PARTIAL WRIST FUSION
This procedure is performed in those patients with arthritis that affects only part of their wrist. In most circumstances arthritis affects the whole of the wrist but in certain cases only part of the wrist is involved. It is not necessary then to fuse the whole wrist and it is possible to preserve some range of motion.
Typically this involves a cut in the back of the wrist joint and inserting some bone from the hip (bone graft) and staples (internal fixation) to hold the wrist in good position while part of the wrist joint heals together.
Recovery involves a splint for around 6 weeks and then progressive mobilisation. It is not like a normal wrist but it does allow some range of motion, which for some people is important for activities such as toileting and also their work activities.