TFCC Injuries 

Hi Christina - what a frustrating injury it can be 😕. Your wrist definitely needs some good rehab - if possible try to find a local physio with lots of experience treating wrist problems. There is no exercise which is guaranteed to work - it is a process of gently trying some different things, figuring out what your wrist tolerates, and then ramping them up in a steady manner. Getting back to your workouts will be great - good for your wrist and arm, and good for your IBS!

real

You can still work out with an injured wrist... Just gonna limit the exercises you can do. Machines for leg day, machines that let you move weight by attaching somewhere on your forearm for upper body. Might even be able to wrap your wrist and do neutral grip exercises with bands and cables.

How about boxing?

​@@iandowley8059 heyy sir can you please help me .... I injured myself 7 years ago and i still have pain whenever i carry weights I have tfcc too but i don't know will it heal again or its permanent because it is untreated for too long What am trying to say is that Will my ulna bone rejoint if i re injure and treat it?

Hi there Elle. Very typical for Xray and US to be normal with a TFCC injury. I wouldn't rush to get an MRI - as long as you are improving, the MRI won't add anything to your management. Down the track, if you are feeling completely stuck and your rehab keeps stalling, then an MRI can help you decide if surgery may be a good option. In the mean time, settle it down with the splint as needed, and build it up with graduated exercises as able. And be patient - it can take a while! All the best.

go for ultrasonic therapy

Hey Zach, thanks for the props! Good to know the info we have put together is accurate and helpful. Here's to a brilliant recovery for you and your TFCC 😊

Hi Angela, Not sure if you are recommending a topic for our next video (great idea, BTW), or if you are dealing with some form of wrist instability / degeneration issue yourself. It's always tricky to give specific advice without being able to examine your wrist in person, but happy to give general explanations or responses to your questions. You can email them to: reception@flex.physio

@@nds9441 they did a full repair! I had a cortisone shot and it worked for about 3 months. My doctor said that’s how we knew surgery would work! it was painful at first but now i am in a cast to fully heal. When they took my arm out of my sling/temporary cast the other day it felt amazing and such a relief. try the cortisone shot and if it wears off i’d talk to your doctor

@@nds9441 also did they try a cast?

I injured my wrist last year and took lots of medicine. Later i got 2 steroid injection which didn't show any improvement. Now the problem is i have clicking and grinding sensation every time i rotate my hand and pain increases due to it. I have to pop or crack my wrist to get some relief. Just want to know did you have any grinding sensation like I do??

@@anishjoc7653 i never had a clicking or grinding. just the pain on the right side of my wrist. ig would hurt to rotate though.

@@nds9441 maybe try a cortisone shot because that’s how they new surgery would fix it. Also maybe a cast?

Sounds like you've done a really good job of settling your TFCC sprain down. The process of building it back up again can be really hard to find your way through, because the wrist moves in so many different planes of motion and subtle twists or angle changes can completely change the irritability of the tissues. Please persevere! I'm sure you will get there

So I should start building up its strength now. Thank you so much. I appreciate your help. Either way I will pay a visit to the doctor just in case. You helped me very much though calming my mind.

Oh Lisa, you poor thing.... Sounds like your wrist has had a hard life! Any time a problem has been recurrent or persistent for that long there is a risk that it will always be present to some degree - but that doesn't mean there is no way to make it stronger or less painful. As always, your rehab pathway should start with a thorough examination by the most experienced upper limb physio or OT you can find - get some diagnostic clarity (with radiology imaging if needed) so you know what you are treating - it could be a TFCC, but may be one of several other problems in that area also. Most likely there will be nothing major identified, just a sensitised, grumpy TFCC with several decades of persistent pain to make it trickier. Graduated, targeted wrist strengthening would be suitable next. Plus, deliberately training your wrist to tolerate more load (bodyweight and carrying weights in different positions). With your history this is likely to be a slow process of gradual improvement with plenty of set-backs. But, over a 3-6 months period you will hopefully notice that you are doing a lot more with less pain. Good luck! - Ian

Sorry to hear about your long term struggles with wrist pain ☹. I really can't comment on how to proceed in the UK health system, sorry. Here in Australia there are basically 2 options - 1. get your GP to refer you to a public hand clinic, sit on a waiting list for 6-12 months, and then see an orthopaedic surgeon who might send you for an MRI, or refer you for hand therapy, or maybe offer surgery; or 2. if you have private health insurance, you can go and see a private hand therapist (like me) who can assess your wrist, try some splinting or exercise treatments if they seem appropriate, send you for an MRI if needed, or arrange for you to see a surgeon if needed. How it works in the UK ... ??? not sure! All the best trying to find your way through the maze 😊👍

It's so painful I am suffering from it

They can be SERIOUSLY annoying problems! Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble, Joseph. Here's to an excellent (eventual) recovery for you.

