How long to wear a wrist brace for tendonitis

What is Tendonitis, and how can it make your life unmanageable?

Tendonitis is a condition in which the tissues which connect the muscles to the joint get inflamed, causing a sharp pain while performing certain activities. It comes under Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI). The statistical data of Canada shows that there were 10,211 cases of RSI injuries reported in 2022 - a major jump of 2.5% since 2021. In wrists, the tendons are the tissues which are a bridge between muscles and bones. If the tendons face severe strain due to certain repetitive activities like typing, gardening, playing tennis, video games, etc., they get inflamed and cause shooting pain when the same muscle group is being used. This condition is termed as wrist tendonitis. 

In today’s day and age, when digital mediums require us to type on our laptops for survival, the cases of wrist tendonitis have increased significantly. Kids have also started to develop this condition due to playing video games for longer hours. 

To treat this condition, your healthcare provider will prescribe you a wrist brace to wear for a certain number of days. The duration for which the wrist brace needs to be worn depends on the severity of the damage occurred to the tissues, and the individual suffering from it. 

Now, firstly let us understand how choosing a good wrist brace like Sporlastic’s will heal you. 

How does a wrist brace actually work? 

A wrist brace heals your damaged tissues through two of its functionalities: 

Joint Immobilizer: A high quality wrist brace will help in the immobilization of the joint, thereby, avoiding any further strain to the inflamed tendons through any small, often sub-conscious movements.

Maintenance of Neutral Position: Due to the immobilization property of a wrist brace, your wrist remains in a straight and neutral position. This reduces the pressure on the tendons, thereby, triggering quick healing. 

How A Wrist Brace Should Be Used For Effective Healing:

A wrist brace is a tool which can be highly effective in your healing journey when used in accordance with the right situations. Let’s take a look at different scenarios, and how the brace should be used in those. 

The Shooting Pain Stage: During the initial stage of your injury when the pain is strikingly severe, a brace should be worn immediately upon diagnosis. It’ll remove any pressure or strain from the damaged tendons, reducing the inflammation. In this stage, your healthcare provider might ask you to wear it from 1 to 2 weeks.

The brace should only be removed for stretching the muscles (if recommended by your doctor), and for cleaning to avoid the chances of an infection building up.

Regular Daytime Activities: Once your muscles have started to recover, and the pain subsides, it is still advisable to wear the brace during certain activities which can put strain on the affected muscle group to prevent re-injury.

Overnight Protection: Until all of your symptoms vanish away, you’re supposed to wear the brace overnight. Since, naturally we curl up our wrists while sleeping, the tendons might get compressed leading to morning stiffness in the wrist. A high quality brace will keep your wrist in an optimal straight position throughout the night. This will promote quicker healing as you sleep. 

It is crucial to follow the advice of your healthcare provider as they will guide you better depending on the severity of your condition.