At almost every moment of the day, your hands are busy serving you. So when anything interferes with their function, the resulting incapacity can be acute.
Physicians on the medical staff at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth can address a variety of hand and wrist disorders, including:
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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Pain caused by pressure on a nerve as it enters the hand through a tunnel in the wrist; often caused by repetitive motion, this problem can be addressed with non-surgical methods, such as medication, splinting, and rest; unresponsive cases can also be treated surgically. A diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome may follow testing the affected hand for numbness, tingling, weakness and/or pain in specific areas. Muscle and nerve conduction tests may also help affirm or rule out carpal tunnel syndrome.
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Tendonitis of the wrist: Pain associated with the tendon that passes to the wrist from the thumb, usually caused by overuse or inflammatory disease; relief is sometimes provided by medication, stretching exercises, and/or splinting and rest; surgical treatments can also be applied.
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Trigger Finger: Caused by an irritation of the sheath through which a finger's flexor tendon passes; when the sheath swells, it restricts movement of this tendon so that it catches painfully, then releases like a trigger; may be treated successfully with anti-inflammatory medication but can require surgery in more severe cases.
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Dupuytren's Contracture: This hereditary disease causes tissue within the palm to thicken, forming anomalies under the skin that may make fingers contract into the palm; surgery is the recommended treatment, and it is usually successful, although problems may recur.
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Arthritis: A degenerative disease that can cause stiffness, pain and deformity in the hands; often treated successfully with medication, especially in the early stages; severe cases may need surgery to correct deformations, restore function and ease pain.
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Ganglion Cysts: Non-cancerous growths that arise from inflamed tissues, usually in the back of the wrist; although most cysts do not need treatment, painful or incapacitating cysts can be removed with a needle or surgically.
Therapeutic procedures include:
- Excisional Arthroplasty: Surgical removal of joint surfaces damaged by arthritis; these surfaces are replaced with a cushion of the patient's tissue (often a tendon) that keeps the bones separated while scar tissue has time to form and form a flexible connection between them.
- Finger Joint Replacement: Total replacement of a diseased or damaged metacarpal-phalangeal joint with a prosthetic implant; these joints connect the fingers (phalanges) to the bones of the palm (metacarpals).
- Wrist Replacement: Total replacement of the wrist joint with a prosthetic device; this surgery removes some of the wrist bones (carpals) and the end of one forearm bone (radius) where an implant is anchored.
- Finger Joint Fusion: A surgical procedure that removes cartilage from a finger joint and pins two bones together so that, over a period of weeks, they fuse together into a single unit; the result is loss of movement that was causing pain.
- Wrist Fusion: A procedure that reduces pain in the wrist by minimizing movement; the surgery uses bone grafts and a metal plate to encourage the radius to fuse with the carpals into one long bone.
- Ligament surgery: Procedures that repair damaged tendons in the fingers; when the tendons associated with the middle joint (proximal interphalangeal) in a finger are stretched, torn or ruptured, surgery is sometimes required to assure that proper healing occurs.
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