Hi Keshav, thanks for getting in touch. I am not aware of any special diet to boost healing from an injury - the most important thing is to ensure you have a healthy, balanced intake of all the major food groups, especially fresh fruit and vegetables so you are getting a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals your body might want to use for the healing process. If your diet doesn't include much of this, you may want to take a broad-spectrum multi-vitamin? All the best!

So sorry, Mukul, but once again I am unable to give you a specific reply. There are too many variables at play. I have seen patients with TFCC injuries who require no bracing or splinting at all; and I have seen TFCC patients who need to be splinted almost full time for several weeks. The overarching principle is that you: a) splint it as much as necessary to avoid flare-ups and enable the wrist to keep settling and improving; and b) splint it as little as possible to avoid the issues of stiffness and weakness that will eventually develop. Hope this helps! - Ian

@@iandowley8059 thankyou 😊 but the thing is i feel relief when i tape my wrist.and when i Remove it starts paining

@@mukulkhola4566 When the tape is on and your pain is less, use that time to work on wrist strengthening exercises. Hopefully, over time, you will become less and less dependent on the tape 😊

Sorry to hear it, Tom Cat. They can be really tricky injuries to get on top of sometimes. Here's to a full recovery in the end for you!

Thank you I appreciate it this has been a very stressful time for me quit working out over it now it’s starting to affect my job I’m starting to lose hope

@@tomcat6918 Never lose hope! The human body has a truly remarkable capacity to heal, to adapt, to remodel, to toughen and to improve. Hang in there

Hi there Tommy, glad you found the video helpful. A sprain of the TFCC is very much like a soft tissue injury in any other part of the body - recovery is all about adding progressive load and challenge to build tissue tolerance and muscle strength. It is not just the added bloodflow, your body loves to be used and worked and loaded. This is just as true for injured/recovering parts of the body, but we just need to be a bit more careful and deliberate about choosing the right types of exercise so we don't cause re-injuries or flare-ups. So, keep expecting more from your wrist, but build it up in a steady, graduated manner. Hope it goes really well!

@@iandowley8059 Thank you very much for a good and very quick answer 🙂

Hello i am going through the same condition ..i feel pain in the exact position as yours position..so now your pain has gone or not..or what i should do?if u know anything please tell me because its been 4 months since i had this kind of pain..

Did your pain go away? If yes then how..please tell me because i dont fell relaxed or comfortable due to this pain..and its been 4 months and at first it happens in every hand position now it happens in the exact same position u mentioned

@@sujatagoswami1437 Hi. After about 6 months it seems to have slowly disappeared. I didn't do anything except using my wrist as little as possible. I'm still not sure what caused the pain. Recently, I was diagnosed with IBD that (among other things) can cause arthritis. I suspect that might be the reason. Two months ago, I suddenly had a strong pain in my knee which lasted two days. And my shoulder also hurts - which it has never done before.

Sounds really awkward and painful, Jasper - sorry to hear it. Several possible causes (eg. malunion of the original fracture, DRUJ instability, high grade TFCC rupture), none of which have an easy fix. An MRI would shed some light on what is going on internally, if you can get one of those? If not, even an X-ray would show the position of the bones and joints. Your options for treatment are likely to include surgery, but any operation is not going to give you back the wrist you lost 30 years ago, sorry. Hopefully some pain relief, at least. All the best, Jasper.

Thanks for your input, you have explained more in that one paragraph than has been relayed to me in past 25 plus years. You are a top man and, obviously , very knowledgeable in your profession, much appreciated.

Hello - thanks for getting in touch. So sorry to hear about your wrist injury. I hear your frustration, but it sounds to me as though your surgeon is giving you good advice. Even with quite high grade TFCC tears there is a good chance that they will do very well without surgery; and there is no such thing as a guarantee of a good result if you do have surgery. So, it is sensible to see how your wrist responds to a few weeks of rest and protection. At that stage you might decide that surgery is the best option. But, you might feel as though it is already 50% recovered, and worth persisting with non-surgical treatment. Either way, it is worth the investment of a few weeks to see how your wrist responds. All the best, whichever pathway you end up taking!

