anyone have pro tips on wrist fracture physical therapy?

[glideronfreerides]

I broke my distal radius 7 1/2 weeks ago snowboarding.. The ortho just straightened it out and casted (no pins/plates), even thought it was in three pieces. During a cast changing 3 weeks into it, the bones moved and he had to manipulate it again.

Anyway, now the cast has been off for a week, and I have pretty good use of my hand- it's in a removable brace, so I can let it breath and work on regaining range of motion.

The thing is, my ortho only gave me some very basic rehab instructions.. just up/down, side to side, or circular motions first for ten minutes at a time daily in hot water for three days, then 1 minute out of every hour I'm awake without water.

I'm supposed to call in a week from now for further instruction, perhaps if a certain level of motion isn't achieved in this 2 week post cast period, they then assign real physical therapy... but I'm speculating. I feel like perhaps my doc isn't being as aggressive as possible with this, like almost as if he doesn't realize what is at stake here: since this is my coleman arm, I am super paranoid about the joint never really losing this stiffness, which would make it sketchy to coleman at speed, which would make 40+ mph skating rather dangerous, making my life suck.

This being the case, I am reaching out to the collective knowledge of silverfish. The lunch lady at work told me to touch my fingers to my thumb, and have my gf massage the blood down my arm to get new blood up in there.

good ideas?

[spezadams]

I tore my acl (little more serious) bombing a hill in september, had surgery over new years and i cant skate again till June. That being said, I go to physical therapy twice a week for it.

the first thing that they will have you do is range of motion exercises to get it moving again. Second, they will work on strength. If you have ankle weights, wrap them around your wrist to work the muscles a little harder and get the strenght back. NO SKATING FOR AT LEAST A MONTH OR SO!!!! (youll just f*** up you wrist when you go down for your first slide) trust me on that one.

Your Doc is right to take it slow, your wrist needs to gently ease back into working again.

I know your pain and suffering and not being able to bomb hills sucks but please wait!

[enemy combatant]

feel like perhaps my doc isn't being as aggressive as possible with this, like almost as if he doesn't realize what is at stake here: since this is my coleman arm, I am super paranoid about the joint never really losing this stiffness, which would make it sketchy to coleman at speed, which would make 40+ mph skating rather dangerous, making my life suck.

Don't be an idiot. The doctor is probably being too aggressive if you have hounded him about it. Get a clue - wrist injuries take a long time to heal and some don't heal well and are never quite the same especially really badly fvkced up ones like yours. Live with it.

[Commiesk8er]

I understand you looking for answers, but this is the wrong place to look my friend. Your best bet is to find a good physical therapist. Make lists of questions you have for them when you see them. There will be plenty of opportunities to push yourself in pt and I'm sure most physical therapists will love to see your motivation, but don't push yourself the wrong way because someone on the fish gave you some crackpot advice. People go to school for a long time to be able to comment on this stuff.

also-doctor=/=physical therapist...therefore your ortho probably wasn't too concerned with providing you with pt...hence why he/she sent you to a specialist.

[glideronfreerides]

I take everything with a grain of salt, but at the same time am always interested in hearing multiple perspectives. MD's are great resources, but I've found that often times lay people who have a particular ailment quickly become experts. It's all about compiling info, picking and choosing if something might work for me.

For instance, I wasn't told by my doctor to do the thumb-to-each-finger exercise, it was recommended by a cafeteria worker. Her husband had a similar injury. Is that going to #### up my wrist? I doubt it. I feel like it's helped get my fingers back.

but yeah, I suppose I'm just getting antsy to skate and this middling type of basic range of motion exercises are really all I should be doing for another week or so...

[glideronfreerides]

Don't be an idiot. The doctor is probably being too aggressive if you have hounded him about it. Get a clue - wrist injuries take a long time to heal

nowhere have I read that radius injuries are slow healing- on the contrary, every timetable I've read has explicitly termed the heal time to be average.

also, non unions are rare with radius fractures.

you are aware that there are multiple bones in the wrist, right?

and some don't heal well and are never quite the same especially really badly fvkced up ones like yours. Live with it.

my fracture was communited (3 pieces) but the ortho got it straight as an arrow. From everything I've read and from what my doctor tells me, my prognosis is good.

but yeah. thanks for trying to #### with my head, that's a really stand up thing to do.

[enemy combatant]

nowhere have I read that radius injuries are slow healing- on the contrary, every timetable I've read has explicitly termed the heal time to be average.

also, non unions are rare with radius fractures.

you are aware that there are multiple bones in the wrist, right?

Mine was shattered into 8 pieces about 20 years ago and it still hurts sometimes. If yours was coming along so well it wouldn't have had to be reset.

[glideronfreerides]

Mine was shattered into 8 pieces about 20 years ago and it still hurts sometimes. If yours was coming along so well it wouldn't have had to be reset.

Well given the choice between getting hardware implanted or external fixation versus having a bit of pain and trouble resetting it really quite early into the recovery, I don't consider it this outcome to be so obviously dire as imply. It wasn't THAT unstable- it's straight now, and hasn't moved in the last week without a cast. Just because it got reset does not necessarily mean that I'll be feeling this 20 years from now.


did you get treated with closed reduction/casting also, or did they put metal in you?

[enemy combatant]

did you get treated with closed reduction/casting also, or did they put metal in you?

