How to Treat TFCC Tears 

Hi thanks for sharing your knowledge! I am a hand therapist from the Netherlands and I really like the fact that you want to share your knowledge and communicate with other therapists around the world. Just to be able to help our patients best.

Whoa I'm so glad I found this channel! You explain hand therapy in a way that is easy to digest. Thank you!

These ideas are fantastic, thanks a bunch for sharing your knowledge.

As an Athletic Trainer, I appreciate this info! Always looking to improve rehab for my patients!

I really appreciate the video and your replies! They seem very thoughtful and considerate, and it’s reassuring to hear your informed point of view. I’m in the process of trying to find whatever help I can get in my small city for my wrist injury , and watching the video definitely helps me understand that I can’t be too impatient with this. Although I wouldn’t complain if there was a miraculous solution either, haha. Thanks!

Thanks for the video. TFCC tears can be a tough nut to crack. One of the hardest things ive found is figuring out how to get them to tolerate the "push-up position" in late stage once they already have full ROM and strength As far as treatments I do I am somewhat similar with more modalities and bracing early on. I have dabbled with getting clients to tie their watch very tight over their DRUJ (or put a circular tape job around the area) to stabalize any piano key signs that could shake up the TFCC. Massaging every muscle in the forearm also seems to help in about 50% of the cases I see too. I've also tried wrist traction, but to be honest I dont seem to see too many miracles with it in practice

Great discussion… including tools would be helpful…. I have a year with swelling & pain which is subsiding … looking for some exercise ideas ..!

Hey, great video. You brought up the elbow. My elbow started constantly hurting about 2 and a half months after my TFCC was tore traumatically on the same side. I thought it could have been just caused by my constantly holding my wrist up as opposed to letting swing, (while walking seven hours five days a week). Could it be more directly related to the tear?

Would you be able to provide the best strengthening movements for the ECU Tendon?

This is the second time I have had something like this... the first one went away in like 2 weeks but this one has stuck... can’t lift weights or put a lot of pressure on my wrist anymore and it sucks

I had a small fracture in my right wrist by falling on ground with flat right palm around 6 years ago. It was treated successfully with a cast. However whenever I start lifting weights, the tfcc area starts to pain, although it's mild in the beginning. I do wear wrist brace and has started common wrist exercises. What else can I do? Do you think I will need a surgery ?

I have a tear in tfcc at the ulnar attachment and mild intercarpal and wrist joint effusion. Left it untreated and the pain is still there eventhough its been 6 months. Can its treatment be done non surgically, and if yes then how? Also how long should it take ?

Just looking for a quick opinion on my wrist injury. I woke up one morning with sore wrist, poor ROM, and crepitus when moving wrist. Also my ulnar head is sticking up a lot too. Push-up position hurt but I was able to rock climb at the top of my game regardless. Now two weeks later after taking a week off climbing for golfers elbow , I have full ROM in my wrist and in weight bearing, flat hand pushing down like in a push-up, my injured wrist can take the same weight as my uninjured wrist. Do I possibly have a super mild TFCC injury? Could my golfers elbow have something to do with my wrist problem? Any insight would be great, for now I’m treating it as a mild tfcc tear but I have such minimal pain that it doesn’t seem like it would be something as serious as a tear.

I think I had tfcc like 2 years ago but it was really minor but yesterday in gym I started to have my pain again and now I'm concerned and don't know what to do should I be concerned

Hey there, I originally had my injury diagnosed as a sprain and I returned to normal activities after about 3/4 weeks, I turned funny whilst holding something and tweaked it and I suspect a TFCC, it feels slightly worse than before but I have a weightlifting competition in 5 weeks, would you recommend total rest and bracing or stretching a heat to encourage blood flow Many thanks

Please help! I have a question about tfcc. I injured my wrist over a year ago and left it untreated because I didn't think much of it more than just a sprain. But I went to the doctor a month ago and was told it was a tfcc injury. The doctor says the surgery is up to me but my problem is that my wrist only has a persistent clicking and popping but no pain or anything that interferes with my daily activities. A surgery I think is a bit overkill considering it is just the popping that is bothering me. But it has been over a year and the clicking doesn't seem to get any better. What is your advice on this? Thank you so much. Much love

Around 3 years ago my cousin threw something that landed rught of the ulnar side of my wrist. I couldnt move for at least a week bc of the pain. A few weeks later i had an xray done and everything seemed ok. From that time it got better (alone) but i still have pain from time to time

Hi Kelly, on 22 Dec this year, I did dumbbell bench press and other pushing and pulling exercises. There was no pain whatsoever. However the next day, till 28 Dec, it was tight and had abit of pain at the ulnar area only in pronated extension. (2/10 pain at worst). Today I tried to dumbbell bench press again, but it felt a little weird and since I injured this wrist before, I was scared to injure it again. How long should I rest for? The previous time I sprained it, it was extremely painful (10/10) and I couldn’t move it, but recovered in 5 weeks

