wrist popping and pain

[Yeti]

Something's up with my left wrist, and I'm curious if anyone has any ideas.

Some time ago (don't remember when), my left wrist started to pop and demonstrate what I'd consider to be laxity. Pullups made it pop and seemingly extend a few mm, causing not so much pain as discomfort. Two winters ago, I injured my left wrist in a bad landing on skis (well, actually on my palm/back/neck). Within 8 months or so, everything was back in order. Last season, a few falls on my left hand coupled with a bit of idiotic weightlifting brought it back. By midwinter, I basically wasn't using my left wrist for very much -- pulling a door open or carrying a gallon of water in my left hand made the wrist pop, grind, and hurt a fair bit. Pain was on the top outside of the wrist. Putting pressure with my right hand on the back of my left wrist produced the same popping and extension. Again, though it was a bit painful, the bigger issue was that it "felt wrong". I developed ways to get around this limitation -- e.g. carrying stuff on my left forearm instead of in my left hand. Injuries happen.

Ten days ago, while camping, I got out of the tent in the darkness to take a look around. When I noticed a flashlight and loud voices coming my way, I remembered my nudity and dove back into the tent -- in the process landing on my left wrist. This time it hurt popped much harder than before, and felt a bit warm and "wet". In the morning, I was amazed to find that my range of motion is now much better in the wrist -- no pain on flexion/extension and much less popping and somewhat less laxity.

Any ideas as to what happened? A persistent dislocation of a wrist bone that my dive restored? A ligamentous displacement that was fixed by my dive?

[Vinman]

I'm guessing the original injury was probably a tear to either the scapho-lunate ligament or the triangular fibrocartiage complex(TFCC). Both will cause popping and or grinding sensations, loss of grip strength and pain in the general location you describe.

The TFCC is located between the radius and ulna at the distal end and extends under the ulna. The scapholunate ligament is next to it but close to the thumb (lateral) side.

If you had a TFCC tear, it would be kind of like having a meniscus tear in the knee, (TFCC and meniscus are both made of fibrocartilage), and the nudie view aviodance dive may have caused the TFCC to kind of shift and maybe reduced a little flap tear that was causing the poping, maybe

[Yeti]

Vinman's the mang, as usual. Thanks for the info. I find my vocabulary lacking when it comes to joint injuries, so I appreciate the TFCC tip as a springboard. I've looked into TFCC injuries, and my situation seems very much in line with what I've read.

It's great not only to regain range of motion, but to know what's happening on the inside! Still a bit mysterious how the dive could blast off a flap tear, but I'm not complaining.