Wrist popping out of place?

Hi everyone,

I've been having some problems with my right wrist lately, and just wanted to know if anyone else has had anything similar happen to them and if so what their experience has been.

Some background: I mainly boulder, and have been climbing for about 2 years. Mainly gym climbing but I do get outside a few times a month. No definitive injury has happened to my wrist (i.e. no isolated incident that I can remember where there was popping/tearing/pain etc.).

Here's what's been happening: Picture grabbing your right wrist with your left hand. So, left palm in contact with right wrist, left thumb and middle finger wrapped around the narrowest part of wrist. Now imagine squeezing with your thumb and middle finger (or heck, try it, why not) while putting pressure on your wrist with your palm. Whenever I do this, there is a (loud) grinding/popping sound and I can feel very significant movement of something inside the wrist.

I haven't been "popping" my wrist joint like this for very long - it started feeling particularly sore (never acute pain, just achey/sore) about a month or two ago so I started messing around with stretching it and kinda figured it out that way. I haven't been doing it anymore because, while it feels great immediately after, ends up making my wrist really sore if I try to climb later that day.

I'm also a first-semester grad student, so in the past few months I've also been doing a TON of writing and typing (I'm right-handed). I've researched this on the internet, and the most common things are either carpal tunnel or tendonitis. The feeling of something moving in or out of place inside the wrist is the weird thing that doesn't really fit in with either of those diagnoses.

Besides the obvious of stop climbing for a while and drop out of school, can anyone recommend any exercises or stretches to help strengthen the wrist or I guess help keep the bones (?) aligned? Has anyone ever had similar symptoms before?

I would definitely like to go see a doctor/specialist about this, but unfortunately I don't have the resources to do that. Hence...forums. Thanks for any input!

1. School sponsored student health insurance, or
2. You are covered under your parents health insurance if under 26 yo, or
3. You have exactly one day left to sign up for for the Affordable Care Act if you decide to go this route and you want coverage to start Jan 1st. I think you'll be shocked at how inexpensive it will be if you are indeed a poor college student.

Your wrist injury isn't a typical presentation of anything I'm aware of. I don't think you'll have much luck getting it diagnosed online. Edit: upon second reading I realize that you have some of the symptoms of a TFCC tear but if there is instability then you really do need insurance.

Obama Care........www.cover.CA.gov

Sounds like an overuse injury to me. Google "Extensor muscle strain overuse." See if that matches what you are experiencing. My wrist(s) pop like that when my extensor muscles get pissed. You can further put some pressure on the extensors to see if they hurt. Massaging them should help the popping temporarily as well.

I've been having what I believe to be a very similar issue for years, particularly on slopers. It came to a head a couple of years ago in Hueco trying Loaded Direct and it hasn't been the same since. It's never been diagnosed by an orthopedist despite multiple visits. After it ended a trip to Hueco after trying Loaded Direct I had it looked at and they talked about it potentially being a TFCC tear but never gave me an MRI to actually see anything and put me in a cast for 3 weeks instead. No more pain for the most part but it still pops and affects my climbing on slopers or specific deadpoint-like moves. I talked to some PT guys at the Rifle Climber's Festival this year and while I never got anything specific it was noted the membrane that connected the ulna and radius together in my wrist was extremely loose or nonexistent as there is significant motion possible independent of each other.

Do you have the issue that, when doing specific moves, your hand seems to just disengage by itself as your wrist pops? This is what I'm still experiencing. Let me know if you ever get it checked out, as by this point I've resigned myself to the fact that there are just certain moves I'll never really be able to do.

Sounds like a tfcc injury

Sure, yeah, it could be a TFCC injury, but the OP never said they have ulnar-sided wrist pain, so I certainly would not make a big jump and conclude that. I'm with Jon-- your description sounds generic.

There is a lot of "stuff" that can go wrong in the wrist. It's a small space with a lot of shit packed in very closely. It's the kind of joint that makes for difficult diagnosis at times for medical professionals in person, much less online amateurs. I am surprised that you are a graduate student without the ability to even go to student health??? Most SH centers will have a sports med doc coming in at least one day a week, too, so if I were you, I would try to look into a resource like that. There may be low cost or free community health centers around you, too.

mousie,

Get a bucket, fill it with rice and work it.

I have this exact issue. I've had it for a couple of years, not only in my wrists, but also in my ankles, knees, shoulders, and hips. Even my toes pop out of place. I've had physical therapy for it but all they say is that I am way too flexible. I would suggest a wrist brace. I am about to have to get a serf strap for my hip because I tore my hip Labral ligament years ago on skis.

I am not a doctor, but what you are experiencing is the same exact thing I have going on.  I do have insurance and went to see my GP and a specialist, had an MRI done, and was diagnosed with osteoarthritis.  You may not have the same thing, but the doc told me I had basically overused my wrist and worn all of the cartilage out of it.  They then told me there was no cure for it and that the only thing you can do is take NSAIDs for pain relief and try not to use it as often.  In the future, I'll have to either have my wrists fused or a joint replacement. It was kind of a bummer, because I had been taking a lot of time off climbing to heal whatever injury I had, but turns out it cant be fixed.

Hey OH my God, This is the only thing I could find on the internet that talks about this! I have exactly the same thing, it's been really bad for the last two years. It's so heartbreaking to me because I used to climb and do acro yoga and circus arts and gymnastics, now it hurts so much to do a handstand, I can barely even be in table top. Did you find anything out about this!? 

Could be a ligament tear​​​​ (scapholunate or others) or one of many other issues. Wrists are complicated, only a specialist will be able to figure out whats going on.