Excellent explained! I had my tfcc injury 2 weeks back and i did had about 4 months ago recovered in a month now again its there and only have pain in slightly excessive ulnar deviation and little bit when hyper extending wrist.. Should i start stretching exercises? Appreciate ur help✨

my physio thinks I have a tfcc injury I believe its from compressing my tfcc using the touch pad... its 2 months I haven't exactly mobilised it cause I didn't know what it was but I have done stretches and it has got some range of motion and I can do dumbbell strengthening exercises. Should I brace it and not do strength yet or carry on strengthening wrist?

Can you please show me where to buy this flex bar or show us what it looks like so I know where to buy it from

I think I tore my tfcc but i am unsure. My “symptoms” are Loss of mobility in my wrist (i cant rotate it without it hurting) I cant perform any pressing movements without it hurting And there seems to be some lump on my wrist thats not on my other I think it might be swelling but Again I am very unsure of what’s going on and how to treat it.

If I can’t supinate without pain, but I can deviate my hand both ways pain-free, do you think that’s likely still a TFCC Injury? Can a partial TFCC tear cause pain with supination but not other motions?

Hi, I had a TFCC tear while working out in the gym. It has been almost 40 days. I got to know about it almost after 2 weeks from the injury. I was not wearing any brace during this time. Then afterwards I started to wear the brace. I wore it for two weeks after that then the doctor started the physiotherapy. Now it seems like I am back to square one. It hurts so much after the physiotherapy as it is the first day of the injury. I went to another doctor to get a second opinion, he is saying that I should have worn the brace or a proper cast for atleast 6 weeks before any physiotherapy. Now the chances of recovery are not the same as they were at first when I got injured and that now I have two options, number one is that I wear the cast for 6 weeks and try physiotherapy after that or I go for surgery right now. Please suggest 😭🙏🏼

Hi recently had a cycling accident and I think I have a TFCC tear and will have an MRI done to see how bad my Injury is. I’ve had knee and shoulder surgery before and recovered 100%. I’m just Leary of hand surgery as I am pretty active any suggestions?

Hi! thanks for the insight:) I had an MRI and it showed that I have TFCC tear. I have read that patients with TFCC tear/injury are having pain on the ulnar side. I don't have any pain on my ulnar side. I am only getting pain on the radial side. I am a little confused about this. Is it possible to have TFCC tear without having any pain on the ulnar side of the wrist? Thanks a lot.

Hi doctor Kelly !! i have TFCC tear. After how many days of wrist cast, i need to start exercise u said ?

I have a tfcc tear that was feeling better after resting it for 5-6 months but when I went to the Dr he pushed and pushed on that area of my wrist and asked if I had pain. I didn't have much at the time but shortly after that I was in so much pain. Now it is worse than it was to begin with. Is it possible the dr made the tear worse by pushing on it so much? He was really digging in the side of my wrist.Now my fear is surgery may be my only option. I'm going to try a cortisone shot but my wrist hurts all the time and I cannot put any weight on it. Im worried that the Dr made my tear worse but pushing and digging into my wrist with his fingers and that surgery will not help but make my wrist worse. Please let me know what you think. I am getting a second opinion, but I would like to hear yours.

I had this tfcc injury 2 years back, Slowly slowly I regained my strength. So, i started going back to the gym but again this injury has struck me and I don't know what else should I do to prevent myself from having this injury. Any suggestions which may help me to get my strength back and feel completely normal.

TFCC is the worst, I injured myself while boxing about 18 months ago, I play tennis about once or twice a week and had a lot of pain until the wrist got really warmed up and I played with a wrist band to support it, after about 6 months of pain I saw my doctor, he gave me an injection of steroids I believe and told me to rest for at least 3 months, 4 months later I started playing again without any pain, 2 months ago I hung up some posters and couldn't find my electrical drill so screwed them manually, 1 day later I had extreme pain in that area and even worse than before where it only hurt during activities, now I can't do anything, especially rotating the wrist and going to the sides, got my MRI results a few days ago with the official diagnosis of a TFCC tear. have a specialist private doctor appointment this week. it's such an annoying injury cause it hurt enough so you can't really put stress on that joint but it's not like a broken hand, I swear a broken hand is better, put that cast up for a few weeks, some physio and good as new, this feels like it'll never go away

Hi. Kelly I'm from the Philippines I've been suffering from a wrist injury right now but my doctor diagnosed me with ECU tendonitis. But when I checked my MRI there were findings there in my TFCC include: 'thickening with intermediate signals of the styloid and my foveal attachments of the triangular fibrocartilage. and in my impression l include "remote injury or degeneration of the styloid and foveal attachments of the triangular fibrocartilage proper." Can you please tell me what the meaning is this is this a mild or severe tfcc? Thank you.

