Wrist tendonitis -- does it ever really go away?

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rlee7777

Rookie
Couple of months ago I pulled a tendon in my wrist during a very aggressive slice serve (yes it was an ace!). Pain was centered in the fleshy part between the the thumb and forefinger leading to the wrist, especially painful on the forehand. Doc advised rest, ice, wrist brace, anti-inflammatories and slow rehab. With very little tennis, the wrist began to feel much better after several weeks. This past week I was lifting moderate weights curling the wrist to bring it back to strength. Restrung the racquets to make it TE and wrist friendly. All was looking good.

Last night I played one set of mens doubles. During the match all went well with no discomfort. A few hours later I feel stiffness in my wrist. This morning, the pain and stiffness is back.

Discouraging.

Will this heal fully someday?
 
Valjean

Valjean

Hall of Fame
Do those wrist exercises you've grown fond of without weights now, and an emphasis on the motion(s) involved. Stretching at this point, after every use too, is everything.
 
Tennis-Chris

Tennis-Chris

Rookie
I Just Returned From The Same Injury...

When you say "several weeks" how many is that? You might want to consult a different doctor as well. The Doc I saw specializes in wrist injuries and I was off for two months. No tennis, no weights, not even ping pong.

At the end of two months I was then put on a regimen of very light weights (5-7 pound range) and gradually worked up from there. Lots of stretching with bands and hand grips. Total time away from the game was almost three full months but when I play today I am playing without pain and I have my full repertoire of shots at full strength. I have also regained confidence that my wrist is strong.:mrgreen:
 
R

rlee7777

Rookie
Tennis-Chris said:
When you say "several weeks" how many is that? You might want to consult a different doctor as well. The Doc I saw specializes in wrist injuries and I was off for two months. No tennis, no weights, not even ping pong.

At the end of two months I was then put on a regimen of very light weights (5-7 pound range) and gradually worked up from there. Lots of stretching with bands and hand grips. Total time away from the game was almost three full months but when I play today I am playing without pain and I have my full repertoire of shots at full strength. I have also regained confidence that my wrist is strong.:mrgreen:
Click to expand...


I think you are right. This injury will take a LONG time to heal and I may have rushed it with the weights. Might have to take a winter break from tennis, though THAT is a painful thought! Your post gives me hope. Thanks.
 
Tennis-Chris

Tennis-Chris

Rookie
rlee7777 said:
I think you are right. This injury will take a LONG time to heal and I may have rushed it with the weights. Might have to take a winter break from tennis, though THAT is a painful thought! Your post gives me hope. Thanks.
Click to expand...

You're right about the difficulty and pain of not playing. It sucked. It was during this time that I bought Top Spin 2 for my XBoX and that was as close as I got to tennis. It was fun but it wasn't the real deal. Good luck and be patient.:mrgreen:
 
bluestreak711

bluestreak711

Rookie
get an x ray and make sure you didnt dislocate it even with mine dislocated it healed back and was playing again but after the first week of school and after writing for a week it started hurting me again and recently i retraced my steps the way it happened and gently stretched it until it popped back into place
 
R

Robbnc

Rookie
If you really want to get back to playing faster you should check into
PROLOTHERAPY or PLATELET RICH PLASMA therapy.
 
C

chopstxnrice

New User
Tennis-Chris said:
When you say "several weeks" how many is that? You might want to consult a different doctor as well. The Doc I saw specializes in wrist injuries and I was off for two months. No tennis, no weights, not even ping pong.

At the end of two months I was then put on a regimen of very light weights (5-7 pound range) and gradually worked up from there. Lots of stretching with bands and hand grips. Total time away from the game was almost three full months but when I play today I am playing without pain and I have my full repertoire of shots at full strength. I have also regained confidence that my wrist is strong.:mrgreen:
Click to expand...

i have wrist tendonitis as well, pretty painful .. but here's my question, why did you decide on 2 months? Did it actually take that long for the pain to go away before you started rehab excercises? I ask because I was having pretty bad wrist pain last year but due to addiction and stupidity I played through it .. but now i've decided to rest it up and fix this problem. I've been off for almost 3 weeks, but the thing is my pain completely went away after about 2 weeks, even stretching my wrist around which previously was painful. Is it safe to begin light excercise?
 
topsltennis

topsltennis

Semi-Pro
Last week I had a nasty case of tendonitis on the inside part of my wrist going up the tendon of my foremarm. I posted about it on here. It was very painful for a few days- my wife even thought it looked broken with the swelling etc. - I had creaking in that you could easily hear and feel......I continued to play and teach and the last two days I am somehow pain free now. I can't explain it- I guess everyone is different in the way the body heals.
 
