Hand & Wrist specialists, Dr Gregg Podleski treats all conditions of the hand and wrist, from the simplest to the most complex in adults throughout the DFW area.

Dr Gregg Podleski provides comprehensive care to adults in the DFW area. Dr Gregg Podleski is a fellowship-trained specialists, and board-certified or eligible. We welcome all patients from injured workers, athletes, and the elderly.

Dr Podleski's facilities are conveniently located throughout the DFW area.

Hand & Wrist

Conditions We Treat

Arthritis: Chronic pain, swelling, and stiffness in your joints often means that you have arthritis. This disease can be particularly troublesome when it affects your hand, fingers, or wrist, as it can limit your ability to do the things you do on a daily basis.

Baseball (Mallet) Finger: This injury to the outermost joint of the finger is very common among baseball and basketball players. Pain, swelling, and trouble extending the finger are all symptoms of this injury to the tendon.

Boutonniere Deformity: An injury to the tendons that straighten the middle joint of your finger can make you finger bend—and make it impossible to straighten. This is usually the result of a blow to the hand or an accident.

Boxer's Knuckle: A direct blow to the knuckle—usually at the base of the middle finger—can cause a tear in the tendon that straightens the finger. The knuckle becomes weak and painful. The injury gets its name from its frequency among boxers and martial arts fighters.

Brachial Plexus Injury (Erb's Palsey): The nerves that send signals from your spine to your shoulder, arm, and hand are known as the brachial plexus. When these nerves are compressed or stretched to the breaking point, you may feel a burning sensation in your arm—or a sharp pain, like a lightning bolt, at the moment of impact. This may be followed by numbness or weakness in the injured arm.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: If you feel numbness or tingling in your hand and arm, you may have the pinched nerve in your wrist that doctors call carpal tunnel syndrome. Repetitive motion causes this injury—which is was assembly line workers, people who work at a computer all day, and people in many other professions develop this disorder. Early treatment with pain killers, a wrist splint, and cortisone injections can help you avoid surgery.

DeQuervain Syndrome (Washerwoman's Sprain, Gamer's Thumb): It's not clinically proven that too much gaming or thumb-typing causes this painful condition, but DeQuervain Syndrome still gets one of its nicknames from video game enthusiasts. The pain begins in the thumb and travels down through the wrist. You may have trouble gripping things with the affected hand, and your wrist may be swollen on the thumb side.

Dupuytren's Contracture: Over the course of several years, this hand deformity pulls the pinky and ring finger toward the palm in a permanently curled position. You may feel a tough lump in the palm of your hand, and cords of tissue extending up the afflicted fingers.

Flexor Tendon Injuries (Jersey Finger): When a deep cut on the palm side of your hand damages the tendons that control your hand's movement, you have a flexor tendon injury. This condition makes it impossible to bend your fingers toward your palm.

Fractures: All broken bones are known as fractures. At UR Medicine Hand and Wrist Services, we can diagnose and treat any kind of fracture in the wrist or hand, and we are ready to work with you on recovery and rehabilitation.

Ganglion Cyst: These round or oval lumps may form on the tendons or joints of your wrist. They are non-cancerous and filled with a jelly-like fluid, and they may be painful if they press on a nerve. These often go away without treatment. Talk to your doctor about the treatment options and what will be best for you.

Kienböcks Disease (Avascular Necrosis of the Lunate or Lunatomalacia): An interruption of blood flow to a small bone in the wrist called the lunate can cause this bone to die. The symptom to watch for is pain and stiffness in the wrist.

Ligament Injuries: A sprain is an injury to a ligament, one of the strong bands of tissue that connect one bone to the next. It's very common to sprain a wrist, an injury that may stretch or partially tear a ligament. In a severe sprain, the ligament is torn clean through—and it may take a small bone chip (an avulsion) with it.

Nailbed Injuries: If you hit or jam your finger in an accident, the nail may separate from the nailbed. It can take six months for a new nail to grow back in its place. A doctor can help you detach the remaining nail and protect the nailbed from infection.

Radial Tunnel Syndrome: The radial nerve runs from the side of the neck to the hand, passing through a tunnel in the elbow. When the nerve gets squeezed at the elbow joint, it can be very painful. This squeezing can come from repetitive pushing and pulling, bending the wrist, pinching, and gripping—all motions that are common in everyday life.

Raynaud's Phenomenon: If your fingers turn pale, then blue, then red when they are exposed to cold temperatures, you may have this unusual condition. While the cause of Raynaud's Phenomenon is not known, some treatments (including medications and protection of the hands) have been found to protect the fingers and toes from this spasm of the blood vessels.

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome: Also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, this rare condition involves the sympathetic nervous system affects involuntary functions throughout the body. Patients have chronic, severe pain in an arm, fingers, palm, shoulder, or a leg or knee. The painful area may be swollen or inflamed, sensitive to hot and cold, and warm to the touch. The cause of this syndrome is not known, though it may come from a nerve injury, trauma, cardiovascular disease, or radiation therapy.

