Your hands and wrists are involved in a wide range of daily activities and tasks. Whether buttoning a shirt, tying a shoelace or typing a text message on your phone, you rely on your hands and wrists working properly to make these things possible.
If anything causes damage to a hand or wrist – whether trauma (chronic or acute), ageing or disease - you may quickly find yourself struggling to carry out many of your everyday tasks and activities.
When a problem in a hand or wrist is affecting daily life, it is sensible to get medical advice. While your GP may be helpful for an initial assessment, comprehensive investigation and treatment is best provided by a dedicated Consultant Hand and Wrist Surgeon, who has extensive experience and expertise in this area.
At The Sarum Road Hospital in Winchester, leading Consultants provide investigation, diagnosis and treatment for a wide range of hand and wrist symptoms and conditions. They would be delighted to help you too.
Your hands, wrists and forearms provide you with a remarkable level of movement and function. Each hand alone contains 27 bones as well as numerous muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments and joints.
Given the complexity contained within a relatively small area, it is not surprising that problems can sometimes occur, causing a range of symptoms. Some of the common symptoms people have when they come to us for help include:
- Pain in the hand or wrist
- Weakness, tingling or numbness in the fingers
- Nerve-type pain
- A deformity in a finger – for example, a finger may curl and lock in place unnaturally
- Pain in the base of thumb
- A new ‘lump or bump’ in the hands or wrists
- Sports injury
Common causes of hand and wrist problems include:
- Osteoarthritis – Most commonly affects the wrist, fingers or base of thumb, causing increasing levels of pain and stiffness as the disease progresses.
- Carpal tunnel syndrome – Caused by compression of the median nerve (one of three main nerves in your arm) as it passes through a narrow tunnel in the wrist formed by the carpal bones. Symptoms include weakness, tingling and pain in the wrist and hand.
- Ganglion cyst – Formation of a small fluid-filled lump in a hand or wrist. These will often resolve naturally, but if they cause significant pain or discomfort they may need to be drained.
- Trigger Finger – Inflammation in a tendon causes the finger to slowly bend into a ‘trigger finger’ position.
- Dupuytren’s Contracture/Disease – A thickening of the layer just under the skin causes nodules to form, which may be painful and lead to the fingers contracting. Treatment is not always needed, particularly if the nodules are small and/or you have no symptoms.
If you have any type of problem in a hand or wrist, we can make sure you receive the help you need without delay.
Many hand and wrist problems will resolve themselves naturally over time or through non-surgical (conservative) treatment. In other cases, surgery may be advised as being the most suitable treatment option.
Treatment for hand and wrist conditions may include:
- Hand or wrist brace
- Pain relief medication
- Steroid injection – these will usually be given by your Consultant when you see them in clinic
- Hand therapy
- Surgery
Surgery may be carried out for a number of reasons, including:
- Repairing a ligament or tendon
- Fusing two joints together
- Replacing a joint
- Removing damaged or diseased tissue from the hand – for example, an open fasciectomy to treat Dupuytren's
- Releasing a compressed nerve, such as carpal tunnel release
Some types of wrist surgery can be carried out using keyhole surgery (wrist arthroscopy). As this involves making only very small incisions in the skin, pain is reduced, scarring is less visible, and recovery is often faster. Other conditions may require open surgery.
Due to the complexity of the hand and wrist and their involvement in so many important functions and movements, your Consultant will often arrange for an experienced Hand Therapist to work closely with you throughout your rehabilitation following any surgery. The Hand Therapist will help you to regain as much strength, movement and function as possible in your hand and wrist, safely and at the right pace for you.
When you first meet with your Consultant at The Sarum Road Hospital, they will discuss your symptoms with you, asking you questions like:
- What symptoms do you have?
- When did you first notice these symptoms?
- Have your symptoms been getting worse over time?
- Are your symptoms stopping you from doing certain tasks or activities?
- What is your job?
They will carry out an examination of your hand and wrist, and often your arm and shoulder depending on your symptoms.
This may be all that is needed to make a diagnosis, but additional diagnostic tests will often be needed. This will often be an X-ray of the hand or wrist, which can help show if there are any abnormalities in the bones. MRI, CT and ultrasound scans can also be helpful, particularly when investigating damage to soft tissues. These will be arranged for you by your Consultant if they are needed
Once any results are back, your Consultant will explain them to you and then discuss appropriate treatment options. If you have any questions or concerns, they will be very happy to look at these with you.
The majority of people who visit us for help with a hand or wrist problem live in Winchester or the surrounding areas. However, excellent road access makes it easy to visit us from further away should you wish.
We see both private medical insurance and self-pay patients. While a medical referral can be helpful, you can self-refer to us to avoid delay.
When you visit us for help with a hand or wrist problem, you will benefit from:
- Rapid access to a leading expert – A problem in a hand or wrist can cause significant problems with many aspects of everyday life and the last thing you will want is to have to wait weeks to be seen. We can quickly and easily book you a private appointment with an experienced Consultant.
- Tailored approach – Your Consultant will oversee every aspect of your care, from initial assessment through to treatment, recovery and post-treatment follow-up.
- Remote Consultation – Consultations for hand and wrist problems are usually carried out in person at The Sarum Road Hospital. For your convenience, we can also offer remote consultations by telephone or online video call if required and where clinically appropriate.
- Location – Just minutes from the centre of Winchester, it is extremely easy to travel to The Sarum Road Hospital. The hospital is located in a stunning rural setting on the edge of the Royal Winchester Golf Club.
- Experienced staff - With leading Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons, Hand Therapists, Radiologists and many other healthcare professionals working on-site, you will be well supported at every stage of your treatment and will always see the most appropriate person for your particular needs.
- Recommended by patients – In an independent survey, 99.5% of the people we treated said they were likely or extremely likely to recommend The Sarum Road Hospital to their friends and family.
- Location – Just minutes from the centre of Winchester, it is extremely easy to travel to The Sarum Road Hospital. The hospital is located in a stunning rural setting on the edge of the Royal Winchester Golf Club.