F

Fuzzy

Rookie
similar question to chopstxnrice, i saw a specialist who of course told me to take several weeks off and gave me a prescription to a high dosage anti-inflammatory...problem is my TE only flares up during tennis....i never have any pain off the court...so how do i know if it's improved without going back on thr court...and in that case I could take a few weeks off go back on the court and be back at square one.
 
O

ohplease

Professional
What continues to help me is stretching and massage. I've found as I get older, my tendons and ligaments just aren't as supple as they used to be, and I really can't do anything about that. I can, however, do something about my forearm muscles. Martial arts inspired wrist stretches and foam rollers have done wonders to reduce tension in my forearm, and the resulting stress on my tendons and ligaments, both at the wrist and elbow.
 
B

byealmeens

Semi-Pro
rlee7777 said:
Couple of months ago I pulled a tendon in my wrist during a very aggressive slice serve (yes it was an ace!). Pain was centered in the fleshy part between the the thumb and forefinger leading to the wrist, especially painful on the forehand. Doc advised rest, ice, wrist brace, anti-inflammatories and slow rehab. With very little tennis, the wrist began to feel much better after several weeks. This past week I was lifting moderate weights curling the wrist to bring it back to strength. Restrung the racquets to make it TE and wrist friendly. All was looking good.

Last night I played one set of mens doubles. During the match all went well with no discomfort. A few hours later I feel stiffness in my wrist. This morning, the pain and stiffness is back.

Discouraging.

Will this heal fully someday?
Click to expand...

Wondering if you have any suggestions for exercises and/or stretches. Mine seems to come and go - and I don't feel it while playing but it feels "stiff" and uncomfortable the next day.
 
F

floridatennisdude

Hall of Fame
I had pretty rough tendinitis a couple years ago. I never stopped playing or lifting. Just fought through the pain with Alleve and post match beers. Can't remember when it stopped hurting, but I'd say I've been pain free for a year.

This is not a recommendation. I was just a stubborn idiot. However, it did go away eventually.
 
L

LeeD

Bionic Poster
Not sure if modern medicine, or old school acupuncture/chiro, actually can help in every case of physical problems.
Lots of stuff we don't know. Everyone is different.
And I've experienced mysterious healing of ailments that I thought would stay with me forever.
Wrist tenderness, swelling.
Rotator cuff.
Knees swelling for little reason.
Ankle just not working...that I still have.
 
C

Chas Tennis

G.O.A.T.
This thread has information on wrist injuries -

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=422414&

This thread has information on tendinitis vs tendinosis - a very important distinction for the OP's question.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=442912

Do you have tendinitis or tendinosis?

There are other threads that have general information on tendon injuries. They most often deal with tennis elbow and golfer's elbow.

Search tennis elbow, golfer's elbow and look at the tendon injury descriptions, illustrations, healing times, etc. especially in the CharlieFedererer replies.
 
Last edited:
PrimeChoice

PrimeChoice

New User
no, not without rest

It can take a tendon up to six months to heal.

Then again yes, it can get better, the body will find a way to adapt.

My arm is falling off right now.
 
ollinger

ollinger

G.O.A.T.
^^ one of the parts of the body that is supposed to adapt is the brain, by telling you that if something leads to pain, you should do less of it. That seldom happens around hear. Tendons heal with a more random array of collagen than was originally there, which means there's a higher risk of recurrence. Brain adaptation.
 
r2473

r2473

G.O.A.T.
ollinger said:
^^ one of the parts of the body that is supposed to adapt is the brain, by telling you that if something leads to pain, you should do less of it. That seldom happens around hear. Tendons heal with a more random array of collagen than was originally there, which means there's a higher risk of recurrence. Brain adaptation.
Click to expand...

That's what I here.

sorry, couldn't resist :)
 
R

rufus_smith

Professional
it sounds to me like OP is gripping the racquet too either tightly or gripping in some unusual fashion or that he may need to change his grip size. Hard to tell.
 
TheCheese

TheCheese

Professional
You're going to need to ice it/ use NSAIDs until there's no more pain in day-to-day activities. Then after that you need to strengthen the entire area before you go back to playing.

Source: Lots of experience in PT with wrist problems.
 
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