TFCC tear?

[focus_911]

oh my god, it all sounds awful. i too came to this website via a google search for tfcc tear. my son is an active gymnast, since age 5, he is now approaching 17. last year he had shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. it took about 6 weeks for him to return to the sport. as a result, he missed a few key competitions. on mon. 7/14/8, he was on parallel bars, did a stutz, landed it well, yet he heard his wrist pop. i took him to the orthopedist on wed. 7/19/8, (the doc only has office hours on mon. & wed.). through an x-ray, the orthopedist ruled out bone injury and since my son has a competition starting on 7/24/8, he ordered an mri for fri. 7/18/8, with the results expected by tues. 7/22/8, to rule out tfcc tear. today, late, 4:54 pm, he called to say that the mri showed a tear. i am sympathetic. this kid has had so many injuries: heel, knee, wrist, coccyx, back, shoulders, (both)-now wrist tear. the ortho-p said he doesn't treat hands and he gave me the name of 2 hand specialists. i had used one other hand guy to get a 2nd opinion on the shoulder surgery; he didn't have available time until the earliest wed 7/23/8 at 3pm. since the ortho-p called late for mon. yet earlier than tues., i am going to try to get him to 1 of the 2 hand specialists tomorrow, tues. 7/22/8. the symptoms my son describe sounds a lot like what the posts have described. if so, at least i am more informed now. i will see what the hand specialists say. thanks for the information that you all have shared . brooklyn, ny, usa.

Good for you for doing the research. Follow your gut and the option given to you and make sure you don't stick to the first set of options given to you. Give it some thought and weigh out your options.

[jtk73]

This all now makes me thankful I am in Australia. I am shocked as the US is supposed have all these specialists!

Ford - I hope all works out. I know how annoying it is. What gets me is how we 'lay' people have to do all the conservative treatments first which keeps us in pain for 6-12 mths and yet the footballers, athletes etc all get a sore knee and are in to see the specialist that same day or afternoon and we have to wait weeks or months!

Integrity - keep going at can take 6mths for a tfcc tear to heal fully just be prepared for that. Especially when the wrist is what your sport depends on. I am a cyclist....(or was)

[focus_911]

This all now makes me thankful I am in Australia. I am shocked as the US is supposed have all these specialists!

Ford - I hope all works out. I know how annoying it is. What gets me is how we 'lay' people have to do all the conservative treatments first which keeps us in pain for 6-12 mths and yet the footballers, athletes etc all get a sore knee and are in to see the specialist that same day or afternoon and we have to wait weeks or months!

Integrity - keep going at can take 6mths for a tfcc tear to heal fully just be prepared for that. Especially when the wrist is what your sport depends on. I am a cyclist....(or was)

Yea well Canada is supposed to have some of the best as well, specifically in the transplant department. Comes to show no one really knows anything that's why so many poor folks are running around with their heads cut off trying to find the proper treatment for the injuries and health problems they have. It's a shame but unfortunately it's something that will take years and years before a stable treatment is set up for this stuff.

[lianaweigand]

Hello!

I am a 15 year old gymnast and has been doing gymnastics for 11 years now and in level 9. I have been diagnosed of a tfcc tear in my right wrist and tearing it in my left wrist also. I have done just about everything to help the pain while practicng everyday. I wear wrist supports on all the events and ice it after practice. I have cortizone shot once, and I have splinted it during the summer for 5 weeks. No help! The doctors told me that they can give me sugury and be out of gymnastics for 3 months. They said that i will probably tear it again and the pain will not go away. Working new skills the pain is increasing and surgury is looking more better.

I want to know if anyone has had this surgury and has had litttle to no pain post surgury.

Plus i need to know if you have atleast 90% of your strength back since being a gymnast i need alot of it esp. on the uneven bars!

Please repy and tell me what u think that i should do!


Thanks=]

PS also it will be dandy if u people can tell me if the surgury was really painful pics will be nice too!

[jtk73]

To repair the tear (which was a peripheral tear) wih surgery after months of splinting - I had it first done in July 2007 not terribly painful but the first 2 nights it was quite sore. In the November I had full range of motion and most of my strength back, went straight back into cycling. Then in Jan 2008 it (the same wrist) was playing up again and we found I had a central tear. Have had cortisone and antiinflammatories but in July we decided I would have Ulna shortening surgery (which I have scheduled for December 2008)

The amount of wrist work you need for Gymnastics I would be surprised if you could go back to it quickly, I wuld think youwould need a lot longer than 3mths. Especially as it is in BOTH wrists. and be prepared to have no use of the hand for a while as rotation, front and back etc is very slow to come back if you do not get hand therapy from an occupational therapist straightaway. In fact - I am sorry to say - that I cannot envisage myself being able to do any gymnastics stuff the way my one wrist is now and straight after surgery or even now with the new tear. And I followed doctors instructions to the letter - and my hand surgeon is one of the best!

Cartilage is extremely hard to fix/heal as it does not have a great (or does not have any) blood supply.

Everyone is different and maybe with you being HALF my age, you will heal far better!

I don't have any pics sorry, but the scar is about 4cm long and directly over the ulna bony bit that protrudes. In the new surgery in December I am expecting a much bigger scar.

You should read this thread thoroughly as we have all explained in detail what we have had done.

[lianaweigand]

thanks for your information. I think that I am going to just suck it up for a couple of years and see if I get a college scholarship. If I dont i will have the surgury. But thats not my final answer.
Also, I think that I will get more shots even if it is bad for your tendons in your wrist. Atleast it helps for a couple of months=]

[marcus_radebe]

Hi

I am recovering from a TFCC injury and you may find my story helpful...join the facebook group for TFCC/Ulna sided wrist pain to learn and share info...you may find something that helps:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...5300713&ref=mf

If we combine our knowledge then we can help others overcome the injury!

Marc

[mark1308]

Hi,
i have had a TFCC injury for around 5 months now, it is not really bad as i still have almost full range of motion with minimal pain, and i have been wearing a Wrsit Widget for a while and, while it isnt making it much better, it isnt getting any worse, however, lately i have felt a pain in my other wrist, it isnt as bad as my right wrist but it is still there, i am a weight lifter, and the one thing that will hurt the most is when i putm y weight down after doing an upwards dumbell row sort of thing and i get a sharp pain up my ulna side, about 2-3 inches up my arm starting from the end on my unla, is there something i can do to catch the injury early, possibly some sort of rehab exercises or a cortisone injection (i know it didnt work for some ppl on here, but my injury isnt as bad as theres). any suggestions?
much appreciated

[jtk73]

IF it is TFCC cortisone does not help, it is only really to kill inflammation and the tfcc is normally a tear not inflammation. The reason Cortisone is given is to kill inflammation of the tendon etc around or near the tfcc.Even then Cortisone is only really a "disguise the pain" rather than a cure type of treatment.

Good Luck

[focus_911]

Exactly but keep in mind the reason you might get that temporary pain relief is because it's settling down that inflammation caused by the TFCC tear. It might be a good treatment option for you?
A significant tear I don't think will feel any different with a shot. With me it didn't know the placement of the injection can also affect the results.