Suspected ganglion cyst in 17-year-old daughter's right wrist

November 11, 2008 at 08:15 AM ·

Sympathies to your daughter, afraid I can't help on the medical side though it sounds like you are doing all the right things for her and she is lucky to have such supportive parents.

For what it is worth, my violin teacher absolutely forbade me to do tennis at high school, for the reason she had experienced too many pupils with wrist problems after playing the game...

November 11, 2008 at 01:15 PM ·

My daughter has a problem with a ganglion cyst in her left wrist. Like your daughter, her cyst is very small and not visible from the outside, although her doctor says those are the most painful. She doesn't play tennis, but the cyst has been badly exacerbated a few times by sudden trauma. Example: a heavy door is closing and she reaches out to stop it with a bent wrist. The first few times this happened she was given a cortisone injection by the hand surgeon (an expert in our area who deals with musicians). The injection made her pain-free within hours and she was able to continue playing. This might be a good stop-gap for your daughter with her auditions coming up soon. But the wrist can only sustain a few of these injections. After that the options are surgery or management. We want to avoid surgery so my daughter has been concentrating on management. FWIW, we have spoken to many, many professional violinists and other string players who deal with ganglion wrist cysts. It's a nuisance and stressful, but not the end of the world.

By the way, my daughter's doctor says that some people, particularly around the teen years, are prone to cysts. His own son, not a musician but a tennis player, had a lot of trouble with ganglion wrist cysts. Although your daughter's teacher finds no fault with her position, it might be worthwhile, if this issue is going to plague her, to look further into the amount of tension in her playing. My daughter has a new teacher who is concentrating a lot on subtle changes to her position and technique that will reduce tension in her playing overall (and she has never looked to the eye like a tense player, quite the opposite.) It seems to be helping, as she plays a lot and has not had a wrist episode since last spring.

Good luck to your daughter.

November 13, 2008 at 01:34 AM ·

If she can make it through her auditions, fine. But after that, I would have it removed.

I was plagued with a large one in my wrist for almost a year, before having it fixed.

Should have done it sooner. It was a simple operation. Good as new in about three

weeks.

November 13, 2008 at 03:59 AM ·

Hi,

Unfortunately, to truly deal with a ganglion cyst you must remove it.  Draining it will only work temporarily.  You must remove the pocket in which the fluid accumulates.  Luckily, it isn't really a terrible procedure and the healing time should be minimal.

All the best,

Lisa

November 13, 2008 at 08:05 PM ·

I had one on the side of my knee - surgically removed.  All is well now.  At the time a friend commented that the old time solution was to smash it with the family Bible.  Wouldn't reccommend that approach though.

December 21, 2008 at 05:05 PM ·

I had a ganglion cyst on my right wrist.  Despite it's large size, it didn't cause me pain, though a little stiffness.

At the time, I was on the road with a theater production and threw out my back.  I went to different chiropractors in each city, and finally tried an acupuncturist. He put in about a dozen needles that caused absolutely no pain.

After a couple of treatments, my back got much better.  And, surprisingly, my ganglion cyst disappeared and has never returned.

Have no explanation for this, but maybe acupuncture is worth a try. 

March 15, 2009 at 07:05 AM ·

I just had a ganglion removed from my left wrist a couple of months ago. Best decision I've made. I'm now able to practice as much as I want without being held back because of pain in my wrist.

Julie

March 18, 2009 at 02:18 PM ·

i had the same problem and still have to deal with it. mine turned out to be tendonitis. in my case, the cyst was created by an excess of tendon fluid that leaked from where it should have been.

what the other respondents said were correct in saying the best thing you can do if it's a big cyst is to have it removed by a hand and wrist doctor qualified to remove it by needle. but because you're removing something so big from such a small space (the hand/wrist), it's imperative to go to physical therapy right afterward to make sure the tissue/muscles stay healthy and don't have an adverse reaction to the cyst removal.

even after phys. therapy is done, continue to do the exercises regularly, otherwise you will have a problem again - maybe in the same place, maybe in another place. i've taken naproxen for de-swelling the affected areas, as well as steroid injections to the area. it's an ongoing problem that physical therapy only really helps - they typically offer exercises you can do, as well as ultrasound and massage therapy.

March 18, 2009 at 03:21 PM ·

Get it taken out, end of problem. True story: My Mother, a nurse, had a ganglion cyst on her wrist. One day a doctor at the hospital said he would fix it and asked for a bible. Did he pray over it? Heck no, he wacked it hard with the bible. A short moment of pain and then no more cyst. My Mother said it never returned after that "surgery." She was also a professional pianist in a silent movie theater. Not that I recommend that "cure," but they can be eliminated.

March 18, 2009 at 10:09 PM ·

Years ago, I had a ganglion cyst in my right wrist that caused intermittent discomfort. At the same time, I was dealing with a painful upper back injury.

Eventually, I received acupuncture treatment for my back.  After months of struggling with chiropractors and massage therapists, the acupuncture had a dramatic positive impact.  Within weeks, the pain disappeared.  At the same time, my ganglion cyst disappeared and has never returned.

I don't know why it worked, but you could consult with an acupuncturist.

Best wishes,

Jason

March 19, 2009 at 04:55 AM ·

I also had tendonitis on my right wrist few years back (not from playing violin). Doctor gave me steroid injections and asked me to stabilize my hand until it heals and it's just something impossible to do for a right handed person. Although the injection temporarily relief the pain, but never quite healed it.

After getting back home from overseas (was studying abroad), I went to see an acupuncturist, after few treatments and some electrotherapy on my right hand (is that the right word here?), of course and some rest. It's mostly cured now, but the important thing is not to overuse wrist again...

Guess sometimes acupuncture really does help.

March 22, 2009 at 01:22 AM ·

 I had one when I was six years old and my parents are pretty anti doctors/medicine so we've always gone to a 'natural' doctor.  He told us to soak flannel in in castor oil and put the soaked flannel on my my wrist, then cover it with plastic wrap, and then the heating pad turned to 'medium'.  We did this for two weeks, thirty minutes a day and it went away and never came back.  My mom avoided having surgery to remove cysts on her ovaries after doing the same treatment.  Castor oil is an amazing natural medicine, I don't know why more doctors don't use it for more things.