Wrist and Hand Health 101

From typing on a keyboard to chopping vegetables to simply buttoning a shirt, your wrist and hand never stop moving to accomplish all your daily tasks. Only when you experience an injury do you realize the magnitude of their involvement.

Hand injuries are common across all age groups. They contribute to close to 30 percent of all musculoskeletal injuries, and they have the potential to disrupt daily routines, impede your work, and limit participation in leisure activities. While there are some injuries you can’t avoid, there’s work you can do to prevent others.

In this guide to the wrist and the hand, you’ll learn about some of the most common injuries and some actions you can take to safeguard these vital joints.  

Common Injuries of the Wrist and Hand

The wrist and hand are complex, totaling 27 bones: eight wrist or carpal bones, five palm or metacarpal bones, and 14 finger/thumb bones or phalanges. Additionally, the wrist and hand are controlled and supported by 34 muscles and over 100 tendons and ligaments. These joints are responsible for everything from fine motor skills and dexterity, like threading a needle, to large, powerful movements, like holding and pulling the bar in a deadlift. We use our hands and wrists in almost every action, making the joints susceptible to injury. Here are some common wrist, hand, and finger injuries.

Carpal tunnel syndrome: Your median nerve, which controls movement and sensation in several of your fingers, travels from the forearm to the hand through a narrow passageway at the base of your hand. The tunnel can narrow when the surrounding tissue is irritated or inflamed, causing pressure and entrapment of the nerve. Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the most common forms of nerve entrapment and can cause pain, numbness, and tingling in the hand and fingers, particularly at night.  

Wrist fracture: When you fall on an outstretched hand, the force of your body weight can cause a fracture to the wrist or the forearm bone. Distal radius and wrist bone fractures are common in athletics and the general population alike, and can be more prevalent when bone density is compromised with osteoporosis. In fact, the risk of sustaining a wrist fracture increases exponentially in women over 50.

Arthritis: As you age, the articular cartilage covering the surface of your bones begins to wear thin. When intact, the cartilage provides cushion and shock absorption; however, with osteoarthritis-related (OA) degeneration, your joints can feel stiff and painful. Wear and tear on the wrist and handover time can result in OA later in life. Rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune condition, can cause inflammation in the wrist and hand, resulting in discomfort and limited range of motion.

Ganglion cyst: Ganglion cysts are fluid-filled sacs that can form on the wrist and other joints in the hand. While often painless, when they press on a nerve, you can experience pain, tingling, and numbness in the hand. The exact cause of ganglion cysts is unknown, but they are common in the presence of osteoarthritis or previous wrist injuries.

Finger injuries: The hand and fingers are comprised of small, intricate bones, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissue sheaths. With unexpected trauma, such as contact with a ball, the ground, or another player in sports, or by simply closing your car door on your hand, breaking your finger is common. A broken finger is one of the five most common upper extremity injuries in emergency departments each year. Another common injury occurs when a finger is stuck in a bent position, called trigger finger. Often affecting the thumb or ring finger, the tendon in the affected finger swells and cannot pass under the sheath to straighten.Trigger finger affects women more often than men and can limit the ability to grip objects.

Habits for a Healthy Wrist and Hand

A hand or wrist injury can be a considerable hindrance in your active daily life. Most of the time, you can’t avoid jamming your finger or slipping on ice, but there are actions you can take to prevent chronic injuries. Here are some tips to keep your wrists and hands healthy and preserve your quality of life.

1. Maintain bone density: Your wrist is the first line of defense when you catch yourself falling, putting it at risk of fracturing at high impact. Maintaining strong and healthy bones with strength training and weight-bearing exercise helps your bones adapt to increased stress, reducing your chances of a fracture. Not only that, but resistance training also helps maintain grip strength, which assists in your everyday activities and may play a role in improving longevity.  
2. Monitor your posture when using technology: If you work at a computer or spend a lot of time on your phone, chances are your hands and wrists are making thousands of tiny movements a minute. This strain compounds over time, potentially resulting in overuse injury, particularly carpal tunnel syndrome. There are specialized mice and desk set-ups to keep your wrist and hand supported, but you can start by ensuring your elbows, forearms, and wrists are in line as you create an ergonomic workstation. Take periodic breaks from typing on your phone and computer and do some light stretches to reduce tension in the wrist and hands.
3. Keep your hands moving: You can move your wrists and fingers in various movement patterns, so why keep them in the same position? Light stretches and moving in different directions across their range of motion keep these joints active and agile. If you are in the thick of a wrist or hand injury, follow the rehabilitation program your healthcare practitioner provided. Your consistency pays off;research shows that when people follow their home exercise program as prescribed, they recover faster and have an easier time returning to their everyday activities.

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