Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffIn some cases, your doctor may suggest imaging tests, arthroscopy or nerve tests to help pinpoint the cause of your wrist pain.
Imaging tests
- X-rays. Using a small amount of radiation, simple X-rays can reveal bone fractures, as well as evidence of osteoarthritis.
- Computerized tomography (CT) scan. CT scans can provide more-detailed views of the bones in your wrist. A CT scan takes X-rays from several directions and then combines them to make a two-dimensional image.
- Bone scan. In a bone scan, a small amount of radioactive material is injected into your bloodstream. This makes injured parts of your bones brighter on the resulting scan images. Bone scans are particularly useful in detecting stress fractures.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRIs use radio waves and a strong magnetic field to produce detailed images of your bones and soft tissues. For a wrist MRI, you may be able to insert your arm into a smaller device, rather than have your entire body slide into a full-size MRI machine.
Arthroscopy
If imaging test results are inconclusive, your doctor may perform an arthroscopy, a procedure in which a pencil-sized instrument is inserted into your wrist via a small incision in your skin. The instrument contains a light and a tiny camera. Images are projected onto a television monitor.
Nerve tests
If your doctor thinks you have carpal tunnel syndrome, he or she might order an electromyogram (EMG). This test measures the tiny electrical discharges produced in your muscles. A needle-thin electrode is inserted into the muscle, and its electrical activity is recorded when the muscle is at rest and when it's contracted. Nerve conduction tests also are performed as part of an EMG to assess if the electrical impulses are slowed in the region of the carpal tunnel.
- Swigert CR. Hand and wrist pain. In: Firestein GS, et al. Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/153033877-3/872097449/1807/301.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3285-4..10044-0_1249. Accessed Aug. 7, 2009.
- Questions and answers about sprains and strains. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Sprains_Strains/default.asp. Accessed Aug. 7, 2009.
- Swigert CR. Common etiologies for hand and wrist pain. In: Firestein GS, et al. Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/153033877-3/872097449/1807/302.html. Accessed Aug. 7, 2009.
- Anderson BC. Evaluation of the adult patient with wrist pain. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 7, 2009.
- Upton DS, et al. Acute wrist injuries in children and adolescents. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 10. 2009.
- Upton DS, et al. Causes of chronic wrist pain in children and adolescents. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 10. 2009.
- Wrist pain. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2009. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/153069597-3/872221634/1701/1152.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-04134-8..50051-3--cesec8_15127. Accessed Aug. 7, 2009.
- Bone X-ray (radiography). Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=bonerad. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
- CT: Body. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=bodyct. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
- General nuclear medicine. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=gennuclear. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
- MRI of the musculoskeletal system. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=muscmr. Accessed Aug.11, 2009.
- Wrist arthroscopy. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00001. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
- Neurological diagnostic tests and procedures. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/misc/diagnostic_tests.htm. Accessed Aug. 11, 2009.
