Wrist Hurts... Anyone Know Why?

She needs to see a doctor. Even a medical person would not diagnose this over the phone. The doctor needs to look at it and probably will order an x-ray.

Seriously? This isn't Urgent Care.
If I was in enough pain to ask non medically trained strangers for a second hand diagnosis, I'd probably be in enough pain to go get it looked at.
Good luck!

She needs to see a doctor. A bunch of women on a website can in no way help with this.

You can't rule out broken without an x-ray.

Because it's swollen, she could have sprained it. Because it's swollen there COULD be a hairline fracture. It could be anything or nothing.

She needs to get it X-rayed to be certain. If she hasn't seen a doctor yet, which she really should have by now, tell her to go to the ER ASAP. That's the only way for her to know what the injury is since no one can see inside her hand without special equipment. I'd love to have X-ray eyes but I'm sort of trying to keep it secret from my daughters that I don't have them.

My first guess would be carpel-tunnel.
Has she been doing anything repetitive with that hand/arm?
How old is she?
Does she use a computer for a living or regularly?
Does she thumb text a lot?
Is she pregnant/holding water/etc?
Has she hit or banged it in the last few days or slept on it funny?
(At this point ALL my joints click/snap (I'm 51) but they don't hurt.)

If it feels like an injury or irritation, try icing it for the 1st 24 hrs, then heat afterward.
An ace bandage or wrist brace can immobilize it to rest up a sore tendon.
If the pain stays around for more than a few days or a week then she should see her doctor.

I've had carpel tunnel and I've had hairline fractures.
There's no confusing the two.
The pain is completely different and a fracture doesn't happen over night.

Guess what? It COULD be broken. If she has not actually had an xray, she could be really hurting herself by continuing to move it. Why do I know this? Because it happened to my husband overseas. He broke his shoulder, the idiot doctor thought it was just sprained, didn't do an xray and put him in a little sling so that he could continue his work. Just like your sister, it popped and he had BRUISES down near his elbow. Why the bruises? Because everytime he moved his shoulder, the broken bone cut into the tissues and made him bleed down into his arm. Two miserable weeks later, he went to a REAL doctor (my words...arghh!) and the first thing he did was order up an xray. A second grader could have looked at the xray and seen a broken bone. We're darn lucky that he didn't have to have surgery after that.

Tell your sister to get herself to the doctor and get that wrist xrayed. I could also tell you that my mother went through the exact same thing with her wrist, yes, her wrist, and it was broken too, but that's just overkill in my what I'm trying to say.

The doctor, the doctor, the doctor! An xray, an xray, an xray!!!

I have nerve problems in my right wrist. It flares up occationally, I never know what causes it. Ice, brace, and anti-inflammatory medications for a day or so, and see if that helps. It could be a number of things. Doesn't sounds like a big deal though.

There's something called DeQuervein's Tendinitis (sp?) or DQT that sounds like it might fit, but the bruise makes me think it's probably not it. Anyway, if you google DQT there are some diagrams about a simple test she can do at home. Basically you make a fist with your thumb *inside* your fingers (so the total opposite of what you would do when punching, where you would have your thumb outside your finger. Then you try to bend the hand in the direction of the pinky side. If it's DQT, there will be a lot of pain and limited motion with this. I had this during one of my pregnancies and it was cured with a cortisone shot.

Has she had this pain before? I know when my carpel tunnel acts up it hurts really bad in the general area. And it can get swollen. But I would definitely have her to get it checked out by a Dr. For it I have had to in the past when it was really bad wear wrist braces. And change my key board to an ergonomic keyboard. I also have had to ice it some and I wear a magnetic bracelet on that wrist. I truly can tell a difference in my wrist when I take it off for any length of time. For the swelling she can take Advil as well.

She might have hit the tendon that is in the middle of the hand since she has a bruise, or if the bruise is closer to the bone just below the forefinger, she may have injured that. I would try to get it checked out.

I once hit that bone and it H U R T! And I did have a slight bruise but not real dark.

It could be carpal tunnel syndrome. If your sister types, writes or uses a calculator or cash register a lot - the nerves in the wrist get inflamed and cause a HUGE amount of pain.

Texting will also cause the pain.

A bruise indicates broken blood vessels. So she hit something. She should probably get it checked out by a doctor, get xrays, etc.

Good luck!! Hope it's nothing serious!!