Wrist Conditions

Wrist Arthritis is a result of either Rheumatoid Arthritis or Osteoarthritis (OA). the diagnosis is made with the clinical history and X ray of the wrist joint.

Nowadays fortunately Rheumatoid disease is well managed medically with several new drugs hence is not a common cause of wrist OA anymore.

The most common cause is now trauma – and several patients who have suffered a severe wrist ligament injury and instabilty can develop this post traumatic OA. Another cause is the fracture of Scaphoid which has developed a non union and collapse of the proximal pole due to necrosis of the bone.

There are several ways to treat the wrist OA. Some can be treated with partial wrist fusion and rarely a full wrist fusion. Rarely the wrist can be considered suitable for a wrist joint replacement.

Wrist fracture management has become a state of art management which can almost assure a perfect outcome. The traditional plaster management is still used in many simple fractures with a good outcome.

However each fracture is individually classified for its configuration and then scanned for accuracy of the fracture pattern with good X rays or a CT scan. A complex fracture usually ends up having an operation to fix it securely with a locking plate. this usually brings the wrist back to its normal position and hopefully once its heals the expectation is to get an excellent functional outcome.

Wrist is one of the joints that has 8 loose small boned held together with small ligaments. this intricate arrangement of bones held by ligaments allows the wrist to have the excellent ability to move in all directions as it does. These ligaments are prone to tear under the pressure of a fall on the ‘outstretched hand’ (OSH).

These injuries are diagnosed with an MRI for confirming the injury

Waiting for more information.