Here's the deal, swelling is there becauses a collection of fluid within a joint or area of soft tissue. It is a result of the initial bleeding caused by the trauma of injury, as well as an inflow of fluid in the area as a result of the inflammatory response of the body.
It is a necessary component of inflammation, the first stage of tissue healing. Unfortunately, our bodies tend to produce much more than what is really needed. Controlling the initial inflammatory response and the amount of fluid accumulation following injury is the key to starting your recovery correct.
A swollen joint can also be an indicator of the severity of an injury, and whether or not you may need to seek medical attention in your case because you play it needs to be, that is needs to be checked out.
It can generally be classified as either edema, or effusion. Edema is the general term for fluid collection that occurs outside of a joint. For instance, a bruise is generally considered edema, as it is outside of the joint. Effusion refers to fluid collection within a joint. In most cases, in order to cause an effusion, there has to be some type of trauma to structures located within the joint space.
The most effective treatment is compression. Using an elastic wrap to compress the swollen area helps to limit the amount of fluid collection. This, along with ice, rest, and elevation are the keys to treatment, often referred to as RICE.
As ice and anti-inflammatory drugs are your own ways to reduce and control the swelling. Once the swelling has gone down the real work starts. If there is no bruising i may start to show at this point (there may be none at all...that's a good sign) then remedies like Arica in tablet form and in cream can be used to help break down any solidifying fluid inside the injury. Any swelling when it goes down leave behind residue fluid which will solidify and become part of the injury, Arnica cream rubbed in to the area helps break this down and the tablets help back this up. The gentle action of the rubbing and the subtle movement of all the planes of the joint will help in this breakdown.
Then you have to build the strength back up to where it was before the injury without it breaking down, for me two weeks is no where near enough more like two months, but that's your call, your wrist...
here is a link about Arnica
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/health/com...2011-1,00.html
