Wrist Tendonitis, Wrist Tendonitis Treatment

Tendonitis of the wrist is quite common among athletes; over a quarter of all athletic injuries involve injuries to the wrist or hand. Overuse injuries to the wrist usually involves tendonitis, tenosynovitis, stress fractures and tunnel syndromes (ie. carpal tunnel syndrome). The wrist provides positioning and support for the hand, combining strength, specific positioning and stability with a wide range of movement.

Tendons in the wrist are closely attached to the joint, and this results in high tension in these tendons when powering wrist movement. The anatomy of the wrist is essentially unstable, relying on the restraint of many tendons, muscles and ligaments to prevent collapse of the carpal bones. Any condition affecting the function of the wrist tendons will definitely result in a reduction of grip strength.

Injury to tendons in the wrist typically originate from work related movement (usually from foceful repetitive actions) or from sport activities that involve forced, repetitive overuse of the write. Clarity in determing cause is difficult, as factors such as gender, neurogenic (nerve), hormones and mechanics influence the level of risk for wrist tendonitis.

The inflammation phase of your injury will continue until the damaging forces no longer continue. Continued damage will cause chronic inflammation, secondary adhesion and general degeneration of the tendon. The tendon sheath itself with probably be injured as the tendon swells, increasing the pain of the condition. When treating the wrist tendonitis, rest the area (meaning do NOT workout this area other than stretching), apply ice for 10-20 minutes at a time for at least 3 times a day. Do this to the injured area for the first day to 3 days. Moist heat may be used after the acute swelling is improved and rest prevents further muscle injury. Ice will reduces initial inflammation and swelling and the moist heat circulates blood through the area to speed the healing process. This can be further helped by the use of ultrasound applications over the affected area, as it reduces swelling quickly and increases blood flow to the area. If the patient gradually starting flexing and mobilising the area, the tendon and muscle will probably heal closely back to normal.

However, this is not what typical person does; they may ice once or twice and rest a bit, but most often just take some Advil or Tylenol and continue to commence their activities, further damaging the tendon. If the strain was minor, their body may be able to heal the tendon and tendon sheath normally. Unfortunately, this is not the usual result because the injured tendon is being used instead of rested. Because of the stress on the muscle, their body heals the injured muscle fibers by binding them together with fibrotic adhesions or scar tissue. This is done in an attempt to prevent further damage to the injured area. It is a normal protective response of their body.

To prevent this the patient should apply ultrasound treatment on the area up to three times daily. Ultrasonic energy will naturally "work" the tendon, increasing its flexibily while softening and breaking down scar tissue - which is not something you want in your tendon. Scar tissue is inflexible (non-elastic), and can quickly lead to reinjury of the tendon later down the road.

The trick to any tendon injury is getting it to heal with minimal scar tissue formation and with as much realignment of tendon fibres as possible - something radiant energy and ultrasound are great at! Even with optimum healing there is always less elasticity in a previously injured tendon. The trick is to make sure you heal this the best you can, that way your chance of reinjury down the road is much lower than average - which is well over 50%.

The most common cause of an tendon inflammation (tenosynovitis or tendonitis) is overuse of the affected tendon. Rest of the affected tendon is all that is required in some cases. Other treatments such as anti-inflammatory drugs or a steroid injection are sometimes needed. Infection of a tendon is an uncommon cause but needs treatment with antibiotics if it occurs.

What is tenosynovitis and tendonitis?

* Tendonitis means inflammation of a tendon. (It is sometimes spelled as tendinitis.)
* Tenosynovitis means inflammation of the sheath that surrounds a tendon (the sheath is called the synovium). Tenosynovitis can be caused by calcium deposits, repeated strain or trauma, high levels of blood cholesterol, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, or gonorrhea.
These two conditions often occur together.

Never use Ultrasound over an area injected with a steroid (ie. cortisone) for at least 30 days.

Never use Ultrasound after surgery until your physician recommends and approves of it.