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Wrist pain
Category: Muscles, Bones & Joints · All muscles & joints symptoms
What it can feel like
Wrist pain most often follows a fall onto an outstretched hand, overuse of the tendons, or ganglion cysts appearing on the back of the wrist. Because the small wrist bones fracture in characteristic patterns, pain in the anatomical snuffbox after a fall is always taken seriously.
Possible causes
A symptom can have many causes, and most are not serious. The lists below group conditions this symptom can be associated with — common causes first. They are possibilities to discuss with a clinician, not a diagnosis.
Common causes
Wrist pain can be associated with sprains, tendon irritation from repetitive tasks (including De Quervain's pattern at the thumb side), ganglions, and carpal tunnel syndrome causing night-time tingling with aching.
Other possible causes
Wrist pain can also be associated with fractures (including the scaphoid bone, which can be invisible on first X-rays), inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid disease, gout, infection, and complex regional pain after injury.
Red flags — when to seek help promptly
- Wrist pain after a fall with tenderness in the hollow at the base of the thumb
- A hot, swollen wrist with fever
- Wrist pain with progressive numbness and weakness in the hand
- Pain persisting more than a week after an injury that was assumed to be a sprain
What a clinician may do
A clinician will examine the tender points and movements, and X-ray injuries. Scaphoid injuries may need repeat imaging or MRI even with normal first films. Tendon problems are managed with splinting, load change and sometimes injections.
Watch: related videos
Examination and clinical videos from the MedicalVideos.com library relevant to this symptom. Some clinical footage is graphic — that is the nature of a medical video library.
Related guides on MedicalVideos.com
Frequently asked questions
Why does a normal X-ray not end the story after a fall?
The scaphoid — a small boat-shaped bone at the thumb base — can fracture without showing on early films, and missed fractures can damage its fragile blood supply. Snuffbox tenderness is therefore treated as a fracture until repeat assessment proves otherwise.
What is a ganglion?
A harmless, jelly-filled cyst arising from a joint or tendon sheath, most often on the back of the wrist. Ganglions fluctuate in size, sometimes ache, and many settle without treatment; persistent or troublesome ones can be drained or removed.
Related symptoms — Muscles, Bones & Joints
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