Thank you for your prompt and helpful reply. Now I understand it’s worthy to invest these 6 weeks of resting in wearing the splint now. Hope I can have good recovery after 6 weeks. Thank you once again 🙏

Sounds like a tricky situation for you, sorry to hear it. Full immobilisation in supination might be necessary for a very high grade TFCC injury, or after a surgical repair, but as discussed in the video we usually try to keep the wrist moving as much as possible while preventing ongoing re-injury or aggravation episodes. You can be pretty confident now that your TFCC has had a good opportunity to heal, which means your wrist just needs some good rehab to recover from the stiffness, weakness and pain which are common after prolonged immobilisation. I hope you can find a good physiotherapist (or your local equivalent) to help you with this process. All the best!

even i had this wrist pain fore 5+month can even do pushups

Use a widget bracelet

Same problem and doctor said it's tfcc and will get better on its own. What happened with ur problem?

Hi Anish, sounds like you have had a very difficult time with your wrist 😢. Clicking, grinding, cracking, crunching... these sensations are pretty common for patients to experience, and they can be quite distressing, but in most cases they do not indicate anything scary or concerning going on within the joint. I have had patients whose clicking has resolved over time, and I have had patients whose wrist continued to click as long as I knew them, but in either case it didn't usually correlate with pain, and didn't stop them from eventually getting back to their usual activities. I am glad you are trying to get help with your wrist, but it strikes me that all of the things you describe (medication, cortisone injections and acupuncture) are quite passive treatments - in other words you just sit back while the treatment is done to you, and you hope that it is going to help. I would encourage you to focus more on ACTIVE treatment, where you work on making your wrist stronger, more controlled, smoother, more flexible, more adaptable. This takes effort, takes time, and might sometimes result in pain flare-ups along the way, but is definitely worth it in the long run. All the best to you, Anish!

The main problem is it hurts and creates grinding while doing supination and i had my MRI taken 6 months ago which stated only edema was swollen. Beside that everything was alright.

Glad you found the video helpful! Sounds like you are doing really well with your recovery - 5 months might feel long, but it is really common for it to take MANY months for our body to fully recover from a nasty injury. Seems range of motion is not your issue now, and even strength might not be the main thing. I would suggest your focus should be on gradually building your tolerance to increasing load in the positions where it is challenging and uncomfortable. This might be with dumbbells, or with bodyweight, doesn't really matter - the key is regular, deliberate loading of the tissues to the point of discomfort but avoiding any major flare-ups along the way. Strength should improve steadily too, as you do this. Good luck! - Ian

@@iandowley8059 Ian, thank you and god bless you for sharing life changing info. Can I ask, if I never splinted it at the beginning it's useless doing it after 5 months in? also can boxing or just connect a couple punches if feeling as good as pre-injury can really re-injur/worsen the tfcc?

@@villegalf2236 Splinting is never , it is just sometimes helpful. You should only immobilise or support the TFCC as much as necessary to ensure it settles down, while continuing to use it and move it as much as possible without flaring it up excessively. This is true 2 weeks after the injury, and it is still true 6 months after - although hopefully by 6 months you need much less support and are doing much more. Boxing is a good example of the 'regular, deliberate loading' I mentioned last time. If you are trying to introduce a new activity, do it in a careful, planned, graduated manner. Your body appreciates consistent, regular loading which is increased in many small increments. So, give the boxing a go, but strap your wrist first, and start with short sessions of light impact then build it up gradually over several weeks. All the best!

Hello - thanks for getting in touch. Sounds like you are doing all the right things for the early stage of a TFCC sprain, using RICE and immobilisation. With a little care, it is likely to settle down very well in the coming weeks, just like any other sprain or soft tissue injury. Each week that goes by, you should need less immobilisation and you can return to doing upper limb exercises in the gym gradually. Taping/strapping your wrist can really help reduce the risk of flare-ups at the gym. Either use this technique for simple circumferential compression: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ufkemzfp53Y.htmlsi=om3ZQyOaEF_t5Zpf or try this one if you are getting pain mostly with the palm-up rolling of the forearm: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HHOP-kzdipM.htmlsi=HPfrqBwPtWOInD6S All the best for your recovery!

@@iandowley8059 Many thanks for your active help. Currently, my symptoms are better, the dull pain has almost disappeared, but I still cannot perform exercises that put heavy pressure on my wrists like push-ups. Maybe I should still take a few weeks off like you said. Hopefully my condition is not serious enough to require surgery.

