Causes of wrist joint pain

Pain in the wrist joint is not such a rare phenomenon, although it has many causes, ranging from injuries to chronic systemic diseases of the body.

Pain in this joint, of course, reduces a person’s quality of life, and most importantly, indicates that there are unpleasant changes in the body.

The correct diagnosis can be made by specialists - orthopedists and neurologists. They will also prescribe adequate treatment that will help cope with the problem.

To generalize, pain in the wrist joint appears due to diseases of the following categories:

• traumatic nature - as a result of or complication after an injury,
• inflammatory nature,
• degenerative manifestations in the tissues of the articular surfaces.

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Diseases that cause pain in the wrist joint

Any pain manifestation does not occur by itself. Therefore, pain in the radial joint has its own causes.

As a rule, such sensations in the radial joint are caused by various diseases:

• Styloiditis is an inflammatory disease of the ligaments that attach to the styloid processes of the radius. It is accompanied by pain in the area of the above-mentioned processes.
• De Quervain's disease - otherwise called stenosing tendovaginitis, which refers to inflammatory processes in the tendons of the muscle responsible for abduction of the thumb. They have acute or chronic forms.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition that manifests itself as compression of the median nerve, which runs through a fibrous canal located close to the surface of the palm of the wrist.
• Arthritis of the hand – manifests itself in inflammatory processes of the wrist joint, as a derivative disease of rheumatoid arthritis, reactive arthritis, gout, and so on.
• Arthrosis is a disease that occurs in rare cases. The most common of the arthroses is post-traumatic arthrosis, that is, it occurs after an injury to a joint, hand or the entire arm. With this disease, there is a deformation of the cartilage of the articular surface, in this case, the wrist.
• Bursitis is characterized by the presence of a large amount of fluid in the joint capsule, which is not a natural human condition.
• Hygromas are characterized by the appearance of a benign tumor in the joint area, which reduces the mobility of the joint.
• Periarthritis is a disease that affects the wrists and manifests itself as inflammatory processes in the styloid process of the radius.
• Dislocations are characterized by the displacement of articular surfaces relative to each other, which should not happen in the normal state of the joint.

The causes of pain in the wrist joint are as follows:

• In de Quervain's disease (or tendovaginitis) - the disease is caused, most often, by overstraining the tendons of the joint. The clinical picture of the disease is especially evident with constant movements of a certain nature associated with the work of the wrist joint. The most frequent patients who seek help with this problem have such professions as a seamstress, grinder, plasterer, housekeeper. Also, inflammatory processes in the tendon sheaths in tendovaginitis can be caused by the penetration of pyogenic bacteria into the above-mentioned connective sheaths.
• In styloiditis, the causes of the disease are the same as in the previous case. Only Filkenstein's symptom will have to be excluded from the overall picture of the disease.
• In carpal tunnel syndromes, the disease is stimulated by frequent flexion or extension of the hands. Therefore, these symptoms affect people who are prone to frequent work at the computer (using the so-called "mouse"), constantly playing the piano, professionally engaged in repair or finishing work, and so on. Carpal tunnel syndrome can be provoked by some systemic diseases - rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and so on, that is, diseases associated with metabolic disorders in the body. This syndrome most often affects representatives of the weaker sex.
• With arthritis of the wrist joint, patients experience pain in it along with swelling. Sometimes there is slight reddening of the skin in the area of the joint cavity. Stiffness in the movement of the joint in the morning after waking up is possible. The manifestations of the disease can be different - it all depends on the origins of arthritis, its cause.
• Sometimes, when taking an X-ray, no changes in the joints of the hand are visible. If tests are taken, then as a result of laboratory studies it turns out that the ESR is elevated, as is the C-reactive protein. Such a picture, obtained as a result of tests, is typical for all forms of arthritis. Arthritis provoked by any specific diseases can manifest itself in changes in the indicators of other parameters. For example, with gout, the level of uric acid in the blood increases, as with rheumatoid arthritis, the rheumatoid factor in the blood increases.
• Arthrosis usually develops slowly and progresses unnoticed. Patients begin to suffer from pain that occurs when the joint is loaded, especially of a mechanical nature. In a calm state, the pain decreases or practically disappears. It happens that with arthrosis, painful sensations of a starting nature arise - in the morning, during the load of the joint, after a night of immobility. This is due to the fact that the cartilage gradually deteriorates, and its surface becomes deformed. These irregularities lead to painful sensations. Later, as the disease progresses, when the joint itself begins to be deformed, painful sensations can already be constant: both during the day and at night, and under load, and at rest.
• Bursitis appears as a consequence of injuries, regular physical activity, as a complication of gout, arthritis, various allergic reactions that can accompany diseases of an infectious nature.
• Hygromas appear with constant daily mechanical impact on the hand. As a result, a benign tumor appears in the joint area. The disease does not pose any danger to human life, although it causes significant inconvenience in terms of the quality of this life itself.
• Periarthritis has a cause that is expressed in constant microtraumas that occur on the wrist and the styloid process of the radius.
• Dislocations most often occur due to injuries involving the wrists.

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