Metal. Screws, wires, and 3 shish kabob skewers sticking out of my elbow for 3 months.

[glideronfreerides]

My Dad's a sports medicine specialist, and orthopedic surgeon, and took care of all my sports injuries until I graduated and left for university.
First thing I can tell you is this... DON'T take up some PT that you hear about online. Chances are just as good that you'll make it worse as is you'll make it better.
Second, your doctor works for you, if you want him to set you up with PT now, he will, just ask him.

PM me if you need any more help.

thanks, that's a really good point. I'll give him a call tomorrow to discuss when I can start PT. Even if the therapist just has me do the same basic exercises as I'm currently doing at home/work, it'll make me feel more proactive. That, and I like actually using my medical insurance, it's nice to get something back from all those premiums.

[glideronfreerides]

Metal. Screws, wires, and 3 shish kabob skewers sticking out of my elbow for 3 months.

well, at least you didn't have to get reset, amirite?

[Tripped]

Let me google that for you

[kenofseattle]

Dude, you HAVE to work your wrist a LOT as it's healing or it won't regain full range of motion. See what your good wrist can do? You have to get your wrecked wrist to work the same way again.

Follow the PT instructions and do them OFTEN!!! I cannot stress this enough. (Get it? Stress?) Once you learn the routine, just do it all day long. Watching TV, waiting for the bus, eating lunch, whatever.

I built a jig for my wrist that PULLED my hand backward (like when your hand's flat on the floor doing a pushup), and kept it like that for 5 minutes at a time until it finally bent back the way my good wrist does.

Thank the skods of gate I didn't break my good hand - I'm a lefty.

[TIMORNE]

I've herd chocking the chicken is good therapy

[3arcopolo]

After having ankle surgery I did alot of swimming at my local gym. It's easy on the joints and you can step it up and swim more and more aggressively over time as you build strenght back in the joint. Just think of the range of motion you use doing the doggy paddle, the freestyle, hand twirls etc. For swelling not sure if you have any I used hot and cold water treatements. I soaked my ankle in hot for one minute then cold 1 minute then hot and repeated 7-10 times a couple of times a day . Morning and Night. It gets the blood to flowing in and out of the part of the body you are treating. During the day I used a compression sock. I think they make those for the wrist. Kind of like an ace bandage except you get even compression all over the joint.

I also did a lot of stretches under water with my ankle. Standing on one foot or bending it a certain way. Basically I would find a position that felt awkard or stiff and work that motion over and over. I would use my good ankle as a guide. I would look for positions that I could'nt do with my bad ankle but could with my good ankle and work those positions. For your wrist I was thinking pushing off the wall under water or underwater push ups, sitting on the steps where you enter the pool and lifting your body while you are seated . I also did the ABC's with my toe I would trace each letter of the alphabet with my toe allowing different ranges of motion for my ankle. With your wrist maybe you can practice gang signs.

The swimming really helped me alot. I started swimming as soon as the stiches came off and when it came for starting the physical therapy I did not need any. I was way ahead of schedule in my healing and regaining the range of motion in my ankle.


Here is good video on gang signs. Just dont do them in public you might get shot.

YouTube - banging

[msk]

I feel like perhaps my doc isn't being as aggressive as possible with this, like almost as if he doesn't realize what is at stake here: since this is my coleman arm, I am super paranoid about the joint never really losing this stiffness, which would make it sketchy to coleman at speed, which would make 40+ mph skating rather dangerous, making my life suck.

According to David L. Nelson, MD:

"- You should expect your recovery to take at least a year. You will still feel some pain with vigorous activities for about that long. Some residual stiffness or ache is to be expected for two years or possibly permanently, especially for high energy injuries (such as motorcycle crashes, etc.), in patients over 50, or in patients who have some osteoarthritis. However, the good news is that the stiffness is usually minor and may not affect the overall function of the arm."

[Toki27]

I feel your pain. I broke both of my wrists back in june in a bike crash. I however did not listen to the doctor and remained very active durring the period of healing so retained a lot of my strength from before the injury. After I had the cast removed and stopped wearing the splint that smells like cat pee, I did notice a loss of percived strength as I lost the support of the cast. My wrists remained stiff until at least september and my right one seems to like to hurt a sh!t load everytime I fall on it. The only thing that got mine back to strength was using them. I started lifting weights and such, but very small amounts. So I say to you to just push it a little bit everyday and don't be afraid of the pain, it may never go away.

[MacSpeedMike]

I know your pain man. I had my 5th broken arm December 19th of last year, and this time it just happened to be 2 bones in my wrist. They gave me an L cast over my elbow for 2 months and ive had it off for about 3 weeks i think. I have my whole range of motion back which is good but absolutely no strength. I started skating again the day i got it off although ive mostly been sticking to the parking garages working on my stand ups and ####. Ive fallen a few times every session (the product of switch 180s), but i make sure not to use my left hand or fall on that side, and havent yet. I have however passed up on a couple big skate trips with my friends because they would have required me to put my broke hand down around turns. Which leads to my most important advice....

...dont put your hand in the push-up position as you would for glove slides for awhile. Ive got a month under my belt and honestly i think it will prolly take me 2 or even 3 more before i really feel comfortable putting that kind of pressure on it at high speeds. That is the easiest way to re injure your broken wrist.