The wrist is a complex of multiple joints that are required to function as the flexible link between the hand and the forearm.  Wrist complaints are often the result of direct trauma, falls, overuse, and arthritides.

When assessing the wrist, it is important to understand whether the complaint is one of pain, stiffness, looseness, crepitus (grinding), trauma, overuse, entrapment of the nerves as the travel from the neck down the arm, or a combination of complaints.

Forearm pain and wrist pain are often concomitant complaints because the muscles that control the wrist arise from an attachment near or at the elbow.

It is important to have wrist pain properly examined so that the cause of the pain may be properly addressed and treated