injury that you’ve suffered. 

Carpal tunnel release is a surgery that helps relieve the pain associated with carpal tunnel syndrome. Our team also offers several different types of minimally invasive arthroscopic hand and wrist surgical procedures.

If you've injured your hand or wrist and need treatment, contact our surgical center in Houston, Texas, today.