Repetitive Motion (Stress) Injury: People who perform the same motion over and over can injure muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves in the hand, wrist, foot, or ankle. This kind of injury can happen with athletes who play tennis, baseball or golf, but it's also common in long-distance runners.

Rheumatoid Arthritis: This form of arthritis is an autoimmune disorder—your immune system mistakenly attacks your body instead of fighting off infection. Rheumatoid arthritis affects the lining of the joints, causing pain and swelling and, eventually, bone erosion and deformity. It begins in the joints of your hands and feet, and it sometimes affects other organs like your eyes, skin, and lungs. Treatment can help slow the joint damage and help you manage the pain.

Skier's Thumb: This injury accounts for as many as 10 percent of all skiing accidents, because skiers fall on an outstretched hand holding a ski pole. The result is a painful tear of the ligament that connects the bones of the thumb. Ice and immobilization can help, but a full rupture requires a surgical repair.

Tendinitis: Any one of a wide range of activities can affect your tendons, either through repetitive motion or a sudden injury. Anyone can be affected, but tendinitis is more common in people over 40 because tendons become less elastic and tolerant of stress as we get older. Localized pain and restricted motion are the most common symptoms.

Trigger Finger: If one of your fingers or your thumb gets stuck in a bent position and you feel a popping or clicking when you try to straighten it, you may have trigger finger. This most often develops in the hand you use most. Your finger may be stiffer in the morning, and you may get a bump at the base of the finger.

Hand & Wrist Treatments

Arthroscopy: Using small incisions and a tiny camera, our wrist surgeons can stabilize a wrist fracture, repair torn ligaments, remove bits of cartilage that may be preventing your wrist from moving freely, or repair torn cartilage. This minimally invasive procedure can shorten your recovery time, putting you back on the field faster than major surgery.

Cyst or Tumor Excision: In this outpatient procedure, the doctor makes an incision and removes the ganglion cyst and its root—a part of the joint capsule or tendon. Your doctor may recommend this surgery if the cyst does not shrink after use of a wrist brace or drainage (aspiration) of the fluid inside of it. In the case of a tumor, the entire mass is removed to guard against any risk of the growth becoming cancerous.

Dupytren's Contracture Release Surgery: A surgeon can divide or remove the bands of thickened tissue to restore some motion in the affected finger. Physical therapy after surgery can help you regain strength in your hand.

Endoscopic Carpal Tunnel Surgery: If you have had nonsurgical treatment and you still have a lot of pain in your hand, your doctor may recommend this surgery. The surgeon makes one or two small incisions and inserts a flexible tube with a camera on the end. He or she uses this camera to see inside the wrist, and inserts tiny tools through the tube to cut the transverse carpal ligament, releasing pressure on the median nerve. This relieves the pain caused by carpal tunnel syndrome. Most patients go home on the same day, and you can begin physical therapy in a day or so. If the surgery is on your dominant hand—the one you use for most tasks—your recovery may take 4 weeks or more.

Fracture Fixation: Using plates, nails, rods, wires, and screws to hold broken bones together and keep them in place, surgeons can help patients return to their normal activities more quickly than they could with a cast or splint. The surgical procedure reduces the risk of infection, allows patients to go home sooner, and reduces the possibility of a break healing improperly.

Joint Alignment: When a break in the bone pushes the wrist out of line with the arm, it may take more than a cast to keep it in the right position for proper healing. A surgeon can insert a plate, screws, wires, nails, or rods to hold the bone in place while it heals. In some cases, a device called an external fixator may be used on the outside of your arm to hold the bone in the correct place.

Microsurgery: Performing surgery under a microscope allows our surgeons to reconnect tiny blood vessels and nerves—skills that are very important when we need to reattach a severed finger or thumb. This special surgery also comes into play in traumatic injuries, when repairing a nerve or blood vessel can help to restore function in a badly injured hand.

Peripheral Nerve Surgery: When trauma damages the nerves in your wrists and hands and nonsurgical treatments have not helped, our surgeons can repair the nerves and give you back the use of your hands. Your surgeon will discuss the specific surgery with you and the chances for success, to help you decide if this procedure is right for you.

Radial Nerve Release Surgeries: When the nerve that allows you to extend your fingers becomes entrapped or injured, surgery may be needed if other kinds of therapy don't correct the problem. Surgery relieves the pressure on the nerve, allowing it to function normally again. You may wear a splint or a brace after the surgery while the nerve heals, and you will see a physical therapist to help you regain the strength and motion in the affected arm.

Tendon Repairs: Depending on the extent of your injury, our surgeons can either use a minimally invasive arthroscopic procedure to repair the damaged tendon in your wrist, or make a larger incision to repair a broader area. After surgery, you will wear a brace or cast for six to twelve weeks.

