Hand and wrist conditions
What the most common conditions of the hand and wrist are, how they are diagnosed and how they are treated, explained for patients.
- Carpal tunnel Night-time tingling, numbness in the fingers and loss of strength caused by compression of the median nerve at the wrist.
- Thumb base arthritis Pain and loss of strength at the base of the thumb caused by wear of the trapeziometacarpal joint.
- Trigger finger Clicking, catching or locking of the finger when bending and straightening it, sometimes with a small painful lump in the palm.
- Dupuytren's Progressive thickening of the fascia of the palm that forms nodules and cords and eventually bends the fingers towards the palm.
- Tendon injuries Cuts, ruptures and detachments of the tendons that move the fingers: from mallet finger to deep wounds requiring urgent repair.
- De Quervain's Pain on the thumb side of the wrist when pinching, rotating or lifting weight, caused by irritation of the sheath around the thumb tendons.
- Finger osteoarthritis Pain, stiffness and nodes in the finger joints caused by cartilage wear, especially in the joints closest to the nail.
- Thumb sprain Pain and instability at the base of the thumb after a fall or sudden pull, caused by injury to the ulnar collateral ligament of the metacarpophalangeal joint.
- Guyon's canal Tingling in the ring and little fingers and loss of hand strength caused by compression of the ulnar nerve at the wrist.
- Rheumatoid arthritis A chronic inflammatory disease affecting the joints and tendons of the hand, which can cause deformities and tendon ruptures that surgery helps to treat.
- Hand tumours Most lumps in the hand and wrist are benign, but every lump deserves a diagnosis: cysts, soft-tissue tumours and bone tumours.
- Ganglion cyst A soft, benign, fluid-filled lump that arises from a joint or a tendon sheath, most often on the back of the wrist.
- Distal radius fracture The most common wrist fracture: it occurs on falling onto an outstretched hand and can be treated with a cast or with surgery depending on the displacement.
- Scaphoid fracture A fracture of the most vulnerable bone in the wrist: often not seen on the first X-ray, and if it fails to heal, it can lead to nonunion.
- TFCC injury A frequent cause of pain on the little-finger side of the wrist, with clicking when rotating the forearm, after a fall or due to wear.
- Wrist ligaments Sprains and ruptures of the ligaments joining the carpal bones, especially the scapholunate ligament, which can destabilise the wrist and lead to osteoarthritis.
- Wrist osteoarthritis Wear of the wrist cartilage, almost always a consequence of an old fracture or ligament rupture, causing progressive pain and stiffness.
Do you have a hand or wrist problem?
Book an appointment with Dr Marta Martí Puente for a specialist assessment.
