Wrist fusion | Arthritis Information

Hi, has anyone here had wrist fusion surgery -- single or

bilateral? I had a wrist fusion to my left wrist five weeks ago and

am now my right wrist is failing me. I would be interested to hear

about others' experiences with wrist fusion, what the recovery

process was like, and whether single led to bilateral. Doc said after

the op that my left wrist had had no future because it had end-stage

r/a. Am wondering whether the right one is going the same route.

Have also had various other surgeries over 20 yrs, but am not

ready to throw in my "hand'

How is your wrist fusion doing?

Sounds pretty drastic. I wouldn't do the other, but then I'm not you. But that's a lot of mobility to loose. Maybe your good wrist is just sore from over compensating for your bad hand after surgery. Give it time and be kind to yourself & get others to help you out more until your completely recovered. Feel better & let us know how it's going.

Monk

Hi , are you on RA meds? are you back on them? I'm so sorry you had to have this , it sounds painful. Lynda

Hi Appletown. First of all, Welcome!

I haven't had my wrists done, but I did have the joint where the thumb attaches to the wrist ( and gives the thumb it's dexterity), done on both hands.

The right hand was done about 3 years ago. With that one they removed the joint, (which was all but destroyed by OA) and made a cushion out of a tendon from my wrist. That repair lasted all of six months. Now I have very limited use of my right hand, and it is as if I don't even have a thumb. (me and the apes

My left hand was done by a different surgeon in April "07. This time he put in an artificial joint. In fact, he was the doctor who invented this particular replacement joint 30 years ago. The surgery went very well. But it still needs another surgery, to tighten up the tendon in the thumb so it doesn't keep trying to hyperflex. But he did say that the arthritis was very severe. He filmed the surgery and appointment prior to it, which showed how limited my use was and is going to use it in his lectures.

All in all, the replacement was the best. The doc said a lot of doctors don't use the replacement, for some reason.

It is very hard to be without your hands. My right is my dominant hand, and the use is very limited. Keeps me from being able to do many of the things I have loved so much over the years.

If I was you, I would be very cautious about having both hands operated on too close together. Make sure the first one is healed properly and you are satisfied with the results before you repeat it on the other.

Your hands are so precious. You want to maintain any use possible. Although, sometimes, the disease leaves you little choice. The pain and destruction of either type of arthritis on your hands can be devastating.

Good luck, I hope you are healing well.

Nini

What do they DO to your wrist? I'm confused...I've had my right wrist fused and while it is a lot less painful than the other I haven't been able to close my hand since having it done. I don't think you miss the actual wrist as by the time it needs fusing you can't bend it anyway.coral39307.0093981481Gosh this sounds very scarry, and limiting. Is there a possiblility that they could replace the joint instead?? Take care and be careful how much you are doing with the other wrist.

My left wrist is getting to the stage that I'm going to get a referral to an orthopedic surgeon. I don't know if it is bad enough to do yet or whether they just might do something to the thumb and leave the actual wrist alone for now. My wrist is pretty much shot, but I still have some movement (and a lot of pain). The base of the thumb is bad too. Fortunately I'm right handed and the left is is worse shape. I'm thinking I'm gonna be losing a lot of hand function in the not tooooo far distant future.

appletown, I can understand you not being ready to throw in the other hand yet. Our hands are too important.

I had both of my wrists fused in the early 90s about 2 years apart. Both wrists were bone on bone and extremely painful. I could not bend either wrist and if they accidentally got bumped they hurt so bad I practically cried. Since the fusions, I have no pain and am able to do everything I did before but without the pain. It gets to the point where you really forget the wrists a fused.

For me the fusions caused no problems, they just freed me from pain.

Marianne

Thanks Marianne:

I know what you mean about your wrist getting accidentally bumped....it feels like someone has broken it. I'm glad to hear that you can still do stuff with the fusions. I was afraid of losing all the mobility in my hand. I guess when the time comes it will be a matter of pain vs mobility and I think freedom from pain will win out.

thankyou all for your interest and comments.

yes, wrist fusion sounds scary, but it's been a relatively

successful surgery in terms of reducing or limiting the

pain of r/a, and anyone who knows that pain will

understand it's worth the tradeoff. post-op pain

has been a bother, but it's NOTHING compared to

the pre-op pain of bone on bone caused by

destruction of the synovial tissue in end-stage

r/a. i've been on sulfasalazine most of the past 20 yrs and it has

worked for me while mtx and others haven't.

yes, hands are precious, but there comes a point

when you accept surgery as almost a blessing,

and i'm sure a lot of you hv been helped by it.

wrist replacement is an option in cetain cases:

i believe that while it gives you greater flexibility

there may be a need for reoperation along the way.

thankyou for your concern!

I am having my right wrist fused in a few weeks time and then a few months later my left is going to be fused.
My wrists are a complete mess and I know what people mean when you knock them,it feels like someone has snapped them.
I am having major problems coping with all the pain my full body is in lately,the pain is getting me down.
Anyway enough of my moaning.

I am so sorry that those wrists hurt so bad the only thing to do was to fuse them.

I hope you are no more handicapped than I am with wrist braces on. I sure hope the pain completely stops when it is all healed.

They fuse the bones?? Well mine did that themselves when I was 4....... Is it really painful when they're not fused? Even so, the wrist that mine fused on, is my most painful wrist, and I have really limited ROM in it. Is there nothing else they can do?

Most orthos can fuse a joint so that it stops hurting. (There is no ROM, so the bones do not grate on each other. Pain stops.)

You need a really talented hand surgeon to repair something like that. I had my left elbow repaired by a great hand surgeon almost 7 years ago. It is wimpy but almost pain free. (He is my hero.)

spelling fix

marian39318.7167708333That's amazing. I really had no idea that this was even an option for pain relief. I suppose in a way, I might be lucky that those bones in my wirst fused. I suppose if they weren't, I might be in a LOT of pain.Yeah, I fractured my right wrist in the 7th grade, and well... I believe it has fused by itself as well. My wrist every since it being fractured does not bend. I cannot bare weight on it as it hurts to do so. I cannot even pick up a 2-liter or a gallon to pour myself a drink because my wrist does not bend and you add that with swelled, hurtin fingers not a good combo, when pouring a drink. I usually spill it all over the place. And oh good days when my fingers are mobil, I can only pour myself a drink if the bottle of whatever I want to drink is half way gone, so I can lay to bottle on it side on the counter and hold the cup/bowl under the stream of fluid and then lift it back up real quick. Sometimes it is not that quick and some runs into the sink. Hi ,

The reason I chose to have my wrists fused, rather than the joint replaced, was based on the surgeon's recommendation. Yes, I wanted to get rid of the pain but was told I was too young for wrist replacement surgery (only time I've ever been told I was too young for anything). I would be looking at too many surgeries down the road to replace the worn joints. Back in the early 90's, I don't believe the replacement joints were as good as they are today. They had an extremely limited life - less than 10yrs.

My fusions will be going on 18 years and they are serving me well. I just finished baking 3 pies (apple, peach and cherry) and putting the fixings together for baked french toast for 12.

Take Care
Marianne

My surgeon is considered one of the top in his field and the surgery has been very successful so far. I would say, do your research and find somebody who does a lot of these surgeries and has a high success rate. It makes all the difference!

I don't always think that you need to get the best doc for everything, but it really effects outcome in orthopedic surgery.

I am now recovering from 7 procedures done on my right foot.

Lynne