Tell us the difference between a wrist injury and a broken wrist.
A wrist injury occurs when the wrist is stretched too far.A wrist injury occurs when one of the bones in the wrist breaks.It can be hard to tell the difference between a wrist injury and a broken wrist, as both injuries have the same symptoms and are caused by accidents.A fractured wrist can be caused by sprained ligaments.It's possible to distinguish between wrist injuries at home, but a medical assessment is needed before you head off to a hospital.
Step 1: Move your wrist to check it.
Wrist sprains have a wide range of severity depending on the degree of stretch or tearing.A mild wrist injury, which does not involve significant tearing, may be associated with some loss of function, while a moderate injury may involve tearing up to 50% of the fibers.There will be relatively normal movement in your wrist with Grade 1 and 2 sprains.A Grade 3 injury can cause instability with movement because the wrist bones are torn.There are some wrist injuries that need medical attention.All Grade 1 and 2 injuries can be treated at home.A Grade 3 wrist injury can result in a small chip of bone being taken with it.The scaphoid bone is connected to the lunate bone by the most common injury in the wrist.
Step 2: Pick out the type of pain you are feeling.
Wrist sprains are very variable in severity, so the type and amount of pain varies a lot.The Grade 1 wrist sprains are mildly painful and can be sharp with movement.Depending on the degree of tearing, Grade 2 sprains are either moderately or severely painful; the pain is sharper than a Grade 1 tear and sometimes also throbbing because of the increased inflammation.It is possible that Grade 3 sprains are less painful initially than a Grade 2 injury because of the severed ligament.Due to the accumulating inflammation, Grade 3 wrist sprains start to throb quite a bit.Grade 3 sprains that involve an avulsion fracture are very painful immediately and involve both throbbing and sharp type pain.The most pain with movement is generated by sphins, and they are less likely to besymptomatic with lack of movement.If you have a wrist that is difficult to move, you should see your doctor right away.
Step 3: If you ice it, you can see how it responds.
The benefits of ice or cold therapy include reducing inflammation and numbing nerve fibers that cause pain.Ice is important for wrist sprains because it causes more inflammation around the injury site.Applying ice to a wrist injury for 10–15 minutes every one to two hours immediately after an injury makes a big impact and reduces the intensity of pain, which makes movement much easier.It is helpful for pain and inflammation control, but the symptoms often return after the effects wear off.Cold therapy is more effective on most fractured bones.The swelling around the injury will get worse if it's more serious, which will make the area look bigger.Cold therapy is more likely to impact a stress fracture than a more serious one.
Step 4: Check the next day for signs of injury.
Inflammation creates swelling, but it's not the same as bruise.Localized bleeding into the tissues from injured small arteries or veins is what causes the bruise.If the injury was from a hard blow that crushed the small blood vessels, Grade 1 wrist sprains are usually not bruisers.It depends on how the injury occurred and how much swelling is involved.Grade 3 sprains involve a lot of swelling and can cause significant damage to the surrounding blood vessels.Swelling from inflammation doesn't cause a lot of color change in the skin.Blood leaking into the tissues below the skin causes the blue bruise.The bruise changes color as the blood gets flushed out of the tissues.
Step 5: After a few days, see how it feels.
If you apply cold therapy and rest the injury, it will feel better after a few days.If your wrist feels good, there's no swelling, and you can move it without pain, so there is no need for medical intervention.If your wrist feels better after a few days even if there is some swelling and the pain is moderate, then give it a little more time to heal.If your injury hasn't improved much or is worse after a few days, then a medical assessment is likely needed as soon as possible.One to two weeks is the time it takes for Grade 1 and some Grade 2 sprains to heal.Hairline fractures can heal in a couple of weeks, whereas more serious ones can take a few months or more if surgery is required.
Step 6: It's a good idea to look for crookedness.
Accidents and trauma can cause wrist injuries.The bigger the bones, the less likely they are to break in response to trauma.They often create a crooked appearance when they do.The small carpal bones of the wrist make it difficult to see if a wrist is crooked or not.The radius is the most common broken long bone in the wrist area.The scaphoid bone is the most common fractured carpal bone.An open or compound fracture is when a bone enters the skin and becomes visible.
Step 7: Do you know the type of pain?
It's usually described as very sharp with movement and deep and achy without movement, but it depends on severity.When gripping or squeezing the hand, the pain of wrist injuries tends to increase, which is not the case with wrist sprains.Wrist injuries can cause more symptoms in the hand than wrist sprains because there is a greater chance of nerve injury and damage.When moving a fractured wrist, there can be a crunching sound.Pain from a wrist injury can be preceded by a cracking sound or feeling.Only Grade 3 sprains can produce a sound or similar sensation, and it can sometimes be a "pop" sound.Wrist pain from a fracture will get worse at night, whereas a wrist sprain will not flare-up in the night if the wrist is immobilized.
Step 8: If the symptoms are worse the next day, assess it.
A day or two of rest and cold therapy can make a big difference in a wrist injury, but the same can't be said for a broken bone.Most broken bones need more time to heal than sprains.If you take a few days of rest and icing, you may feel better once your body gets over the initial shock of the injury.If a broken bone pokes through the skin, there is a high risk of infections and loss of blood.You should get medical attention as soon as possible.Circulation to the hand may be cut off due to a broken bone.Compartment syndrome is caused by the swelling from the blood.The hand will turn pale and feel cold when this happens.A broken bone can pinch or sever a nearby nerve, which can cause complete numbness in the hand.
Step 9: An x-ray can be obtained from your doctor.
Unless a bone is poking through your skin, x-rays and other scans are the only way to tell if you have a wrist injury.The small bones of the wrist can be seen with an x-ray.Before consulting with your doctor, you will likely be referred for a wrist x-ray and get the results verified by a radiologist.X-rays only show bone and not soft tissues.It can take a few days for fractured bones to be visible on x-rays because of their small size and confined space.Your doctor will refer you for an exam to see the extent of the damage.A fractured bone in the wrist can be detected with an magnetic resonance image, which uses magnetic waves to provide detailed images of structures within the body.It is difficult to see hairline fractures in the wrist on regular x-rays.The injury is well on its way to healing, so you may have to wait a week or so to confirm the injury.Osteoporosis is a major risk factor for wrist fractures, but it doesn't increase the risk of wrist sprains.