We write a lot about products to relieve wrist pain, like pain relief wrist braces and powerball gyros to increase wrist strength. Today we’re looking at what actually causes wrist pain because knowing what causes the pain can help you and your doctor treat it.
Your wrist is not just one area of your body but a complex area with 8 small bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles. Damaging any part of this area can result in wrist pain. Wrist pain can affect your daily life and your ability to use your wrist and hand.
What causes wrist pain?
There are lots of reasons why you might be suffering from wrist pain including:
Sudden impact injuries – Wrist injuries can occur from sudden impact injuries to the wrist area. Falls forward where you land on your outstretched hand often cause wrist pain. These types of injuries can cause sprains, strains, and fractures.
Repetitive stress injuries – Activities that cause repetitive wrist motions can cause injuries that result in pain. Actions like hitting a tennis ball or driving can inflame the tissues and cause stress fractures when you perform these motions over and over for hours on end.
Arthritis, Osteoarthritis – Arthritis can often cause wrist pain in sufferers. Osteoarthritis occurs when the cartilage that protects your bones deteriorates over time. This type of arthritis is not very common in the wrist and usually only occurs if you’ve had a previous injury in the wrist from a fall or repetitive stress injury.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis – This type of arthritis occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the tissues like cartilage. Rheumatoid arthritis often affects the wrists and can manifest in both wrists becoming increasingly painful as time progresses.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – The carpal tunnel is a passageway in the palm side of your wrist that houses nerves leading to the hand. When there is increased pressure on this area the median nerve is pinched and causes wrist pain and other symptoms like numbness and tingling.
Tendinitis – Tendons are thick cords that join muscles and bones together. Tendinitis occurs when those tendons become irritated or inflamed. This causes pain and tenderness in the wrist when it occurs there and makes it difficult to move your wrist.
Gout – This is a type of arthritis that is cause by too much uric acid in the blood. It causes sharp, urate crystals to form and collect in joints like the wrist. It can cause swelling and intense pain in the area where these crystals form.
Other diseases – There are several other diseases that can cause wrist pain. If you have continual wrist pain without relief and don’t have one of the aforementioned causes, you should go to your doctor to see what potential disease could be causing your wrist pain. There are many things like bursitis, ganglion cysts, kienbock’s disease and more that can cause wrist pain.
What are the risk factors for wrist pain?
Wrist pain can truly happen to anyone. It affects all types of people, whether they are sedentary, active, ill or not. There are a few things that increase your risk factor for wrist pain:
Participation in sports – While being active and playing sports is great for being healthy, it does affect your risk factor for wrist pain. Wrist injuries are very common in many sports. If you actively participate in sports like bowling, golf, gymnastics, snowboarding, and tennis then you have a potential high risk for wrist injuries and wrist pain.
Repetitive work – There are types of repetitive work that will cause wrist pain over time. Any activity that involves using your hands and wrists can potentially lead to wrist pain over time. Activities like knitting and cutting hair and typing can lead to disabling wrist pain over time.
Diseases and conditions – Some situational and long term diseases and conditions can cause wrist pain. Things like pregnancy, obesity, and diabetes are things that can increase your risk for developing carpal tunnel syndrome and wrist pain.
What can you do for wrist pain relief?
Just because your risk factor for wrist pain is high doesn’t mean that you are destined to suffer from wrist pain. You can definitely do things to prevent wrist pain:
Wrist pain cream – Use a pain relief cream like Penetrex® [2 Oz Jar] – The World’s #1 OTC Pain Relief Therapy on the wrist area to relieve pain.
Wrist pain brace – In addition to cream, you can use a wrist brace like the Mueller Fitted Right Wrist Brace. This will keep your wrist in the right position while still letting you use your hand and fingers.
Wrist pain gloves – If your wrist pain is cause by one of the forms of arthritis, you can use arthritis gloves like these IMAK Compression Arthritis Gloves. They help relieve the pain from arthritis in your hands and wrist be reducing swelling.
Hopefully you can find relief from your wrist pain in one of these items. If you know what causes your wrist pain it’s a lot easier to find the right wrist pain relief products to help you!