"baby wrist" tendonitis

"baby wrist" tendonitis,Abstract

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to describe the MRI findings and interesting clinical aspects of a postpartum overuse syndrome of the wrist and thumb, de Quervain's tenosynovitis, or “baby wrist.”

CONCLUSION. Mothers may experience a wrist and thumb overuse syndrome, which can be diagnosed by MRI with an increase in size and low signal intensity on both T1- and T2-weighting, in and around the first dorsal tendon sheath compartment of the wrist.

Introduction

Tennis elbow, “washerwoman's sprain” of the wrist, “oarsman's wrist,” and “golfer's hand” [1] have been described, but, to our knowledge, no descriptions to date of “baby wrist,” an overuse syndrome common in new mothers, have been offered. We review the MRI findings of baby wrist in the wrist and thumb, occurring approximately 8 months postpartum in four wrists in three patients. Repetitive low-grade trauma to the wrist and thumb is a result of prolonged carrying of large heavy babies with the wrist held in flexion and ulnar deviation and the thumb in extension. This leads to the development of de Quervain's tenosynovitis.

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