How To Manage a Wrist Sprain?
The all-dreaded wrist sprain, a very common injury seen among many from breaking their falls or other forceful impacts on the wrist. In this week’s blog, we will share with you important steps to take when it comes to managing the sprained wrist.
What Is a Wrist Sprain?
A wrist sprain is an injury to the ligaments of the wrist region, including the ligaments connecting the wrist bones and the ligaments connecting the wrist bones with the bones of the arm. There are 3 grades to describe the severity of the injury. They are
1. An overstretching of the ligaments, without joint instability.
2. A partial tear of the ligaments, with no or mild joint instability.
3. A complete tear of a ligament with severe joint instability.
How Do I Manage the Wrist Sprain?
RICE
For the first phase, what is important is that we manage the swelling and pain. This can be done by following the method of “Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate”. Additionally, you can read a previous blog writeen about RICE here. Furthermore, immobilizing the wrist can also be helpful as well.
Mobilization
Once the swelling and pain has decreased, it is imperative to keep the wrist mobile and active to prevent the joint from becoming stiff. These are a few exercises you can try below that will be able to increase your flexibility and range of your wrist motion. However, if you encounter pain or discomfort, you should stop and seek further medical attention
Strengthen
Finally, together with the mobilization exercises, we should also try to strengthen the muscles involved with the movement of the wrist as well. Below are few exercises to try. Remember to start with a manageable load and slowly increase the difficulty.
Managing a sprained wrist with these steps should help you in your recovery. However, if the pain and discomfort does not subside, you should seek further help.
If you have any more questions or would like our physiotherapists to assess or treat your ACL injury, feel free to drop us a question, talk to us, or fill in the form below. Do check out our Instagram page too.
Winsen Citra
Principal Physiotherapist
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