Wrist pain success story

I'd had on and off elbow pain for years when I finally decided to address it with a physical therapist. Part of my rehab was to do wrist flexor and extensor curls. Well, I overdid it and injured my wrist (and believe me, the irony of hurting myself doing injury prevention training is not lost on me). There wasn't a specific moment when it happened, but one day I was climbing and couldn't pull on slopers with my left hand anymore. 

At first it didn't hurt per se, but my wrist felt weak, like I my hand was pulling away from my arm and I couldn't hold myself up. The pain slowly grew though, to the point that I couldn't type at my computer or shake my wrists like you might do when drying your hands without a paper towel. I had a trip to EPC coming up, but I decided that rather than training I would take some time off. I ended up getting a manicure with long fake nails to stop myself from climbing for 6 weeks (a remarkably effective strategy), feeling certain that 6 weeks of no climbing at all would make it better. It did feel a bit better, but not back to 100%. 

At this point, it only hurt to pull on slopers or hold a fat pinch directly in front of my chest with my left hand. Any other type of hold was totally fine. So I continued climbing and started wearing a brace, and went back to the physical therapist. He told me that as long as my wrist was at a straight angle when I pulling on holds, it should be fine to climb, and it may even strengthen my wrist and help it heal. Around this time, someone at the gym commented on my brace and said that he had a similar issue and ultimately had to get surgery to fix it. And I HATED to hear that, so I ignored it. 

The issue ebbed and flowed, never getting above 95% healed. Finally, about 10 months after the initial injury, I broke down and went to my GP doctor, hoping to get a referral to a hand specialist to get it checked out. 

My doctor felt my wrists and arms, asked lots of questions, did a lot of manual manipulations, had me hold my arms in different positions, pull on things, move my fingers, all sorts of stuff. She concluded that one of my carpal bones had popped out of place, and my wrist wasn't healing right because of it, which is why I never felt 100% better. So she grabbed my hand with both of her hands, her thumbs on the top of my wrist and fingers under my palm, and shook my wrist until I felt a POP!

You know when you are really sore and get a massage, and it kinda hurts but also feels good? Yeah, it felt like that. 

She told me not to climb for 48 hours and to come back in a couple of weeks if I still had pain. Two days later, I went climbing and the pain was gone. 100%, totally gone, fixed. I could pull on slopers no problem. I could shake my wrists when I wanted to dry them without a paper towel. I could type at my desk all day. It was incredible. I couldn't believe it. It's been a few months since then and the pain has not come back.

Moral of the story: Go to the doctor!

Btw where in the wrist was your pain? Ulnar side?

It was really hard to pinpoint, but it just ached badly deep in my wrist, between the two bones but in the joint itself, kinda right in the middle of my wrist. It would hurt when I would push my palm toward my forearm. I think it was my Capitate bone that was out of place. 

Ok thank u. I have some ulnar wrist pain that is why i asked. So glad u r feeling well!

That's incredible to hear. I've had wrist pain for over a year now. It gets better, but never 100%.

The problem is, I've seen 2 doctors (one was a hand specialist) and a chiropractor about it, had multiple X-rays and even an MRI. Nothing has fixed it. 

I would imagine they would be able to tell if something was out of place from an X-ray or MRI, but I'm seriously considering going out of town to a different doctor. 

The problem is, if ANOTHER doctor can't fix it, or at least diagnose it, I will be in despair. I'm so sick of doctors right now. I had a similar issue with my knee, I haven't been able to ride a bike for 5 years now. Maybe it's just my town, but the doctors here treat patients like cattle. Get them in, poke them a bit, and get them out. 

Patti back in action!!!!!

Wj, where is your wrist pain?

Levi Goldman wrote:

Wj, where is your wrist pain?

It was exactly how Patti described. It was hard to pinpoint, it just felt like it was in the center of my wrist. Except, since this injury has been going on so long, it has shifted multiple times. At one point it was focused around the knuckle of my index finger. Another time, it was more towards the ulnar side. But no matter where the focus of the pain was, it always came back to an achy wrist.

The past two months, I've been doing wrist extension and flexion stretches, and I did notice my injured wrist (right) had significantly less mobility than my left wrist. Now, it seems to be getting equal.

I plan to start doing some extension, flexion, pronation, and supination exercises soon, now that I feel the mobility getting better. I'm just apprehensive, because if it starts hurting again, I'll be back at square one. 

I have this same exact pain in my left hand! Interesting to hear other people's experiences. It's so hard to describe. It only hurts in certain positions on certain holds.

What kind of doctor did you see? Sounds like she was a DO possibly?

WJ - i think we have different issues, though rehab protocols are likely similar. I have some ulnar wrist pain, mild tfcc, and some tingling. I’m in a place where i want to work through it, with appropriate stress, we’ll see where that goes. 

W J wrote:

It was exactly how Patti described. It was hard to pinpoint, it just felt like it was in the center of my wrist. Except, since this injury has been going on so long, it has shifted multiple times. At one point it was focused around the knuckle of my index finger. Another time, it was more towards the ulnar side. But no matter where the focus of the pain was, it always came back to an achy wrist.

The past two months, I've been doing wrist extension and flexion stretches, and I did notice my injured wrist (right) had significantly less mobility than my left wrist. Now, it seems to be getting equal.

I plan to start doing some extension, flexion, pronation, and supination exercises soon, now that I feel the mobility getting better. I'm just apprehensive, because if it starts hurting again, I'll be back at square one.

WJ, I am not a doctor, but maybe if you have a bone out of place like I did, it is making other bones shift around and that's why you are having pain that moves around and is hard to diagnose? I also had decreased mobility in my injured wrist.

Eshan King wrote:

I have this same exact pain in my left hand! Interesting to hear other people's experiences. It's so hard to describe. It only hurts in certain positions on certain holds.

What kind of doctor did you see? Sounds like she was a DO possibly?

Yes, she is a DO! Astute observation.