I've had quite a few wrist injuries (bilateral tfcc and scapholunate tears), and I've seen a lot of occupational therapists and surgeons, finally getting surgery on my left wrist to repair the scapholunate tear, and debride my tfcc. The wrist is a complicated structure with lots of shitty little fuckin bones and ligaments so there are a myriad of things that could be going wrong. If you feel like there's something wrong with your wrist, the best thing to do is go to a doctor and see a specialist to get an MRI. I was also a graduate student when I had my surgeries done and it was definitely expensive, but I was surprised by how much my university insurance was able to cover.

 As far as the 'wrist popping out' sensation goes, I've definitely experienced that a good amount, and I would say that in my opinion it is a factor of both wrist strength (primarily extensors for us), and also climbing technique. For wrist strength, I've found that wrist curls (reverse, neutral, hammer, etc) are a good place to start, but start with low weight and really understand the engagement and movement.

As for technique specifically when laybacking an arete or hitting a sloper, a lot of climbers have a tendency to 'relax' their wrist, maybe in an attempt save energy in their forearm flexor/extensors. Instead, focus on engaging your wrist in a similar manner as you would your shoulder in an active hang position. By doing simple 'relaxing' you are offloading your weight to non-muscle soft tissue (not your bones it turns out...). In engagement, your muscles will be helping out.

Sounds like you have wrist instability.  There are many different types of wrist instability, and it can be a really tricky thing to diagnose and treat.  Even if you go to a really talented hand surgeon, many of these issues are controversial and the treatments can vary from surgeon to surgeon.  I really can't recommend enough that you seek out a definitive diagnosis and make sure to consult with more than one specialist and review the literature (pub med).  Diagnostically, the best way to demonstrate wrist instability is by cinefluoroscopy (or more generally cineradiography).  This is a video x ray that allows you to see the bones as they move.  

I had a minor climbing injury last year that spiraled into a severe wrist injury.  0 weight bearing in extension, frequent subluxation events, and a handshake or stiff doorknob would put me on the floor.  I spent Five months hopping from doctor to doctor before I finally found one that knew something about wrist instability and got a definitive diagnosis.  If I had known about cinefluoroscopy before this, I would have called offices ahead of time and asked if they had this capability.

Also:

While a definitive diagnosis is what you want, in the meantime I'd definitely recommend doing stability training.  Isometric strength training and rice bucket exercises can do wonders.

mousieadams wrote: Hi everyone, I've been having some problems with my right wrist lately, and just wanted to know if anyone else has had anything similar happen to them and if so what their experience has been. Some background: I mainly boulder, and have been climbing for about 2 years. Mainly gym climbing but I do get outside a few times a month. No definitive injury has happened to my wrist (i.e. no isolated incident that I can remember where there was popping/tearing/pain etc.). Here's what's been happening: Picture grabbing your right wrist with your left hand. So, left palm in contact with right wrist, left thumb and middle finger wrapped around the narrowest part of wrist. Now imagine squeezing with your thumb and middle finger (or heck, try it, why not) while putting pressure on your wrist with your palm. Whenever I do this, there is a (loud) grinding/popping sound and I can feel very significant movement of something inside the wrist. I haven't been "popping" my wrist joint like this for very long - it started feeling particularly sore (never acute pain, just achey/sore) about a month or two ago so I started messing around with stretching it and kinda figured it out that way. I haven't been doing it anymore because, while it feels great immediately after, ends up making my wrist really sore if I try to climb later that day. I'm also a first-semester grad student, so in the past few months I've also been doing a TON of writing and typing (I'm right-handed). I've researched this on the internet, and the most common things are either carpal tunnel or tendonitis. The feeling of something moving in or out of place inside the wrist is the weird thing that doesn't really fit in with either of those diagnoses. Besides the obvious of stop climbing for a while and drop out of school, can anyone recommend any exercises or stretches to help strengthen the wrist or I guess help keep the bones (?) aligned? Has anyone ever had similar symptoms before? I would definitely like to go see a doctor/specialist about this, but unfortunately I don't have the resources to do that. Hence...forums. Thanks for any input!

I have been having the same issues here recently. At first I thought it was because I was using my right hand to hold my head up. And first it hurt to move my wrist, then I messed with it, and it didnt help. It went on for days. Then as I put my left hand around it, with my thumb right under the other thumb joint and my first finger on the other side, the rest of the hand below my wrist, I squeezed and it popped. It felt like it popped back in. Like for some reason my wrist wasn't in place at all. It was out of place. It hurt at first but now I'm used to it. When I get an uncomfortable feeling I pop it back in. A friend has told me to go see a chiropractor, because apparently it's not normal and can cause serious issues. I've had this going for over 6 months now. The pain has gone but now it just pops worse and worse. More often too. I thought it was just me with this issue. Lol

Okay, so I have checked all over the internet for people that have had my same issue. I don't mountain climb but when I was younger I wrapped my right hand around my wrist and popped it out like a lot of people said they have done in this forum. When I was young I was really into cracking knuckles so I thought cracking the wrist would be the same thing. This dislocated my wrist and now my wrist pops out of place whenever I move it. A doctor told me that it was unfixable but I there might be some surgery for it. This happened to me about 5 years ago. I went to go get a cast and it didn't do anything. It makes me extremely depressed and now for some reason my elbow is cracking too. This is different from my wrist because my wrist pops out of place. If anyone knows a cure or anything that could help please message the forum. I will not live the rest of my life with this. I can't take it.

James Sweeney wrote: mousie, Get a bucket, fill it with rice and work it.

link is 404

anyone else have a rice bucket link?