Recovering from Golf Related Wrist Injuries

Just got diagnosed with bilateral ligament tears in both my wrists (TFCC). It was truly an interesting event one day I had the best ball-striking sprees of my life. The next I dropped to my knees in pain from a little old practice swing. Have any of you fellow wrxers experienced a wrist injury? And, or what advice can you give me that either helped you or someone you know recover from a similar wrist injury. Estimated time of recovery is 4.5 - 5 months.

Cheers,

JJ

P.S. RIP Golf til end of May

Yup - torn TFCC in right wrist suffered while hacking through heavy rough.

Surgery - two months off from golf. No residual effects. All is good.

If you have surgery, be vigilant with the rehab protocol. It's critical.

Best of luck.

following, have wrist tendonitis, had a cortisone shot 3 days ago, started at home stretches 2 days ago and it still hurts. Did I start the exercises too early?

Thx, JJ. I appreciate the rice suggestion. Yes, saw a doc. Good Luck with your recovery.

Yup, 8 weeks just resting my trail wrist. Bought a wrist widget and KT taping it. Most wrist injuries can heal without surgery. I've read a lot of studies and the phds or mds doing the studies state that "if so and so patient had just waited long enough, it would have healed."

Yeah a lot of pros go with surgery but their reasoning is different than amateurs who can rest the injury.

oh yeah and buy a mueller brace. keep it pretty immobile and use KT tape also.

Dr. Ara Suppiah has 2-3 really good golf channel 5 minute specials on wrist injuries also. Watch those

No problem, and Just FYI you can re injure them easily and set yourself back weeks. Be careful! And your dominate hand may take longer because of this.

people can be pretty sympathetic out and about, most thought I had carpal tunnel! I’m like “nah it’s from golf”.

For me it was a misdiagnosis. I was originally thought to have a sprain, but the pain never went fully away. Golf and wrist injuries are not a good mix. I'll be doing therapy after the bracing if I don't need surgery. Only after OT is done will I start with putting.

How do you like the wrist widget? It is good for typing? Playing golf?

It’s really good! Get yourself one. Worth it to protect your wrist when it is all better to play. Maybe even KT tape and use the widget.

I even asked dr. Ara Suppiah what to do and he said to take it slow when you get back to golf and healed again. So i think I'll just do some wedge work first few sessions back. Try to strengthen it with some light weights and resistance work. Do that magazine fold excercise he showed on the golf channel videos.

Wrist issues have been a blight on me for a good few years now. I won’t bore you back and forth with all the issues but the the most important thing is time. Don’t rush it! A couple of times I have come back too soon and it has put me right back. My rule of thumb is now to get to a point where I feel like I have been OK and could go out and play and then wait for another few weeks before even attempting it.

When you are fit and able to get back to using it, I have had some good success with using a powerball. I was recommended that by a physio and I was initially extremely sceptical but I have to say that it has been a really handy investment. Most of my issues have been with tendons but when I was using the powerball and building up with it, I really felt that it made a difference. The other thing that I found very useful were stretchy bands. Just doing some exercises with them and stretching the area out with a little bit of tension helped build the stretngh up. I actually keep my powerball and a stretchy band in the drawer of my desk and work and pick them both up when I get the chance to although I must admit I don’t do it anywhere near as regularly as I used to.

The one time I tore wrist ligaments, the thing that caused me most bother was actually scar tissue which had built up (after the tear was misdiagnosed for about 5 months). I found that ultrasound treatment for that, really helped, broke down the tissue and let me get back to it properly.

How did they diagnose you?

I need to go Dr.... painful wrist for 2 years now.

Wrists are sketchy. I have issues in where the thumb and wrist connect in my right hand. Oddly, I've re-aggravated it multiple times in the oddest ways. It's cost me 2 months this off season and some in season time.

Thanks! I'll get the referral.... prob is doesnt hurt till pushed. I'll go play a bunch then go in.... that'll show em lol

Lol, my wife says my pain never seems to be a problem on the course.

Hey guys,

Just want to update on the progress with my tfcc injury. Its been 6 weeks and I was given a full arm cast for that time. The left wrist appears to have healed completely without surgery, and I will be starting physical therapy soon. The right wrist was given a half-splint, and did not heal fully. My orthopedic surgeon agreed to prescribe a full-arm for the right as well. The doctor is hoping that the right wrist will heal fully as well. I am hoping to return to golf by the end of May.

Sorry if I didn't follow thread correctly, but did you have surgery? Unclear as to what has occurred specifically for the past six weeks.

Just curious.

In addition to RICE, you might want to consider MEAT https://progressiveptandrehab.com/rice-and-meat-physical-therapy-terms-you-need-to-know-for-sports-injuries/

I've never been a fan of ice on injuries as I view inflammation as the body trying to heal itself (though, I suppose that can get taken too far).

I've injured both wrists playing golf. They weren't bad injuries, just painful. I did PT for both and that helped. Both injuries occurred when using swings that 'take the hands out of it'. Compared to my handsy swings, my wrists felt like they were just flapping in the breeze.

Rest is key. Total golf shut-down. The good news is that it will eventually heal with time and rehab. FWIW, my doc at the Hospital for Special Surgery tells me that hitting balls off mats will destroy your wrists over time.

3 months after my wrist tendonitis. I am back to playing golf after a steroid injection and exercise. It is a very slow process. Typing and mousing are killers.

It's important to differentiate an acute from a chronic TFCC tear. The poster above who felt immediate pain after chopping through thicc rough likely had an acute tear which is often very amenable and curable with surgery. A chronic tear is one wear you just start developing wrist pain w/o any event that precipitated it. 30-50yo men hitting off mats is the classic story. This happened to me when i spent a winter taking lessons indoors and grinding away on my swing. Feb 2017 i just noticed one day that my left wrist hurt. It completely ruined the next two golf seasons. The only thing that helped was rest, and my hand surgeon said that it's a 2-3yr recovery with conservative treatment and if i were to undergo surgery, the outcomes at 2-3yrs are not any different then conservative treatment.

The type of swing i was building before injuring it was a very hand/wrist/arm focused swing designed to prevent me from spinning out with a body that was too fast and led to me wiping across the ball. By the end of last year i didn't have pain in the left wrist most days (maybe 2-3x a month) and had rebuilt my swing to have more of a body rotation swing.

Bottom line, it's been an odyssey. Be patient with it. Try to avoid playing or hitting balls back to back days if you can.

Ten8Suited - thanks for the above post.

I was the one with the acute TFCC tear. Had surgery and was pain free after 3 months of rehab. No future issues since the surgery, which was twenty years ago.