The rehabilitation for wrist injuries in athletes

Within the domain of sports, the wrist interacts with equipment like the tennis racquet, golf club, and baseball bat or with direct force exerted on the joint, like breakdancing or gymnastics all of which are associated with repetitive stresses or acute trauma. The physician should possess a comprehensive understanding of sport-specific biomechanics that can aid in predicting and effectively treating injuries.  

Wrist injuries are common occurrences in all sports and many of them are sport-specific, however, it can be divided into two categories: acute traumatic injuries and chronic overuse injuries. This report delves into the most prevalent sports-related wrist lesions, spanning from radial to ulnar side pain; from the acute traumatic injury to chronic overuse injury and from the conservative treatment to the operative treatment. 

Determining the approximate time for an athlete to resume playing after their treatment whether conservative or operative is very important. Athletes always want to return to their sport as soon as safely allowed. The rehabilitation program should be initiated early, from the restoration of range of motion, resistance training, and sports-specific exercise to gradual return to play. The early stages of rehabilitation of wrist injury in athletes includes pain management, decrease sensory loss, and the later stages includes restore range of motion, conscious and unconscious neuromuscular training. 

Wrist sports-related injuries are typically related to specific movements, and the injuries always resulting in lower performance. Therefore, designing a specific rehabilitation program for individual injury and different sports assume a pivotal role in athletes return to sports in an optimal time.