I’ve Now Torn the Cartilage in My Left Wrist, Too. Somehow.

So my left wrist has been hurting recently. And oddly, the same symptoms I was experiencing (a slight burning sensation at times, and difficulty in putting a lot of pressure on the wrist) made me think I had injured it. In fact, they were eerily similar to the symptoms I had, when I tore the ligament in my right wrist.

So it’s been like this a few weeks. I tried to wait things out, to see if the situation would improve. But eventually, I scheduled another appointment with Dr. Wiedrich, at the Chicago Center for Surgery of the Hand.

It was interesting to me that I ended up in the same exam room (I recognized the photo on the wall). After an initial assessment by an intern and some x-rays, Dr. Wiedrich came in and told me “Congratulations, you’ve got twins.”

Here are a few shots of my left wrist. And right around here is where my medical expertise drops off, and I’m unable to really give you much more info beyond that.

Upper left is my wrist normally, and I think on the right I’m making a fist or it’s a view with my hand perpendicular to the camera. The two on the bottom row are me trying to angle my wrist sharply to the left and right.

Here’s a view of my left and right wrist. I’m not sure why the image of my right wrist makes my bones seem like they’re touching. Again, not a doctor here.

But see how there’s a small gap between the two long bones on my left wrist? The space there is what I believe is termed the “Ulnar Variance,” the space between the Ulna and the Radius.

Dr. Wiedrich explained to me that while people are quite different from one another, individually we’re all pretty symmetrical. That is to say that the issues I have on my right wrist were likely to happen on my left. Because my Ulnar variance is greater than normal, I experience greater than normal stress on that area.

Again, Dr. Wiedrich told me that this is a common thing, and that about 10% of people over 50 have the same kinds of cartilage tear issues. Few of that percentage have to undergo surgery, which is an extreme option if the pain and discomfort become too much.

For now, I got a gel that I use on the wrist to reduce swelling. I’m to check back in in about 4 weeks, and if things aren’t improved there… I’ll try using a wrist splint. If that doesn’t work, we’ll escalate things up to cortisone injections and then surgery as a last step.

But given how things have progressed with my right wrist, both Dr. Wiedrich and I feel that it’s likely time will just take care of things. My right wrist is fine now and is, for the most part, back to “normal.” I went bowling recently, and experienced no problems whatsoever.

So it’s a waiting game for now. If things are truly symmetrical, I expect there will be discomfort in my wrist for a good while. But I also expect it’ll eventually clear up on its own. Looking back, the idea of the surgical option (which would immobilize my hand for like 2 weeks) seems way too much, in terms of both time and expense. I guess we’ll wait and see what happens.

I’m feeling like an old man, right about now. Last time, at least I had bowling to blame for my “injury.” This time around? It feels like this just happened out of the blue, like a tire popping while driving down the road.

That “people over 50” statistic isn’t really helping things either. Sigh.

Related:
Wrist Problems, Wherein a Splint is Involved
Wrist Injury: Visiting the Chicago Center for Surgery of the Hand
Getting an MRI for the First Time
Images From My Wrist MRI
Wrist MRI Results: Options and Decisions