​@@h_ngm4032That sounds really encouraging! Here's hoping for ongoing steady improvement, and eventually a full return to your usual gym workouts. Best wishes

A good question, Farhad, but not an easy one to answer. It depends what you mean by 'heal'. From a basic tissue healing perspective many TFCC injuries never fully - there will always be some evidence of damage if you were to scan it later. However, most TFCC injuries . That is, the pain resolves and the person returns to full functional capacity. The human body is highly resilient, and has a truly remarkable capacity to continue functioning well even when some parts of it have been damaged along the way. Even the question 'How long will it take for a TFCC injury to recover' is hard to answer, because it is sometimes very quick (within days), other times takes weeks or even months, and in some cases never completely recovers at all. It depends on the severity of the injury, the age of the patient, how it is managed, what sort of activities the patient is trying to return to, various underlying medical conditions, and a whole range of other variables. Hope this helps a bit!

@@iandowley8059 thank you for the response because I was hit by this injury

@@farhanadhi2452 how are you,

@@Bandana928 opo

@@farhanadhi2452 surgery krwa liya apne

How long did you rest after the injury? I sprained my wrist 2weeks ago, and I am thinking of going back to golf this week, with sports tape.

Hi Mayur - sorry to hear about your ongoing wrist problem. It is clearly a very difficult problem for you. Unfortunately, it is also very difficult for me to help you 😥. During our COVID lockdown periods I have tried to assess and help patients via video link, and it is REALLY hard! The wrist is really complex, and there are so many possible causes of pain. To figure out what is causing the pain I need to be able to poke, press, stretch and manipulate the wrist. All I can suggest is that you try a different physiotherapist. Hopefully you will find someone who has more knowledge of the wrist and can be more helpful for you. Good luck! - Ian

Hi Henrik, good question but no easy one-line answer! For some people bench pressing should be completely avoided, but for others it is fine - depends on how much it flares up your wrist. In general, it is great to stay fit and strong, and your body (even when injured) likes to have some load put through it. But this can certainly be taken too far 🙂. If you get pain while lifting, try to strap your wrist first, or modify your form to decrease the irritation. Try pressing dumbbells instead of a bar? Sometimes you can't find a way to make it ok, and you just need to avoid a certain lift for a few weeks - but keep the rest of you strong! Good luck

@@iandowley8059 Ty for the well explained and informative answer my guy!

You need to seek advice from a therapist as to what exercises help to strengthen and what ones cause damage....I cant imagine a therapist has bench pressing as an approved exercise to strengthen an injured TFCC. If you have not immobilized your wrist for a certain period, it would be a good place to start, then get some good advice from a medical professional....

Hello Subham. Pain when doing push-ups might be from several different causes - some are likely to do well and some are more serious. Unfortunately I cannot make a diagnosis without a thorough examination of your wrist. If possible, find a good physiotherapist in your local area who can give you some advice tailored to your specific injury. If this is not possible, you may need attempt a cautious, graduated wrist strengthening program. Start with light lifting and gripping exercises that are pain free, then gradually add more weight and reps. Discomfort and fatigue are good to feel - pain is good to avoid! All the best. Ian

@@flex.physio Thank you very much Ian. I will visit a good physiotherapist

Same here bro ,

Did you recover ?

Same for me. I can't do pushups, lat pull-downs and lateral raises.

Depends on the individual injury. Often very different with palms towards you or palms away - try both positions and see if one causes less pain. OK to work to the point of discomfort and challenge, but try to avoid sharp pain or big flare-ups. Good luck! Ian

So sorry to hear it, River. They can certainly be very frustrating injuries, and having it tied up in a Workers Comp situation just makes everything more complex. Here's to some ongoing improvement for you in the coming weeks.

Try writing a letter to your local Barangay captain or mayor or councilor for medical assistance to diagnose it, and eventually treat it

This honestly does not sound like a TFFC injury. Sounds more like you have inflamed tendons to me. But your attending physician should be able to give you a clear diagnosis. As mentioned in the video, they'll do an MRI to determine the cause of the pain.

No guarantee, Jamzuri, but you can certainly still be hopeful that it can make excellent progress. The human body is a truly remarkable thing, and it has a wonderful capacity to strengthen and improve if we keep working on it 😊. Keep trying to make your wrist a little bit stronger every week. All the best!

​@@iandowley8059I'm so sad, I can't do workout

Hello Mukul - sorry to hear about your painful wrist. The wrist is a very complex part of the body, and even with pain that is very focal to a specific part of your wrist there are many possible causes. Ulnar sided wrist pain has several common causes (eg TFCC, ECU tendon, DRUJ, ulnar nerve irritation), plus a range of less common ones. If nothing showed up on the MRI, at least you can be confident to proceed with desensitisation and strengthening strategies (basic rehabilitation) confident that you are doing no damage. That doesn't make your pain less severe, less real or less limiting, but it means you can be active in how you work on it rather than passive. If possible, I would encourage you to find a good physio (or equivalent) in your area. Good luck! - Ian

@@iandowley8059 tnkyou very much for reply for me❤️❤️ ❤️ god always bless you...i going to start my strenghthing and stretching exercises.

