Signs and Symptoms associated With Wrist Pain
Wrist pain is a symptom and not a diagnosis by itself. It can be due to a sprained wrist, tendonitis, arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and trauma. There are different causes of wrist pain, and depending on the associated signs and symptoms, your doctor may suspect a diagnosis.
That’s why it is essential to consider wrist pain’s signs and symptoms. They include:
- Bruising: Your wrists can sometimes become bruised, even if you didn’t have direct trauma. If your pain is associated with bruises in the wrist, there’s a high chance that you have a sprain or strain of the ligaments that run through this area. Bruises are not always tender by themselves. It happens because the blood vessels are ruptured, and blood leaks through the tissues. In rare cases, bruises can be very extensive and reach the fingers. However, there are not the most common symptom of a wrist sprain unless you had associated trauma in the area.
- Swelling: Inflammation is a very common cause of wrist pain, and it can sometimes become particularly visible through the skin. This is what we call swelling, which happens because fluid starts to collect in the soft tissues of the wrists after an injury occurs. The wrists can be notably swollen, or the alteration can be mild, depending on the severity of the damage. This is one of the most common symptoms of wrist sprains, along with pain and stiffness. Swelling is also notable in arthritis, especially rheumatoid arthritis.
- Warmth: As the inflammation worsens in your wrists, the blood flow increases near the skin, and the area becomes reddened and warm due to the proximity and widening of the blood vessels. This only happens in cases of severe inflammation because the wrists do not typically have superficial blood vessels. However, warmth can be noticeable to the touch if you endure a very severe injury and in case of arthritis.
- Difficulty to grip or move the wrist: When severe inflammation is active, fluid accumulation and pain will reduce the mobility of the articulation. The range of motion is reduced, and the flexibility of the wrist is altered, sometimes as an avoidance behavior and others due to very severe edema.
- Stiffness: This symptom is similar to the one above, but the cause is not inflammation in this case. The joint’s mobility is not impaired by pain, and the swelling appears not to be very severe. Stiffness is a common symptom of rheumatoid arthritis, primarily felt in the morning or after long periods of inactivity. In some cases, we can also have muscle spasms that reduce joint mobility and cause stiffness. This happens because the ligament is injured in case of sprains, strains, and tendonitis. In tendonitis, the stiff articulation is usually the thumb at its base near the wrist.
- Lumps: If you notice lumps in your wrists along with pain, there are multiple possibilities. It can be tendonitis, arthritis, or a ganglion cyst. In tendonitis, it is usually due to muscle spasms and knots. In arthritis, lumps in your wrists can happen when the articulation becomes deformed. And ganglion cysts are lumps by themselves, formed in joints and tendons, usually in the hands and wrists. They are noncancerous, and their size can be as small as a pea or as large as a golf ball.
- Numbness and tingling: You can sometimes have sensory changes along with pain. These sensory changes include numbness and tingling. Numbness is a reduction in the sensation of touch, and tingling feels something like needles and pins in your wrists, hands, and fingers. These symptoms are triggered by a pinched nerve and are characteristic of carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Muscle weakness: Along with sensory alterations, carpal tunnel syndrome and other nerve pinching problems can also trigger muscle weakness. These are motor problems caused by nerve dysfunction. However, muscle weakness can also happen in tendonitis and arthritis. Muscle weakness can be associated with stiffness, or they can be different symptoms unrelated to each other.
- Popping, tearing, or snapping sounds: Wrist pain can be accompanied by cracking, popping, tearing, or snapping sensations in the area. It can be a sound or only a feeling. This can be a sign of a broken wrist, especially after trauma. It can also be a sign of sprains or strains in the wrist ligaments.
- Wrist instability: When there’s structural damage to the articulation, patients can also report wrist instability. The joint does not support itself because the ligaments are not holding everything together as they usually do. The wrist becomes unstable, and either slides uncomfortably or does not respond when you’re trying to perform a more difficult task, such as opening a jar with too much force.