Symptoms
Tendinitis in the wrist manifests itself with severe stabbing or pulling pain that is felt in the wrist with almost every movement. In very pronounced stages of the disease, the pain is even felt at rest. In addition to the pain, swelling and/or redness of the wrist is often but not always noticeable.
In some patients, a crunching or rubbing is felt and heard when the wrist is moved. Pain from passive hyperextension by another person is also among the symptoms. In the case of chronic tendosynovitis, nodular thickening of the wrist can also be felt.
Patients with tendosynovitis in the area of the wrist often keep their hand steady by themselves to avoid pain. This is also the doctor’s approach. He immobilizes the wrist with a bandage or a splint so as not to further irritate the tendon sheaths.
Especially the activity that led to the tendon sheath inflammation should be avoided. Cooling compresses also help to relieve the inflammation. However, these should be wrapped in a cloth beforehand to prevent the skin from freezing.
Painkillers are used to relieve the pain of a patient. These also have an anti-inflammatory effect and can be used either as tablets or as an ointment. These are usually ibuprofen or diclophenac.
In the case of very pronounced tendosynovitis, which is associated with very severe pain, the doctor can inject a syringe with cortisone and a local anaesthetic to numb the pain directly into the affected area. The cortisone accelerates the healing of the inflammation. In case of a bacterial infection as a trigger for the inflammation, an antibiotic must be taken.
If the inflammation persists or returns again and again despite all therapy approaches, the possibility of an operation should be considered. In this case, the tendon sheaths are split and thus the increased friction is prevented. An inflammation of the tendon sheath usually lasts for a few days and goes back by itself if the joint is spared.
The more the joint is spared, the faster the improvement occurs. However, if the inflammation of the tendon sheath returns again and again, it can become chronic. In this chronic stage, it can take several weeks, sometimes even months, until healing occurs.In order to prevent this rapid recurrence of the inflammation, it is advisable to take advantage of proper aftercare in the form of physiotherapy.
Here the patient learns movement sequences that prevent a renewed inflammation. Due to the swelling of the tendon sheaths during an inflammation, more space is taken up by it than in the normal case. This leads to increased pressure on the surrounding structures.
The tendons of the flexor muscles of the wrist and the nerve that supplies them (median nerve) move together through the so-called carpal tunnel to the fingers. If the tendons swell, the nerve is pinched and carpal tunnel syndrome can occur. This typically manifests itself as pain and numbness in the fingers.