Tendon Transfer: When any of the three nerves in the hand—radial, median, and ulnar—are damaged or destroyed, you can lose feeling and function in your hand. This can make activities of daily living impossible for you. In some cases, our surgeons can transfer a healthy tendon to the paralyzed area, restoring your hand's ability to perform basic functions—and vastly improving your quality of life.

Tenosynovectomy: Overuse of a joint in the hand or wrist, infection, or injury may case the lining of the tendon sheath—the covering that protects the tendon—to become inflamed and painful. An experienced surgeon can release this tightened sheath and remove this inflamed material, reducing the risk that the tendon could rupture and cause more serious damage.

Trigger Finger Release Surgery: Many cases of trigger finger respond to steroid injections, but some require surgery to release the tendon. This outpatient procedure is performed using a local anesthetic, and the surgeon will wrap the finger in a bandage to allow it to heal before you begin to use it again.

Ulnar Nerve Release Surgery: The nerve that controls the forearm and hand muscles is critical to the sense of touch from our fingertips to just before the elbow. Damage to this sensitive nerve can be very painful, and it can restrict the movement of the thumb and cause weakness in the hand. When all other corrective measures have been tried, surgery can repair damage to the ulnar nerve; if a tumor is pressing on the nerve, removing it can relieve pain and restore feeling.

Wrist Fusion: When treatments for arthritis in your wrist no longer control the pain, your doctor may recommend this procedure. The wrist has as many as 12 joints that allow it to bend and flex, and each of these can become arthritic—so the pain may come from several different bones rubbing against each other. Fusing the bones together—making them grow together into one bone—makes them stop rubbing, so the pain is gone. There are some trade-offs, but you may feel these are worthwhile: Your wrist will no longer bend after the surgery, but you will get your grip back and regain strength in your hand. 

Hand Rehabilitation

A Program for Every Injury

Whether you are recovering from surgery or you have a work injury that limits the use of your hands, our Hand and Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Program can help you regain your range of motion.

Working directly with you, our physicians at TREND Healthcare Orthopedic & Sports Medicine and with doctors throughout the community, our Hand and Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Team can address the issues created by repetitive motion, work injuries, auto related injuries, and chronic pain disorders.

Our services go well beyond physical therapy and pain relief. Our team collaborates with your family, your insurance company, and even your employer to change your environment and your lifestyle to free you from pain in your hands and arms.

Find out more about our Specialty Programs for people in professions that generate hand and arm injuries.

We provide you with feedback you can use, in progress notes, written evaluations, and discharge summaries that help you maintain good habits to protect your hands.

We begin with a full patient evaluation to understand your injury or condition, and the factors in your environment that may contribute to your pain. With this information, we develop a therapy and care plan that may include any of the following:

• Dexterity Training
• Edema (Swelling) Management
• Functional Capacity Evaluation
• Individualized Therapeutic Exercises
• Injury Management and Prevention
• Joint Protection Education
• Onsite Ergonomic Evaluation
• Orthotic Fabrication and Training
• Pain Control
• Prosthetic Training
• Scar Management
• Sensibility Re-education
• Strengthening
• Training in Activities of Daily Living
• Work Conditioning/Job Simulation 

Shoulder Pain?
We treat every kind of shoulder and elbow problem, from sports injuries to osteoarthritis. Schedule an appointment today.

As one of the body's more unique joints, the shoulder and any related ailments can present a wide range of challenging and complex injuries and conditions requiring great knowledge and skill to treat. Dr Gregg Podleski is a shoulder specialists that has additional training and education in diagnosing and treating many injuries and conditions affecting any part of the shoulder and have vast experience in determining the best course of treatment for each patient.

Dr Gregg Podleski is dedicated to providing patients with the specialized elbow care they need to get back to an active, healthy life. Our team of elbow specialists are equipped with the latest advancements in technology, surgeries, and techniques for elbow treatments.

Shoulder & Elbow Replacement
We have a wide range of treatment options for shoulder and elbow replacement.

Shoulder & Elbow Treatments
Dr Gregg Podleski will work closely with you to decide which treatment options are right for you.

About Shoulder & Elbow Orthopedic Care

If you're going about your daily activities and a sudden twist or pull causes a sharp pain in your shoulder, it's time to call Dr Gregg Podleski. Stiffness, pain, a limited range of motion, and weakness in your shoulder are all signs of an injury that requires medical attention—and the sooner the better.

Dr Gregg Podleski will see every kind of shoulder and elbow problem, from sports injuries to osteoarthritis. Most of these issues can be treated with minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery, using small incisions and a tiny camera to find the source of the problem and repair it quickly. When arthritis or multiple injuries require more complex surgery, Dr Gregg Podleski puts his decades of experience to work, performing everything from tendon transfers to full shoulder joint replacements.