Hand (wrist?) injury causing pain on back of hand

While climbing today, was doing a lateral dyno to a jug. As I held on against the swing felt a twinge on the back of my hand, almost immediately after felt a good deal of pain on the back of hand from knuckles to wrist. Spreading fingers apart aggravates it as well as any motion similar to pulling on a hold.

Any clue what sort of injury it might be? Waiting to cut hand off if advised. 

I’d be worried, based on the description, about this:

https://www.physio-pedia.com/Lunate_Instability

Chopping your hand off would definitely be a cure, might not be the cheapest.

edit: I’ve seen this before in climbers and in golfers (think injury where you accidentally swing your club and hit the dirt really hard).

My source: I once followed a hand surgeon around

So I don’t think it is a lunate instability, because I have the wonderful experience of having a ruptured  SL ligament on my left wrist and this feels different than that. But it is certainly the sort of thing I am worried about. I guess it could be a different presentation than the SLAC wrist but still a lunate instability issue 

Edit: the pain is now more similar to what I experienced on my left hand, I’m afraid you might be right. Really hope not...

Anna, looks like you were unfortunately right. Gap between scaphoid and lunate, although smaller than one on left hand. Surgeon recommends nothing as there are no good fixes, hopefully just settles down on its own. My left wrist has  8+ years with no real intervention. Not looking forward to a future of two fused wrists, but hopefully I’ll be able to get skywalker hands by that time.

Oh no! I’m sorry to be right, I hope your recovery is swift!

There are many causes for hand pain. When I broke my thumb in a bike accident, Dr. Ryan Reardon at fortworthhandcenter.com/ did an outstanding job. He clearly explained my situation and how he can help. Now I have full functionality in my thumb with no pain after completing physical therapy. I suggest contacting a good hand doctor like him.

I had a complete rupture of SL on right plus TFCc damag. Good surgeon sowed it all up. Back to climbing after 5 month. Other than inability to do push-ups I have zero issues. Key is the surgeon- cost me almost $3000 for the best but worth it. Not used to paying medical bills so shock to the system. Been 11 years now post surgery 

J, how soon after your injury did the surgery occur? My injury appears to be a combination of old damage exacerbated by a new injury. Did you have any dissociation of your scaphoid and lunate? The surgeon I went to is the Chief of Hand Surgery at  the University of Pennsylvania,  so theoretically he knows his stuff. 

Ryan M Moore wrote:

J, how soon after your injury did the surgery occur? My injury appears to be a combination of old damage exacerbated by a new injury. Did you have any dissociation of your scaphoid and lunate? The surgeon I went to is the Chief of Hand Surgery at  the University of Pennsylvania,  so theoretically he knows his stuff. 

I had an initial injury and then about a month later the catastrophic tear. Surgery was 4 months later. i did have dissociation but some manipulation realigned the bones and reduced pain and gave back functionality prior to surgery. I did a lot of climbing prior to surgery but this was only possible after the manipulation as it hurt too much before. Watch out for complex regional pain syndrome ie it started developing and I had to be attentive with the rehab and hand exercises 

Thank you very much for answering my questions. I have an MRI and follow up scheduled with the surgeon, as it hasn’t gotten much better since the injury. If I don’t hear options, I will certainly seek a second opinion. Was the manipulation done by PT or the doctor? I can do about 3 pull-ups right now before my wrist feels like a bone is going to pop out of my wrist.

I fully ruptured the scapholunate ligament in each of my hands within a year of one another. The second one ruptured during a lateral dyno to a slopey jug, sounds nearly identical to what happened to you. Got both surgically repaired soon after the injuries, using the existing ligament tissue and now climbing stronger than before, a few years later.