How to treat wrist ligament injury

In daily life, some bumps and bruises are inevitable, and injuries and bleeding are also common occurrences. Especially when engaging in intense exercise, if you do not pay attention to sports safety and do not take relevant measures, you are very likely to face injuries such as fractures, ligament strains, etc. In severe cases, it may even cause bone ruptures and affect your health. So how should you treat wrist ligament injuries?

After a ligament sprain, there will be local swelling, pain, tenderness, and a cyanotic area may be seen if there is subcutaneous bleeding. It is very important to treat joint ligament sprains correctly in the early stages. Because ligament tissue is not easy to regenerate and recover, if it is not treated properly or misdiagnosed and turns into a chronic disease, it may leave functional impairment and be prone to sprain again in the future.

After an acute injury occurs, activities should be stopped immediately to reduce bleeding. Immediately flush the injured area with cold water or apply ice to the affected area to stop the bleeding. Then cover with a bandage and apply pressure to prevent swelling. Complete ligament rupture or suspected concurrent fracture.

After applying the pressure bandage, you must consult a doctor for further examination and treatment. After 24 to 48 hours, the internal bleeding in the injured area has stopped. You can then use a warm towel or massage to reduce swelling and promote blood absorption.

When applying warm compress, the temperature should not be too high, the time should not be too long, and the massage should not be too heavy, so as not to aggravate exudation, edema or rebleeding.

In order to promote the recovery of joint function, attention should be paid to the combination of movement and stillness, and early activities should be carried out without any pain.

After basic recovery, strength exercises should be done on the muscles around the joints to improve the relative stability of the joints.

If the wrist sprain is a minor injury, there is generally no obvious swelling and mild pain, and pain only occurs when the wrist joint is moved in a large range.

If the wrist sprain is severe, the wrist will be swollen and painful, and the wrist joint cannot be moved or the pain will be aggravated when moving. During the examination, if the wrist joint is flexed forcefully and pain occurs on the dorsal side, it means that the dorsal wrist ligament and wrist extensor tendon are damaged; otherwise, it means that the palmar wrist ligament or wrist flexor tendon is damaged. If the wrist joint is tilted toward the ulnar side with force and pain occurs in the radial styloid process, it is a radial collateral ligament injury; otherwise, it is an ulnar collateral ligament injury. If there is pain in all directions of wrist movement and the movement is significantly restricted, it indicates a complex injury of ligaments, tendons, etc. There is tenderness at the site of injury or abnormal changes in muscle tissue can be felt. Wrist injuries should be treated promptly to prevent ischemic necrosis of the scaphoid and lunate bones.