I was just diagnosed with a TFCC injury by a hand specialist. He came to this conclusion after physical exam and an x-ray (although the x-ray showed nothing)The injury is on my non-dominant hand. I guess the injury was caused by overuse/technique issue rather than some acute cause like a fall (I have a two-handed backhand). I have pain when making contact with the ball during my stroke on my backhand. It's a sharp pain on ulnar side. I recently when from poly/multi to gut/poly and I think I added more wrist in my stroke to get a bit more spin to bring the ball down.There is also some discomfort with supination of the wrist or lifting something palm up. The joint is still stable according to the MD and I don't have much if any weight bearing pain. The wrist does feel a bit shaky with weight bearing. He put me in a "Bledsoe" brace that goes above the elbow and does not allow me to pronate/supinate my wrist. I have to wear it for 4 weeks. For those with ulnar sided wrist injuries, what diagnosis did you receive and does what I'm describing sound like what you experienced in terms of when you felt pain? Based on what I have read this could also be a longitudinal split-tear in the ulnotriquetral (UT) ligament, or even something with ECU but the MD wasn't super familiar with UT injury as many docs are unaware of it. Thanks for any responses.
Ulnar sided wrist pain/TFCC
- Thread starter Bbuky
- Start date
so sad to hear about you. i hope you are doing well now.
aminadream
Rookie
I have some experience with this if you're still on the forum...
Crocodile
G.O.A.T.
TFCC is very common problem with tennis players these days. It can take a good 12 weeks sometimes to overcome it. You just need to get the inflammation down first and get constant physio. If you can rest it, then lucky for you. Once it starts improving you can start strengthening the wrist and use strapping to provide support.
You just have to be sensible and patient about it.
You just have to be sensible and patient about it.
Hi there, would you mind sharing how you treated your TFCC? i am on orthopedic specialist #5
LOBALOT
Legend
About 15 years ago I was just getting back into tennis and started lessons and a pro was trying to take an old fart like me and switch my forehand grip more western. I had decent strokes as it was and wound up and hit a forehand and felt this sharp pain and heard a snap. I had quite a bit of pain but ignored it. My father was in the last stages of passing from cancer and couldn't deal with the wrist and focused on what was important. A year later and it got to the point that I couldn't open a door or hold a glass of water.
I went to a hand doctor who first pressed on wrist and asked where it hurt and I could not localize the pain as it was all over. He took some x-rays and walked in and said "I know why you couldn't localize the pain". It turns out I had actually fractured the wrist in 3 different places and completely tore my TFCC. The problem was not only had it healed improperly but a piece of bone the size of an eraser on a pencil broke loose and wedged in my wrist.
We started with cortisone but eventually that wasn't going to "cut it" and so I had 3 surgeries on my wrist over a 3 year span with the first the TFCC repair (and did bone spurs in elbow at the same time), the second arthroscopy to remove bone pieces in wrist, and the 3rd to remove that big piece of bone.
It took me another 2 years of physical therapy and still had pain in my wrist when playing which then lead to bad habits on the court (Kind of like touching a hot stove once you do it once if you have to do it again you do some funky things trying to avoid the pain.).
Over the past 3 years I have finally been able to hit a normal forehand without pain. I still cannot pronate my wrist completely. It still gets achy after I play.
However, I am finally back playing close to my normal game. Unfortunately, I am now 60 so while my wrist is back everything else has left me.... reflexes... speed... power... etc.
I do still have a lot of fun and play 4-5 times per week but it has been one heck of a ride getting to this point.
I went to a hand doctor who first pressed on wrist and asked where it hurt and I could not localize the pain as it was all over. He took some x-rays and walked in and said "I know why you couldn't localize the pain". It turns out I had actually fractured the wrist in 3 different places and completely tore my TFCC. The problem was not only had it healed improperly but a piece of bone the size of an eraser on a pencil broke loose and wedged in my wrist.
We started with cortisone but eventually that wasn't going to "cut it" and so I had 3 surgeries on my wrist over a 3 year span with the first the TFCC repair (and did bone spurs in elbow at the same time), the second arthroscopy to remove bone pieces in wrist, and the 3rd to remove that big piece of bone.
It took me another 2 years of physical therapy and still had pain in my wrist when playing which then lead to bad habits on the court (Kind of like touching a hot stove once you do it once if you have to do it again you do some funky things trying to avoid the pain.).
Over the past 3 years I have finally been able to hit a normal forehand without pain. I still cannot pronate my wrist completely. It still gets achy after I play.
However, I am finally back playing close to my normal game. Unfortunately, I am now 60 so while my wrist is back everything else has left me.... reflexes... speed... power... etc.
I do still have a lot of fun and play 4-5 times per week but it has been one heck of a ride getting to this point.
LOBALOT
Legend
My guy was the top hand trauma surgeon in our town at the time. He helped me with trigger finger later too as I had no idea what that was but had painful twitching of my right thumb.... It just kept twitching and I finally went in and it was like no problem. He gave me a cortisone shot and he said I bet I don't see you again related to the thumb and he was right.
I just don't know if it is worth having ulnar shortening osteotomy surgery where they shorten the ulnar bone. I can do everything in every day life, just can't play tennis. So many stories of people needing 2 or 3 surgeries and making pain worse.
LOBALOT
Legend
I would absolutely positively do anything at all possible to avoid surgery. Anything!
They say you get back to normal but the normal you get to is not the normal you were at. It is a new normal that isn't as good.
That said for me I can't live without tennis. My son is home from college tennis and has been coming to watch his 60 year old dad hit a tennis ball. It is worth it to me to be back playing!
LOBALOT
Legend
That's the problem. If I don't have a surgery, i can't play tennis.
Exactly where I was at except mine was impacting other things as I indicated.
To me the moral of the story for all the tennis pros out there is if you have a 40 year old rec player out there that was trained "old school" in the 70s why the heck would you try to with a player to a semi western or western grip?
Just leave it.
LOBALOT
Legend
Actually slightly younger than me. She is/was just awful as far as coaching goes.
The other lesson learned is also to have it looked at as soon as you are injured and don't wait like I did.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
Are you sure you didn’t have other wrist trauma from some other accident in the year after the FH episode? Scary to think you can fracture a wrist in three places and tear the TFCC just hitting a FH.
LOBALOT
Legend
Yes, pretty sure. I actually had a pretty big (but too flat) forehand and the western grip she was attempting to get me to switch to required that I hit the ball earlier more in front which was an adjustment from my old school eastern grip and technique. It was not a good mix.
I didn't play much at all or do much of anything following other than typing which got worse and worse (I work in IT as a PM). Between that and taking care of my dad's affairs and a young kid at home I was pretty busy at the time.
Injured Again
Hall of Fame
That's the problem. If I don't have a surgery, i can't play tennis.
I have had TFCC pain off and on the past three years. I have a wrist that has been dislocated for over 50 years. It was never set correctly after my initial injury at age 10 and so my wrist is a biological nightmare. I have not had surgery for TFCC pain but was able to play through it with a combination of a heavier, more shock absorbing racquet and softer strings. What is your current racquet setup and how soon after starting playing do you get pain?