Hi, I had TFCC tear 2 years ago while working out in the gym. Since then, I have worn the brace and avoided strenuous exercises. I started working out again 6 months ago at home, doing pushups using the push up bar and a wrsit band which eases the pain. My wrist still hurts but its temporary and manageable. I have now shifted to lifting weights at home from the past month but I still have pain. I'm not sure whether I should continue doing the workout and build back my strenght as it has been a couple years since the injury. Or should I avoid lifting weights altogether? (although I really want to bulk up my physique :) ) Please can you suggest something? Thanks for the video!

Hi thankyou for the video❤. I have tfcc injury and its already 4 months and i am getting frustrated because i really like working out and playing basketball can i keep doing those things and get better?

Hi, I was diagnosed with mild TFCC in both wrists. They click a lot and the pain is very mild, but my issue is that my thumb also clicks a lot and there is also mild pain in the base of my thumb. Do you know if TFCC exercises should help fix my thumb clicking/pain as well? All of this happened at the same time as a result of a repetitive strain injury about 1 year ago. Thanks!

I have been having tfcc tear for 7 years now. Physiotherapy doesn't work. I heard about prolotherapy but i am not sure whether it is really work, my last resort is surgery if it doesn't. But then my therapist reminded me that there is no surgery without side effects. I am not sure how it is unless i try. If you guys ever done surgery, will you mind sharing the success rate?

Please show what you are talking about for us. It just helps us to remember. Thanks

I have had pain in the left wrist for 13 months and there is a difference between the left ulna and the right ulna. After visiting the doctor and doing the X-ray, he told me that the left ulna is relatively short and this does not cause any problem and the cause of the pain is inflammation of the forearm tendons and muscles. My question is, does the short ulna cause any problems, given that the movement of the wrist is unlimited and is normal?

Hi I am 19.I had got a tfcc trear 6 months back. My older Doctor had promised me that it would heal withing 3 Months but unfortunately it didn't. I tried doing push-ups and Hiit exercises but I didn't feel any pain while doing those. The only time it pains is when I do front raise for my shoulders. Later I consulted another doctor, he asked me to get my vitamin d checked and we found out that my vitamin d was 7.2 where as normal is between 30 to 100, also my uric acid was also high. I got 3 vitamin d injection and now there is no pain. My 3rd month of recovery is going on which is going to end on 25th of November. I want to know if I can start strength exercises like pull-ups after my 3rd month of reveovery.

i got tfcc injury 2 mnoths back ,did mri n the doctor suggested for surgery,is there any other treatment rather than surgery,iam having this injury for more than 2 mnths

Thanks a lot

Great video! I injured that area a month ago and despite full range of motion within 24-48hrs, no swelling and no redness, I still can't do any pressing exercises in the gym. I rely on the gym a lot for my mind as I suffer with severely poor mental health. I thought it I might be getting better but any weight bearing in anything close to a pushup position is impossible, it's getting me really down and I'm not sure how to get through it.

I have a tfcc tear.Its already been 6 month but the mild pain still persist. I have difficulty in washing my face and brushing my teeth. What shall I do. I am doing tens therapy. Do tens help in tfcc injury??

Hi, I have had a cortisol injection for my tfcc tear treatment as physiotherapy did not work. It’s been a couple of weeks and my wrist feels really week. I also feel pain only when I am lifting something heavy but can freely move my wrist in any motion without pain. What do you suggest?

Hi mam i am suffering ulnar sided wrist pain from 2 years ☹️ can you suggest me what should i do for it. Thank you 🙏

I just had a skateboard accident which gave me snapping wrist, my ulnar rotation pops my wrist and it sucks since i cant rock climb now. Please help 😭

Hi.. I am having an ulnar sided wrist pain since 7-8 months. Earlier, I ignored the injury thinking that it may be a normal sprain. But it got worse as time passed. I'm having ulnar sided pain while doing twisting movements like opening a jar or tap, extension and flexion, putting weight on my wrist, body weight movements like push-ups and pull-ups. I consulted a hand surgeon last month. He told that it is a TFCC tear. He advised that an arthroscopic surgical repair is needed. First of all, can my case be treated non-surgically? And if surgery is performed, can I continue weight lifting and do bodyweight exercises like push-ups and pull-ups later? Your response will be highly appreciated.

Mam I have the wrist pain both side because I fell from bike can you tell me how can I solve this pain 🙂

If it is a full thickness tear, is PT still indicated?

Stresses one Tfcc to another Tfcc same pain started my another wrist before one week