Sore wrist

Don’t think I’ve seen medical questions here but I have one, SORE WRIST/SORE BACK OF HAND. Basic griping activities causes pain. On bad days, I can’t even hold a coffee cup, other days, hurts pouring a cup from the pot. Screwdrivers kill. You get the message. Didn’t do anything to it that made me think I hurt myself. No swelling, bruising, or indications that something is wrong with it. Everything looks normal. It has been hurting for about 3 weeks now. I am retired but was your basic blue collar dude working construction. Lately I have been remodeling my house and garage. I’m thinking maybe I strained my hand/wrist while working around the place. I did Google carpal tunnel but don’t think I have those symptom, possible arthritis? When it comes to wrists,I figured paddlers would be in the know. I did paddle yesterday to see how the wrist would hold up. It was sore but didn’t elevate my pain. I thought it would really be hurting today but no different than the day before. Are there any good home remedies out there I may be able to apply? I tried rest, ice and anti inflammatory. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Aspercreme
I would try Aspercreme for generalized pain like that. But it at any drugstore or most supermarkets. Its a crème and it doesn’t smell, rub it on leave it on for say 5 minutes or so then wipe off excess. Worth a try.

Me too.
For the past few weeks, I have a wrist that has been sore, but not as severe as what you have indicated. I’ve been rubbing on the Aspercreme and Thera-gesic from time to time. It might help a little, but it doesn’t cure anything. Once in awhile I might take a couple Naproxen Sodium pills if it is bothering me.



I’m pretty sure if I just rested the wrist for a few days it would get better, but I have things to do that don’t allow that luxury. The strange thing is that after doing things that use the wrist hard, I expect to pay the price, but often it is better for awhile. Yesterday I was cutting and splitting a lot of firewood and today it is barely noticeable.

Rub on a physical therapist.

wrist
Same with me. I did an 8 mile paddle around Puget Sound Yesterday as a test. It was sore but was expecting serious issues this morning but not as bad as I thought. Think I need to rest it but to many things to do. Wife wants me to go to the DRs but there isn’t anything there for him to look at. I figured paddlers would be in the know. Thanks.

Wrist tendonitis?
Try Arnica gel. http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/arnica



I can attest that it does a wonderful job preventing bruises and swelling. Left a compartment door open in my car by mistake and smacked my knee into it. Immediately applied Arnica gel. There was a cut, but no swelling or bruising. That was a first, since I bruise quite easily.



Couple days later I whacked my wrist into a door jamb. Used the Arnica gel. Again, no bruising.



The ultimate test will be this winter, during pool practice of exits/re-entries. I should buy a gallon.



Available at Amazon, box stores, drug stores.

dc9mm
Haven’t tried rubbing anything on it. Thanks for your input.

Go see a doctor!
Are you keeping your wrist straight as you paddle?



It could be a strain, and it might get better with rest but for something like this, rather than take advice from an internet forum, I’d go see a doctor.

EZwater
I know one.

Rookie
Never heard of it. May give it a try. I’m thinking tendinitis. Thanks for your time.

KF
I have my paddle blades offset so rotate my wrists with each stroke. I think I damaged my wrist working around the house. My wife wants me to see a DR, thought I would try here first because paddlers are in the trenches and come up with remedies to keep them on the water. I’ll try some more ice, rest and a few exercises. If it’s not better in a week, I will go to the DR. Thank you for your time.

Don’t overuse NSAIDs, as it can delay
healing. Inflammation is part of the healing process, and pain is an accompaniment of inflammation. I would use a soft wrist brace, mostly as a reminder to not use the wrist more than necessary. Talk to your PT friend about ice, as that can be overdone also. Hope you get to see a doc who knows structures and functions.

“Lately I’ve been remodeling…”

– Last Updated: Oct-28-14 3:01 PM EST –

There's the likely answer to what caused the pain. Paddling might not worsen it but it won't help, either. Try resting it for a few days and then see a doctor if the pain doesn't fade away. From what I was told, ice is good immediately after a sudden injury, but later on you alternate heating pad and ice pack, not too long with either one.

I've had various pains arise after even one day of intense repetitive (but unaccustomed) motion. In my case, it's happened after painting walls, weeding, "stitching" copper wire for a wood kayak, and even occasionally after hand-writing pages of notes. The cure is to simply back off and do it in smaller doses next time.

Not being able to hold a coffee cup is pretty severe. If you go paddling in that condition you might be holding the paddle oddly while trying to compensate for the lack of grip. It's amazing what other pains can develop when you try to compensate for a problem in one part of the body.

There actually have been more than a few questions about pain in these forums, but they're outnumbered by other types of questions.

Good luck recovering.

article on causes
http://www.aafp.org/afp/2005/1101/p1753.html

Back

– Last Updated: Oct-29-14 8:45 AM EST –

Ever try a ciropractor?

Couple of years ago I was riding the motorcycle and the right wrist hurt to run the throttle. It was just pain that was there, not sharp, just real uncomfortable.

