The Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex, TFCC for short, is located on the pinky side of the wrist and is also called the meniscus of the wrist. The TFCC is a complex of ligaments that makes the ends of the radius and ulna stable in relation to each other. The TFCC can be damaged after a fall on the wrist or due to wear and tear. Problems in the TFCC often occur when there has been a fracture of the radius and/or ulna. If the attachment of these ligaments is not repaired early on, the instability can lead to chronic symptoms. Often, however, these symptoms do not show up until a later stage.

Symptoms:

A tear in the TFCC produces the following symptoms: Pain on the little finger side of the forearm and wrist, for example when pushing up from a chair, instability, pain and loss of pinch strength and mobility of the wrist.

Diagnosis of TFCC: To determine the diagnosis, the physical therapist asks questions and performs physical examination. The diagnosis can sometimes be made using an MRI scan. But often on an MRI, the TFCC appears to be intact, even though it may have relevant tears. Therefore, we usually do an arthroscopy (keyhole surgery) of the wrist to find out if there are tears in the TFCC.

Treatment & Recovery:

Without surgery when a TFCC injury has been present for some time and there are instability symptoms of the ulna, we may first try to reduce the instability symptoms with a comprehensive hand physical therapy program. Sometimes the doctor will give you an injection of corticosteroid to reduce the irritation.If the hand physical therapy does not provide sufficient improvement, keyhole surgery is often performed initially. If we cannot repair the damaged TFCC during keyhole surgery, regular “open” surgery will follow.