Wrist Surgery (Arthroscopy)
If you have been dealing with persistent wrist pain or an acute wrist injury, a wrist arthroscopy may be the right choice for you to address your issues. This minimally invasive procedure will allow your surgeon to identify, diagnose, and treat your wrist condition.
Your wrist is made up of eight small bones (carpal bones) plus two long bones in your forearm — the radius and the ulna. The most commonly injured carpal bone is the scaphoid bone, located near the base of your thumb. The carpal bones are small square, oval, and triangular bones. The cluster of carpal bones in the wrist make it both strong and flexible. Your wrist and hand wouldn’t work the same if the wrist joint was only made up of one or two larger bones.
The wrist also has three main joints. This makes the wrist more stable than if it had only one joint. It also gives your wrist and hand a wide range of movement. The wrist joints let your wrist move your hand up and down, like when you lift your hand to wave. These joints allow you to bend your wrist forward and backward, side to side, and to rotate your hand.
At Aptiva Health, we offer same-day and walk-in appointments for wrist injuries and conditions to evaluate, diagnose, and make the appropriate referral for additional treatment based upon your specific wrist injury or condition. We treat these conditions in our General Medicine, Orthopedics, Sports Medicine, and Physical Therapy departments.
RADIOCARPAL JOINT
This is where the radius — the thicker forearm bone — connects with the bottom row of wrist bones: the scaphoid, lunate and triquetrum bones. This joint is mainly on the thumb side of your wrist.
ULNOCARPAL JOINT
This is the joint between the ulna — the thinner forearm bone — and the lunate and triquetrum wrist bones. This is the pinky finger side of your wrist.
DISTAL RADIOULNAR JOINT
This joint is in the wrist but doesn’t include the wrist bones. It connects the bottom ends of the radius and ulna.
Conditions Treated
Wrist arthroscopic surgery can be used to examine the bones and ligaments of the wrist, and to diagnose and treat chronic wrist pain, wrist fractures, ganglion cysts, tendonitis, and ligament tears. Sometimes carpal tunnel syndrome, ligament tears, wrist fractures, and other wrist injuries and conditions do not improve with rest, physical therapy, or conservative treatment options. In these instances, your orthopedic surgeon may recommend surgical intervention, such as wrist arthroscopy after exhausting conservative treatment measures.
Procedure Description
Wrist arthroscopy utilizes a small fiber optic instrument called an arthroscope that enables the surgeon to see inside the joint without making large incisions into the muscle and tissue. In a wrist arthroscopy, the surgeon makes small incisions (called portals) through the skin in specific locations around a joint. These incisions are less than half an inch long. The arthroscope, which is approximately the size of a pencil, is inserted through these incisions. The arthroscope contains a small lens, a miniature camera, and a lighting system.
The three-dimensional images of the joint are projected through the camera onto a television monitor. The surgeon watches the monitor as he or she moves the instrument within the joint. Probes, forceps, knives, and shavers at the ends of the arthroscope are used to correct problems uncovered by the surgeon.
Post-Operative Recovery
The length of recovery time will range from just a few days and to more than a week or two, but will depend on the specific arthroscopic surgical wrist treatment performed. Some patients may experience mild pain after surgery, but over-the-counter pain medication will provide relief for the bulk of patient dealing with post-operative pain.
The first two or three days after a wrist arthroscopy, patients are advised to keep their wrist elevated and apply ice to keep the swelling down. Patients are also instructed to pay caution to the bandaging at the site of the surgery and keep the bandaging clean and dry.
Compare to more invasive surgeries, wrist arthroscopy is a very safe procedure. While any type of surgical procedure comes with risks, wrist arthroscopy is minimally invasive and risks are minimal. This procedure is a great way to identify the issues within the wrist and get patients back on the road to recovery as quickly as possible.