Any careless movement or careless step may result in personal injury. The most commonly affected parts of the human body are the limbs: arms and legs. It is on them that we place the majority of physical activity. But the slightest miscalculation and excessive excessive tension can lead to trouble. Most often, such injuries affect athletes or people who are prone to excessive physical exertion associated with heavy physical labor. Children often get a sprain of the hands or feet due to their excessive activity, and the elderly can be injured due to impaired function of the vestibular apparatus and a possible fall.
Why is this happening
Our arms are made up of many bones that are joined together by joints. Ligaments of the hands connect the joints together and provide normal functionality. Such connective tissue is strong enough, but its abilities have their limits. In the case of a sharp voltage, the ligaments take on the maximum impact. Due to the lack of the ability to stretch with lightning speed, they are deformed, as a result, microcracks of tissues - stretching. Hand sprains may have several degrees of severity. Ligaments can undergo a complete or partial rupture, can disconnect from the bone in the places of their attachment.
It is very easy to get a stretch, it is enough to make a sharp awkward movement or just fall. Symptoms of all injuries of the upper and lower extremities are similar, therefore it is extremely important to have the correct diagnosis. After all, along with stretching, you can get a dislocation or even a fracture. Often the injury occurs at lightning speed, and it is difficult to foresee.
How to avoid such injuries
Often, sprain of the hand occurs by negligence. Therefore, the main thing is to properly distribute the load and be careful, try to avoid falls, do not keep your hand in an unnatural position for a long time. An important role in countering such injuries is played by physical fitness. The more flexible and trained the connective tissue of the ligaments, the better and faster it is able to stretch. However, you should not assume that playing sports can completely protect you from such injuries. It is the athletes who most often receive a sprain of the ligaments of the hand or forearm only because they exceed the load on their body. According to statistics, every person in his life at least once, but faced a similar problem.
Severity of injury
Depending on the complexity of the injury, treatment is also prescribed . Hand sprains are divided into three types of difficulty. But each case can have purely individual manifestations for each person. No matter how complex the injury is, you should seek help from specialists. There are frequent cases when the usual sprain of ligaments entails a number of other problems.
Mild
It is characterized by microfractures of tendon fibers. It manifests itself with mild to moderate pain. It does not interfere with the mobility of the wrist; there is no swelling at the site of the injury. A person who has suffered a similar injury can move his hand and bend his wrist, although pain may increase somewhat with movement.
Medium grade
A small tendon rupture is characteristic. There is severe pain. A hemorrhage occurs at the site of the injury, and swelling appears. It is almost impossible to move the hand with such damage due to severe pain.
Severe degree
The most severe and painful sprain of the hand. Symptoms: sharp and very severe pain, the formation of a hematoma in the injury zone, swelling. This is the case when the tendon comes off completely, a person cannot move his hand. On palpation, there is a sensation of fluid collected under the skin (fluctuation). Often such damage occurs when a limb is dislocated or broken. A joint in the lesion site can become unstable, which means that after recovery, such injuries in this place can occur regularly.
Symptoms
The very first and characteristic sign is severe sharp pain in the place of stretching. After some time, a swelling forms. It becomes difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, to bend and extend your fingers; it is problematic to move your wrist. In the case of a severe degree, the hand loses its functionality. The pain can be so severe that a person begins to feel dizzy, there are frequent cases of fainting, and possibly a rise in body temperature. Due to compression and damage to the nerve endings in the cyst of the hand, numbness can occur. You do not need to be a qualified doctor to understand that a sprain has occurred.
What to do
Even if the stretching is slight, immediately stop the load on the arm. Sometimes it happens that a person, having received such an injury, continues to perform work, and this only worsens the situation in the future. The affected hand should ensure complete rest. Try to fix your hand in a position above the victim’s chest level - this is a necessary measure to avoid the occurrence of severe swelling.
Lock the hand in a stationary position and apply a tight bandage. If the stretch is extremely strong, a tire overlay is required as in a fracture.
Put cold on the affected area. It can be anything: ice, a bottle of cold water or even frozen meat from the refrigerator, if there is nothing suitable at hand.
If a person experiences extremely severe pain, pain medication should be taken.
Any, even slight movement or touch can be painful. Therefore, it is better to fix the affected brush. Use a scarf or scarf. Tie it in the form of a hanging loop on the neck and put the damaged brush in the formed “hammock”. You should seek the help of a doctor, especially if a severe sprain of the hand has occurred. The photo below will show how to fix the arm correctly.
Treatment
What to do and how to treat sprains in the hand? If the injury is mild or moderate, then treatment is carried out at home. Fortunately, our body is able to repair some tissue damage on its own, without outside interference. One has only to ensure complete peace of the hand, and after a while the body will begin to regenerate - to merge the torn tendons. The damage area is bandaged with an elastic bandage. In the first days after the injury, it is worth applying cold compresses to this place. After - carry out physiotherapeutic procedures. The following methods help recovery well: electrophoresis, UHF, and magnetotherapy. As soon as the swelling subsides, and the pain decreases, you should start medical gymnastics.
If a slight sprain of the hand was obtained, the symptoms may gradually disappear after a couple of days. The treatment itself will take one or two weeks. With moderate injury, rehabilitation can take up to 20 days. With a complete rupture of the ligaments, treatment can drag on for several months and require serious medical intervention.
Inpatient treatment
If after a few days you notice a deterioration, you will have to go to the hospital. Inpatient treatment is needed by people who have received a severe degree of sprain, but there are exceptions in the form of complications.
In the case when the damage has occurred seriously - not only the ligaments, but also adjacent tissues are torn - a doctor may be prescribed surgery. In this case, the disturbed nerve endings and ligaments are sutured, so the healing process is accelerated. Today, most operations are carried out in a gentle manner, which helps to minimize all sorts of negative consequences.
If severe sprain of the ligaments of the hand has occurred, treatment is prescribed by the doctor after collecting an anamnesis and radiographs. It will be necessary to exclude the possibility of a fracture in this place. After the main treatment, physiotherapy will be prescribed with the use of ointments and concomitant drugs aimed at accelerating recovery processes. Rehabilitation will be comprehensively aimed at preventing the development of scar tissue at the site of rupture, because it can cause similar injuries in the future. A seriously injured arm should be protected from excessive loads.