Are you experiencing pain in your hand, wrist, or fingers?
The hand and wrist are made up of many different bones, muscles, and ligaments. Together they’re responsible for a wide range of movements.
Your wrist is formed where the two bones of your forearm meet your carpus, a collection of the eight small bones in your arm. The two bones in your forearm that join with your carpus are the radius, which is the larger bone on the thumb side, and the ulna, the smaller bone on the pinky side.
Bones in your hand include the metacarpals – the five bones that comprise the middle part of the hand – and the phalanges, the 14 narrow bones that make up the fingers on each of your hands.
The ligaments and tendons in your hand are tough bands of tissue that connect the bones to support them and keep them in place.
Your hand pain could be caused either by disease or by a number of potential injuries affecting any of these parts.
Hand pain is one feature of arthritis or joint inflammation. Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are the two most common types of arthritis in the hand. If you’ve sustained a repetitive motion injury, carpal tunnel syndrome is a common cause of pain in your wrist and hand.
Tumors of the structures in the hand are a very rare cause of hand or finger pain. Certain conditions such as diabetes can also cause damage to the nerves in your hand, resulting in pain, numbness, or tingling in your arms and legs; this condition is known as peripheral neuropathy, and it can sometimes cause hand pain.
DeQuervain's disease is a swelling and inflammation of the tendon around the thumb. It can cause pain in your thumb and lower arm. Trauma or injury to any of the structures in the hand is another common cause of hand pain.
Signature Medical Group’s practitioners are board-certified orthopedic surgeons whose expertise, experience, and leadership in their profession translate into exceptional medical care and treatment for you.
If you are experiencing hand pain that is interfering with your daily activities, contact one of our many St. Louis or Kansas City orthopedic specialists to schedule an evaluation.