wrist cracking and soreness

[busy_body]

Hi,
I'm 27 and am a bit worried. Lately my right wrist has been giving me problems. Within the past year I've noticed that when I stretch/rotate my wrists, my right wrist cracks, somewhat similar to the cracking sound of knuckles. Furthermore, it's not just 1 crack, it's a series of about 3-5 small cracks. I never purposely cracked my wrist, it just did so on its own and my left wrist is fine (no cracking, no pain). When this first started, I was only a bit concerned, but now I am experiencing discomfort and pain/soreness in the outer wrist joint area. I even experience some heat/warmth in that area, although it doesn't appear swollen. I've never had a serious injury occur to that area, so I'm unsure of why this is occurring. I have, however, led a very active life and still do, so I can only assume that I was 'playing' too hard. Furthermore, I'm right handed, and my job requires the use of my hands, as I'm a mechanic. I try not to stretch/crack my wrist because I feel as though cracking it is only advancing the problem. I now wear a wrist brace b/c the pressure from the brace helps ease the soreness. I know I probably should see an orthopedic doctor before this gets any worse, the problem is that I don't have insurance. However, I will probably end up going to see one anyway, but I really hope it's not a lost cause, like the doc would tell me "well, i don't see anything on the X-rays". I wouldn't even know what to associate this problem with....the tendons, the bones, the muscles....because I am thinking I might need to start taking a supplement to strengthen my wrist and/or to keep it from getting worse. Any suggestions or ideas as to what is going on? Like I said, I wear the brace, but I don't want the brace to weaken my wrist muscles leading to further wrist susceptibility. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

[busy_body]

Thnx, I really appreciate the feedback.
I will set up an X-ray asap.
Again, Thnx for the response :)

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

Well you have been very informative about this.
You would need an X-ray anyways to atl east rule out fracture.
After that you can have your time to fix up an appointment with an orthopedician whenever you are comfortable.
You are doing a good thing by wearing a brace, if you are in pain take intermittent anti inflammatory drugs till then.

Take care!