Wrist and Hand

Twenty-seven bones

Your wrist and hand together have 27 bones. Eight small ones make up your wrist, and the rest are in your palm and fingers.

The most broken spot in kids

The end of your forearm, right where it meets the wrist, is one of the most common places kids break a bone. It usually happens in a fall.

Falling on an outstretched hand

When you fall, you might stick your arm out straight to catch yourself. Then your wrist takes the force. That's the most common way people break a wrist, in sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, and inline skating.

Jammed fingers

In basketball and volleyball, a ball can hit the tip of your finger and jam it. A jam can hurt the joint or tendon, or even break a bone.

Myth or fact?

• Gymnasts can get wrist pain from putting weight on their hands over and over. Fact. Gymnasts walk and jump on their hands, which puts a lot of force on the wrists and can hurt the growth plate there. Cutting back on training and building up skills slowly can help.

Wear wrist guards

For skateboarding, inline skating, and snowboarding, wrist guards help support your wrists. They lower the chance of breaking a bone if you fall.

Learn to fall

If you're losing your balance, crouch down so you don't have as far to fall. Try to land on the fleshy parts of your body instead of your arms, then relax and roll.

Myth or fact?

• Wrist guards can help prevent wrist injuries when you skate or snowboard. Fact. Wrist guards have been shown to lower how often skaters break their wrists, and to make breaks less serious when they do happen.
• Having more than one person on a trampoline at a time is totally safe. Myth. Lots of trampoline injuries happen when kids crash into each other, or when one jumper bounces another into the air. The AAP's rule is one jumper at a time.

Stop, ice, and tell an adult

If you hurt your wrist or finger, stop playing and tell an adult. Ice wrapped in a cloth can help with swelling.

Myth or fact?

• You should pull on a jammed finger to pop it back into place. Myth. Don't try to pull or straighten a hurt finger yourself. A jam can be a broken bone or a torn tendon, so keep it still and have an athletic trainer or doctor check it.
• If you can still move your fingers, your wrist can't be broken. Myth. A broken wrist isn't always obvious. Some breaks don't hurt much and feel like a sprain, so a doctor needs to check it, usually with an X-ray.