Wrist Pain – Ulnar side

Some causes of wrist pain on the Ulnar side of the wrist

I was asked by someone do do a post on wrist pain for their specific problem – Ulnar sided wrist pain Ok, wait a second? what is the ulnar side?  That means the pinky finger side of the wrist…

Ok so there are some diffrent things that can happen here:

ulnar tunnel syndrome (carpal tunnel’s lesser know cousin)

TFCC injuries (triangular fibrocartilige complex)

arthritic changes

and ligament problems… to name a few.

 

After speaking to this person a bit over messanger it seems that she probably has a TFCC injury.

Here is where this is on the wrist: (thumb side on the right of this picture)

Image result for wrist bones tfcc

Case study

So lets go through this person’s wrist pain like a bit of a case study- stories make things a bit more interesting…

Ok, so she fell on an outstretched hand a couple years ago but a few years before that it had been bothering her – she isnt sure why.  Here is what it looked like when she fell:

 

Now, she has no numbness or tingling (asked this for the ulnar tunnel thing) and it hurts like hell with shaking hands, increased use and is better with rest and use of a splint.

So here I really thing she did something to this TFCC the cartilige at this part of the wrist when she fell…. so what can she do about it?

What’s next?

She has had this wrist pain for two years and had an ultrasound already… Well, she has been told she needs an MRI (which I also confirmed and recommended she do) – she may well be in for surgery but we won’t know this until the MRI results come back.  In the meantime splinting and rest are recommended in the literature.

Here are a few more things that I would try while waiting for an MRI if she were able to come to my clinic (she lives out of province… and unfortunately cant)

Treatment

For this type of wrist pain I would try Instrument Assisted Fascial massage – it may help to break up some scar tissue.

Following this I would use kinesiotape like this pic:

Image result for kinesio tape for tfcc tear

Carpal joint adjustments (a chiropractic thing)

and ice.

Here are some exercises I fould that also may help:

Image result for exercises for tfcc injury

 

So although this post is a bit specific for a TFCC  wrist injury – hopefully you find it interesting or helpful .  Also remember you can always ask me to post something specific for you and I will!