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Health

Causes of pain in the wrist joint

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Pain in the wrist joint is not a rare phenomenon, although it has many causes, ranging from trauma to chronic systemic diseases of the body.

Painful sensations in this joint, of course, reduce the quality of human life, and most importantly, indicate that the body has unpleasant changes.

The correct diagnosis can be put by specialists - orthopedists and neuropathologists. They also will prescribe an adequate treatment that will help to cope with the problem.

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

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

trusted-source[1], [2], [3], [4]

Diseases that cause pain in the wrist joint

Any painful manifestation does not arise by itself. Therefore, the pain in the radial joint has its own reasons.

As a rule, such sensations in the radial joint cause various diseases:

  • Styloiditis - inflammatory diseases of ligaments that attach to the subulate processes of the radius. It is accompanied by pain in the area of the above processes.
  • The disease of de Kerven - otherwise called stenosing tendovaginitis, which means inflammatory processes in the tendons of the muscle responsible for the removal of the thumb. They have acute or chronic forms.
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome (carpal tunnel syndrome) manifests itself as compression of the median nerve, which lies in the fibrous canal, located close to the surface of the palm of the wrist.
  • Brush arthritis - manifested in the inflammatory processes of the wrist joint, as a derivative disease from rheumatoid arthritis, reactive arthritis, gout and so on.
  • Arthrosis is a disease that occurs in rare cases. The most common of the arthrosis is posttraumatic arthrosis, that is, arisen after an injury to the joint, hand or whole arm. With this disease, there is a deformation of the cartilage of the articular surface, in this case, of the wrist.
  • Bursitis - characterized by the presence of a large amount of fluid in the articular bag, which is not a natural human condition.
  • Hygromes - are characterized by the appearance in the joint area of a benign tumor, which reduces the mobility of the joint.
  • Periarthritis is a disease that affects the wrist and has a manifestation, like inflammatory processes in the subulate process of the radius.
  • Dislocations are characterized by the displacement of the joint surfaces relative to each other, which in the normal state of the joint should not be.

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

  • With de Kerven's disease (or tendovaginitis) - the disease is caused, most often, by the overstrain of the tendons of the joint. Particularly manifested clinic of the disease with constant movements of a certain nature associated with the work of the wrist joint. The most frequent patients who deal with this problem have such professions as seamstress, grinder, plasterer, housekeeper. Also inflammatory processes in the tendon sheaths with tenosynovitis may be caused by ingression of pyogenic bacteria into the above connecting membranes.
  • With stiloiditis, the causes of the disease are the same as in the previous case. Only the symptom Filkenstein will have to be excluded from the general picture of the disease.
  • With carpal (or carpal) canal syndrome - the disease stimulates frequent flexion or extension of the hands. Therefore, these symptoms affect people who are inclined to frequent work at the computer (using the so-called "mouse"), constantly playing the piano, professionally engaged in repair or finishing works, and so on. Carpal tunnel syndrome can be triggered by some systemic diseases - rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus and so on, that is, diseases that are associated with a violation of metabolic processes in the body. This syndrome is susceptible, most often, to representatives of the weaker sex.
  • With arthritis of the wrist joint, patients experience painful sensations in it along with edema. Sometimes there is a slight reddening of the skin in the region of the joint cavity. There may be stiffness in the movement of the joint in the morning hours after awakening. Manifestations of the disease can be different - it all depends on the origins of arthritis, its causes.
  • Sometimes when you take an X-ray, you do not see any changes in the joints of the brush. If tests are given, then as a result of laboratory studies it turns out that the ESR is increased, as is the C-reactive protein. Such a picture, obtained as a result of analyzes, is typical for all forms of arthritis. Arthritis, provoked by any specific diseases, can manifest themselves in changing the parameters of other parameters. For example, with gout, the level of uric acid in the blood increases, as in rheumatoid arthritis rheumatoid factor in the blood rises.
  • Arthrosis develops, as a rule, at a slow pace and progresses imperceptibly. Patients begin to suffer pain, which occurs when the joint is stressed, especially of a mechanical nature. In a calm state, the pain decreases or practically disappears. It happens that with arthrosis there are painful sensations of the starting character - in the morning, during the joint load, after the night immobility. This is due to the fact that the cartilage is gradually destroyed, and its surface becomes deformed. These irregularities lead to painful sensations. Later, with the progression of the disease, when the joint itself begins to be deformed, the pain sensations can be already constant: day and night, and under load, and at rest.
  • Bursitis appears as the consequences of injuries, regular physical exertion, as a complication from gout, arthritis, various allergic reactions that can accompany diseases with an infectious nature.
  • Hygromes appear with a constant everyday effect on a brush of a mechanical nature. As a result, a benign tumor appears in the articular region. The disease does not carry any danger to human life, although it causes considerable inconvenience in terms of the quality of this life itself.
  • Periarthritis has a cause of its occurrence, expressed in permanent micro traumas that occur on the wrist and styloid process of the radius.
  • Dislocations appear, most often, because of injuries associated with the wrists.

trusted-source[5], [6]

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