I went to the ciro on the bike for a tune up, not mentioning the wrist. When I rode home the pain was gone. When I went back a few months later I talked with him about it and he said that it is common.

For background, I have worked with my hands outside since I was 12, repetive motion will make things hurt, but this pain is different. For paddling, I like the feathered better. My kid on the other hand, gets sore wrists with a feather so he paddles straight, well, the paddle is straight.

“To be on the water” requires caution on
… the land.



Assuming this is your dominant hand ? (because of several injuries, age, chronic condition, etc, I have had to teach myself to use my off hand for a lot of things to “save” my natural handiness for when I really need it.) First thing I would do is not give up on going to the doctor, if he can’t look at it and say “do this instead” get another one, if you can. Try to find one that other people who do sports use.



But… okay. First, rest. Lay off the house remodel stuff for awhile. Second, look at what you were doing differently with those tools, right before the latest round. Grasping hard and twisting is VERY hard on those wrist joints. So is putting pressure on the outer, lower base of the hand. It will make it go numb and weak. For example, if you are riding a bicycle with regular handlebars and lean too much on the outer edge of the hand, instead of lightly on the meaty section of the hand just below the thumb, or resting on the section between thumb and first finger, your hand will suffer. So, don’t do that.



If you paddle after resting up for awhile, you perhaps want to switch back to the straight blade instead of the offset setting. Yeah, you catch more wind resistance, but it’s better than having your whole hand going out of commission for a month or worse, much longer. It’s easier to paddle with the straight setting and not wrist- twist and grip too hard with the hand on the side that’s in the water and pulling back. (there is probably a technical term for this, but I forget what it is called). You are going to PUSH with that upper hand and not pull so much with the lower hand side with the blade in the water. Pulling=bad. :frowning: When you push with the upper hand, side not in the water, use the space between the thumb and the first finger to push, and don’t grip the paddle shaft hard, soften the rest of the fingers.



After paddling, you can either use cold water right at the take out to immediately cool down your hands/wrists for short periods of time. Just stick your hand in the water and chill for a bit. Yes, it may look funny, but who cares. You just dressed for potential cold water immersion and you’re going to ignore this wonderful, natural, anti inflammatory liquid resource you kayak is resting on ? Who needs ice? Soak your hand, load the kayak, soak again. Don’t chill the wrist for a long time, 5- 10 minutes is plenty.



At home, when sitting around, go ahead and prop up the troublesome hand/wrist/arm on a pillow to keep it straight, a bit elevated, and not put pressure on any one part.



Too many over the counter anti inflammatory meds (ibuprofren, aleve type things) can slow down healing, or worse, loosen you up so you overdo it on the next round, injure yourself some more, and then it is still “worse” 2 or 3 days later. Use caution. Also, these NSAIDS things can be really hard on the kidneys and your gut while heavily exerting yourself, especially in warmer weather, when you are older. You can try consuming more ginger and or tumeric, which are natural anti inflamatories.



Sleep posture - if your neck is going bad (a frequent aging “bonus”) you may have to change your position and or pillow, etc, to not have your hand go numb from having your head in a bad position. Sometimes numb hands can be both from bad head/neck/upper body posture AND from these overuse injuries.



Laptops: those cute little portable computers are just H*LL on your neck and sometimes the wrists, too, because they encourage awkward posture. If you use a computer a lot, you may have to put the view screen up where your head is not bent over all the time, or even plug it into another display. Watch how your hands are, and make sure the wrists are not getting bent and pressured all wrong. Assuming you are not texting for 5 hours a day on the phones, like these kids who are going to kill their wrists by the age of 25…



Exercises - I see so many BAD exercises on the 'net concerning fitness these days, that would torque anyone’s wrists to injury if they actually did them, better to ask a PT for ideas.


Wrist issues
I second the recommendation for Arnica, it seems to help healing.



I was a carpenter for years - wrist damage can be done swinging a too-heavy hammer. I wised up and got a light finish hammer early on.



But also, over the years I found that continuous damage was being done by holding a screw gun / power drill on a daily basis. The remedy was to always use a fairly heavy elastic wrist brace while doing construction.



When I started paddling (and was no longer a carpenter) I found the injury coming back. Switching to a ultra light unfeathered paddle stopped it quickly. Rotating a feathered paddle during normal paddling seemed to aggravate the old injury. A GP works just as well to take the strain off the wrist.

Another, underdiagnosed, cause
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10194003

rest rest rest

– Last Updated: Oct-28-14 10:42 PM EST –

I prolonged wrist problems for months by not letting up on them. Rest is what worked. After rest it was learning to do things a little differently, thinking more about my paddling stroke for example, and how I exercise.

For awhile a splint wrap helped and I could still work.

Also what EZ water said, about PT and NSAIDS. Actually have sworn off the
latter myself.

visit
a hand doctor. have an x ray. stop eating red meat. drink more fruit juice and water.