How to treat wrist pain after a fall?

In daily life, it is quite common to experience wrist pain after a fall. Since the joints in the human wrist are complex and there are many blood vessels and ligaments, wrist pain after a fall may be caused by a fracture of the radius. The radius is a relatively fragile part and is prone to fractures. You can go to the hospital for a detailed examination and receive treatment according to your condition.

Wrist fractures have three main characteristics

The most common wrist fracture is the distal radius fracture, because the distal radius is often the place where stress is concentrated and it is easy to fracture. There are generally three physical signs of distal radius fractures. If one of them is present, you should highly suspect a wrist fracture and go to the hospital immediately for an X-ray examination.

Deformity: After the fracture segment is displaced, the appearance of the injured part will change accordingly. For example, the wrist joint is no longer flat when viewed from the front or side, but has a twisted deformity similar to a fork or a bayonet.

Abnormal movement: Abnormal pseudoarthrosis-like movement occurs at the proximal end of the wrist joint after a fracture.

Bone creaking or bone grinding: The slight sound and feeling produced when the two broken bones rub against each other, which can cause severe pain.

It is worth noting that abnormal wrist movements, bone friction sounds or bone friction sensations should not be repeatedly attempted on your own to avoid aggravating local injuries and pain. It is a wise choice to go to the hospital for an X-ray after an injury, so that even non-displaced fractures can be detected.

Wrist fractures can often be reduced manually

If you suspect a fracture after an injury, you should go to the hospital promptly. X-ray examination can clearly show the fracture and its type. Depending on the mechanism of injury, it can be simply divided into Colles fracture, Smith fracture and Barton fracture.

Most fractures occur when the wrist is in dorsiflexion, the palm is on the ground, and the forearm is pronated. X-rays show that the distal end of the fracture is displaced dorsally and radially.

Fractures are often caused by falling with the wrist flexed and the back of the hand hitting the ground. X-rays show that the distal end of the fracture is displaced toward the palm and ulnar sides.

Fractures are relatively rare, but because they affect the flatness of the joint surface, further CT examination is often required.

For most distal radius fractures, manual reduction can often achieve a relatively satisfactory reduction effect, followed by plaster fixation for six weeks. For some unstable distal radius fractures or fractures that affect the articular surface, surgical treatment with plate fixation may be a better treatment option.

Principles of soft tissue injury treatment

If it is confirmed that there is no fracture after the injury, it can be preliminarily judged as soft tissue injury of the wrist, and treatment should follow the post-traumatic RICE principle.