TFCC injury - wrist

[agni2]

Hi, I've been strength training for a year now with regular bench press, deadlifts, overheads, dips and squats with intermittent arms workout. About 3 months ago, I started getting pain in my left wrist - felt it first while doing some heavy curls with barbell. I avoided it initially, which after 2 - 3 weeks came to a point where i couldn't do curls with even 5 kg on barbell!!

When I consulted an orthopedic Dr, he said its a TFCC injury which might have caused due to excessive pronation of the wrist and put me on some tabs that help in tendon regeneration and assured that it should heal itself in 2 - 3 weeks. He also suggested wearing a splint and discontinuing all workouts other than lower body exercises. Even after 3 weeks, nothing changed. So I took an MRI scan which read - 'Partial thickness tear with fraying of fibres of the TFC at Ulno triquetral ligament with loculated lesion along the ulno triquetral ligament might represent ganglion formation'.

I'm yet to see the doc again after MRI. Hope it isnt very bad. Anyway, has anyone else come across or faced a similar problem???... Will be great to hear some opinions..

Thanks

[kanldark135]

It has been 5 months since i had my tfcc messed up (no workout and so much atrophy over this period...) and i finally had to take a surgery... normally you should wear a half cast or splint for 2~3 months.
you might have heard that tfcc is one of a few structures in our hand/wrist where it receives almost zero blood supply (only a few veins in the periphery of the complex) so it does not heal by itself regardless of how small your initial injury was.

Fortunately, in many cases, tfcc injury occur in the periphery so it heals albeit taking at least 3 months. (and from your mri result it seems yours is the case so don't worry too much) but even if it does get better you are going to have residual sensations (throbbing, limited ROM) and vulnerable tfcc (my doc said it recurs to about 70% over the lifetime if you continue to lift and i just recently found that one of my friends who practiced judo were actually suffering from recurring tfcc tear every other year)

anyway it is lucky if it eventually heals but if it still hurts after casting and other nonoperative measures after 3~4 months i recommend considering another option.

i found that many orthopedists want to wait out more than 6 months if the injury doesn't look too bad because tfcc surgery is notorious for its unsatisfactory result (especially reconstruction on serious tears. Usual debridement shows better results).
but it is equally gruesome for us lifters to not being able to return to workout so long as it doesn't feel 'normal' (and i saw many who lived with torn tfcc for more than a year).


so, simply say, it sucks... and it takes time.