My 17 year-old daughter is a senior in high school. She plays at the level of a 4.0 woman. She just started her tennis season, but for a few months her wrist has been bothering her. Yesterday, she had an MRI and the results were a strain involving her meniscal homologue and they suspect a small focal tear of the scapholunate ligament. These are in the TFC area, but the TFC was intact. So here's my question. If my daughter got a cortisone shot and didn't play for three weeks (she hasn't played for two) and reduced the pain, will she cause more damage to her wrist if she played just until the beginning of May? We'll see her doctor on Monday, but I don't really like him, so I'm getting a second opinion on Thursday. I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with playing with an injured wrist. Of course, I would not let her play if playing caused more damage. Thanks--TM10
Hey there, sorry to hear about the injury. Hewittfan is right, and actually the scapholunate ligament injury is the exact thing I tore so I have a decent idea of the situation. From my experience (and maybe I injured mine much worse than your daughter) I was unable to play at all after the injury occured, due to alot of pain, and instability. The thing was though, It didnt exactly occur all at once, although it did for the most part. I had strained it from catching a backhand volley very awkwardly in October of '06. It hurt quite a bit initially for the first week or 2, but then I continued to play without it bothering me at all when playing for a long time, until my major injury of it in August of '07. It only had bothered me when I would try to lift something heavy from underneath, or really tighten my wrist while extending the fingers out. I suspect I strained it initially in a similar way to which your daughter has. If you could, please tell me more about how the injury happened exactly. Especially, was it gradual, or did it start at a certain point?
I then injured it in August on a jumping overhead smash, that basically happened because I completely missed the ball which wouldnt slow down my wrist, and from being up in the air I was trying to really send the ball down by snapping my wrist. I got surgery a matter of weeks after that. So from my experience, it sounds like something could happen to her like it happened to me eventually, that would be much more serious. Although she could probably continue to play for a very long time before it happens, at some point she could really hurt it and make it very bad like I did, which could require surgery. If she actually has a ligament tear like that, I dont see how a cortisone injection is the right choice. Unlike JollyRoger, I had 2 cortisone injections for different more minor injuries, and I definitely see them as very useful and really like a miracle, but
ONLY in the right situations. Situations such as tendonitis or bursitis to relieve the pain, and then try to heal with physical therapy. Serious injuries like this that can get worse make dulling pain a bad idea as he said.
You will have to see what the doctor has to say, and definitely get a second opinion. My first opinion from the doctors at the tournament staff was inaccurate. It will probably depend on the extent of the tear. I didnt see anyone when I strained my wrist at first, and maybe there would have been something I could have done at that point to try to fix the problem so I wouldnt have torn it almost a year later making it a much larger problem. I basically didnt hit a ball for 7 months since the injury, and even now although I can hit at moderate pace, I dont have alot of strength there and every shot I hit is a bit painful. I was a very serious player and now I may never be able to play like I used to (but im holding out hope that eventually with time and therapy I can). Do what you can to fix the problem now so it doesnt get torn worse later.
