When is cortisone injection recommended for TFCC tear?

The triangular fibrocartilage complex supports the little-finger side of the wrist and helps with load and rotation. A tear may cause ulnar-sided pain, clicking, reduced grip, or discomfort when turning a key or lifting. Cortisone can calm inflammation around the painful wrist structures, but it does not stitch a torn TFCC back together. The clinician considers the injury pattern, wrist stability, nerve symptoms, and other causes of wrist pain.

Describe which movements trigger pain and whether the injury involved a fall, twist, or repeated loading. The clinician may first recommend a brace, activity modification, hand therapy, and a gradual return to use. Mention blood-thinning medicines, diabetes, allergies, infection, and previous injections. If an injection is chosen, follow advice about wrist loading and use the symptom response as part of the follow-up plan rather than as proof that the tear has healed.

Seek prompt assessment after a new injury with deformity, severe swelling, inability to rotate the forearm, marked weakness, or numbness in the hand. After an injection, urgent review is needed for fever, drainage, spreading redness, or rapidly worsening wrist pain. Persistent clicking with instability or declining grip also deserves reassessment.

Ask whether the symptoms suggest an unstable tear, what protection and therapy are needed, whether the injection is diagnostic or therapeutic, and what finding would lead to a different treatment.