@@mukulkhola4566 As you exercise, keep in mind that it is rarely helpful to push through pain - try to avoid significant flare-ups. However, if you never push hard enough to feel discomfort you will probably not make any progress! Discomfort is your friend, pain is your enemy : ) - Ian

Same problem h mujhe🥺🥺🥺🥺 MRI me normal h but hum Weight nhi utha pa rhe us hath se kaise sahi hoga??

@@DeepakRajput-tv6rk kbb se hh

Hi there, thanks for getting in touch. Your son sounds quite remarkable, and anyone with that level of commitment and determination should never be written off! He has clearly taken a lot of impact through his wrists during some very formative years, but this is not all bad - yes, it sounds like there is some tearing of the TFCCs, but there will also be lots of adaptive changes making his wrists much tougher than the average. I haven't seen his scans, so I can't say for sure that he won't need surgery, but in most cases when TFCC tears become painful, the tear isn't the problem - the pain is the problem. With correct load management, the pain can often be brought under control - hopefully eliminated - and the tear remains as a 'scar'. I have had heaps of patients over the years who have made full recoveries to high levels of sporting activity after very painful TFCC injuries. This process may involve a significant de-loading of the wrists for a period, sometimes splinting is needed and sometimes cortisone really helps too (but not just as a temporary fix so he can keep training!). Once the wrist pain has settled, he can re-load in a careful and graduated manner. I hope you can find a good physio to help guide you! Here's to a brilliant recovery, and a full return to boxing for your son 😊

Thank you so much for replying, it's greatly appreciated and offers some hope for my son and I can't wait to show him your message as I know it will lift his spirits. I've subscribed to your channel and hope it grows. You have a fantastic channel and so informative and again I greatly appreciate your reply. I hope you and your family have a fantastic Christmas my friend and wish you nothing but the best for 2024.

In many cases, definitely possible. Every case is different, so I can't say for sure about your particular situation, but in my experience 80-90% of TFCC injuries make an excellent recovery without needing surgery. I hope your wrist goes very well!

​@@iandowley8059 @karstendees8076 I am 23 year old bodybuilder ,before 7 months i got this injury ,my doctor suggested me to wear brace,but i don't properly weared it,i used that hand for so many works,but after 2 months,i visited the doctor he told me it's cured,and the pain continued for another 4 months and now I visited the doctor he told me to take a MRI ,and after that he scolded me for not wearing the brace properly for 45 days,and I have a click sound while twisting the wrist in left side its my left wrist ,and there was an inflammation and the forearm bone won't attached with my wrist,there is an inflammation there,and doc suggested me for surgery,but I asked for alternative so he told me to wear the brace and immobilize the hand for several days,now I am wearing the brace properly with proper rest,is it possible to cure this with the Braces itself?please tell me if I give a proper rest will this work ?

​@@iandowley8059r u there?

No u can just get joing replacment with a metal ulnar bone dw and for instability u can have wiring

Hello Satyam, that's a really good question. Clicking sounds in joints are very common, and can be really annoying, but are rarely something to have surgery for. There are many possible causes of clicks and clunks in our joints, and most of them are totally harmless and can be ignored. The only ones we should ever worry about are the ones that are consistently associated with severe and persistent pain. Seems to me that your wrist is going really well! Keep up the gym workouts - well done. - Ian

@@iandowley8059 Hi Ian, I have the same sound as Satyam after lifting an overweight object and this sound I hear is when twisting my wrist. Also, I have numbness in my fingers when leaving for a while. So, is this a serious injury and what kind of exercise can I do? because two times I have seen doctors and they prescribed just vitamins and a cream. Thanks

​@@alial-balhawi862 Hi Ali, sorry to hear of the problems with your wrist. As with Satyam the clicking sound is probably not a major concern. The finger numbness indicates some kind of nerve irritation or compression. This might be carpal tunnel syndrome (median nerve compression in the wrist, with numbness most often in thumb, index finger and middle finger), or cubital tunnel syndrome (ulnar nerve irritation at the elbow, with numbness most often in little finger and ring finger), or a range of other diagnoses. Wearing a brace or splint on the wrist or elbow while you sleep can sometimes help relieve these problems. This video explains carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis in more detail: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-L6MqUc8LzWw.html Regards, - Ian

@@iandowley8059 many thanks for your reply. Kind regards Ali

Mri kra lo.