What is the grade level of my sprain? i recently had my feet slip out from underneath me going down some wet steps and sprained my wrist/hand pretty good. its been a week and it still a bother. i would bend it and it would feel like a cramp, my range of m

There : There is now ay to assign a grade of sprain to an injury based upon the information provided. Grades typically refer to the extent of ligament injury. For example a grade one injury typically entails a stretched ligament while a grade 3 may be a complete rupture. A sprain of ligament injury can be in any joint in the hand or body that has ligaments. A sprain is an often over used word to decscirbe a negative xray after an injury but a sprain can truly mean much more. The best person to ask is the doctor who you saw and who saw your xray. If the answer is insufficient you may want ot see an orthopedic surgeon or hand surgeon. What would i do. Id get the needed informaton form the doctor i saw.

The : The wrist is a complex structure involving 15 bones coming together. There are, therefore, multiple joints between these bones and a large number of ligaments holding them all together. We still have only a very basic understanding of the mechanics of the wrist. A good hand surgeon will try to evaluate all of these structures with a careful examination and x-rays. Sometimes getting what are called "stress views" will show injuries that typical x-rays will not. Mri can be helpful, but usually with stronger magnets at 3 tesla. However, they can still miss injuries or report injuries that are not really there. They are only meaningful if they clarify the symptoms and exam findings. Thankfully, most injuries resolve with rest, but there are 2 injuries that can be missed and have significant consequences: scaphoid fractures and scapholunate ligament injuries. With any wrist injury, a re-evaluation in 10-14 days can be helpful to show injuries that were not apparent when the injury happened. I would make sure you have a follow-up appointment with your physician.