Discussions By Condition: Hand conditions
Still have wrist pain, broke radius almost 5 years ago
Posted In: Hand conditions
4 Replies
- Posted By: Anonymous
- January 10, 2007
- 06:24 PM
I broke my wrist and had surgery (ulna osteotomy a.k.a. "ulna shortening") 4 years ago. I had a second surgery to have the plate removed. Along with the shortening I had a TFCC tear cleaned up, the TFCC tear was most likely from the ulna rubbing on the cartilage. Even though I had the surgery 4 years ago, I still have pain while doing anything weight bearing. I have been to a number of doctors who just look at the X-Rays and MRI report and tell me that everything looks fine.
It's NOT fine, I still have pain! It's like a pinching feeling when I am in say a push-up position. I got to the point where I just stopped going to doctors because I was not getting anywhere with them. Does anyone know what the heck could be causing my pain?
4 Replies:
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I also broke my rist in 5 places about 5 years ago I fell off a roof, long story but the last year on so I have had this constant pain in my arm so have continued to exercise as normal still weight lifting until I injured myself again now I have bursitis in the shoulder but that still does not explain the constant pain I have in the arm bone. Perhaps you may be able to guide me as to what I should do next.Anonymous 42789 Replies Flag this Response
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I had a severe blow to my ulnar bone when I was 13. Misdiagnosed fracture was the result. They said it was just a sprain and the x-ray was normal. That wasn't the case. By the time I knew it had been fractured, it was too late to do anything......I thought and was told. For years after, I had a horrible pain in my wrist on the ulnar side. If I tried to do pushups, I had a horrible pain in my wrist. Anything I did with gripping, lifting, or twisting really hurt. I also had a knot on the ulnar side of my wrist as well. I kept up with this until I was 26. At that time, I had another severe blow to the same wrist that was already having alot of problems. I had an x-ray done and was said it was "normal". After 3 weeks of severe pain they did an MRI...it was "normal" to what they could see. The ortho decided to go in and look at my wrist arthroscopically. He found a TFCC tear and something else with a ligament that was torn. None of that showed on my MRI. The surgeon debrided the tears and I was suppossed to be as good as new. 4 weeks later it tore again....and felt even worse this time. I had another x-ray and MRI with a different ortho who specializes in hands and wrists. The MRI shows normal but it isn't. He went in and found the TFCC torn again along with a long tear in a ligament (I can't remember the name of it). The ligament is not repairable because there is no blood supply around the tear to help it repair itself. He debrided the tears again and said we need to give it 3-6 months and see where it goes. If it doesn't get better, then I will have to have an ulnar shortening osteotomy....Shorten my ulnar bone.It has been 5 months since the arthroscopic debridement and my wrist isn't better. It is exactly like it was the first time I hurt it.....and really a little worse. The pain is rediculous when I do anything with it. I have done tons of research on the ulnar shortening osteotomy and it has had wonderful results. My ulnar bone is positive and needs to be reduced 2-3mm. You need to research TFCC tears and the ulnar shortening osteotomy and print out the information. Go to another doctor who specializes in hand and wrist surgery. Explain to him your information and the research you have and how your symptoms are similar. NOT ALL MRI's show tears of TFCC or ligaments and I am a perfect example of that and x-rays showing normal when they weren't. Good luck to you and don't give up, just find the right specialist.Anonymous 42789 Replies Flag this Response
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I broke my wrist and had surgery (ulna osteotomy a.k.a. "ulna shortening") 4 years ago. I had a second surgery to have the plate removed. Along with the shortening I had a TFCC tear cleaned up, the TFCC tear was most likely from the ulna rubbing on the cartilage. Even though I had the surgery 4 years ago, I still have pain while doing anything weight bearing. I have been to a number of doctors who just look at the X-Rays and MRI report and tell me that everything looks fine. It's NOT fine, I still have pain! It's like a pinching feeling when I am in say a push-up position. I got to the point where I just stopped going to doctors because I was not getting anywhere with them. Does anyone know what the heck could be causing my pain?The other posts here had nothing to do with your question, it's a shame some people have comprehension problems and post their own non related things to your question.The likely answer is that the pain can still continue after the osteotomy, while an osteotomy often helps, it is not always full proof and the pain can continue. You could try anti-inflammatory medication, heat, ask for Physiotherapy or in the instance none of that helps, see a Physical Medicine doctor for treatment, they are a higher class of Physiotherapist with an actual medical doctor's license and can treat things like this at an advanced level.There is also the option of it being related to a cut in the ulnar nerve and you have developed neuropathy and may need medication to deal with that until the nerve heals which can take some time. That is a common complication of the osteotomy and hardware removal surgeries.Either way, see your Dr. and explain the issues, ask for a referral to a Physical Medicine doctor or even demand a CT scan as that can be more efficient at dealing with issues in that area than an X-Ray or MRI, you could also demand a Nuclear scan where they inject low level radioactive dye into the body and if there was an injury not appearing on anything else, it can cling to and highlight that injury and thus is very effective at diagnosing a cause of said pain.Anonymous 42789 Replies Flag this Response
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I broke my wrist and had surgery (ulna osteotomy a.k.a. "ulna shortening") 4 years ago. I had a second surgery to have the plate removed. Along with the shortening I had a TFCC tear cleaned up, the TFCC tear was most likely from the ulna rubbing on the cartilage. Even though I had the surgery 4 years ago, I still have pain while doing anything weight bearing. I have been to a number of doctors who just look at the X-Rays and MRI report and tell me that everything looks fine. It's NOT fine, I still have pain! It's like a pinching feeling when I am in say a push-up position. I got to the point where I just stopped going to doctors because I was not getting anywhere with them. Does anyone know what the heck could be causing my pain?I don't know where the pain is coming from but please let me know if you find out. I had the surgery 6 years ago and recently the pain I have in my arm is immense. The pain is right where the bones healed together and no I have done anything that would have injured it nor is it from overuse. Maybe between the two of us we can figure it out...Anonymous 42789 Replies Flag this Response
