I've been told it's the most common fracture. Mine was a "straightforward" distal radius fracture (English: thumb-side forearm bone fractured just below the wrist). No operation or re-setting was necessary.
And yet after 6 weeks in plaster + 2 weeks after the plaster was removed my wrist still hurts a fair bit and I can only bend it half of it's original range. Seen specialists - they say all is good, just need time.
if anyone had a similiar fracture i'd like to hear about your experience, IN PARTICULAR, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO RECOVER TO NEAR ENOUGH TO NORMAL TO GET BACK ON THE WATER??? Did you do anything to recover faster? Did your wrist regain its original bending range AND HOW LONG DID IT TAKE?
Right or left? I'm sure one gets a workout.....you might just have to switch hands to build up your strength in the other.
........Drinking beer I mean
i "fractured" my wrist many years ago on a motorbike - before physio abundance
did light weightlifting daily and gradually increased weight over time
when measured a couple of months later, it was over 90% back
now my other wrist hurts :-) :-(
nowadays = PHYSIO !!!
can only bend it half of it's original range. Seen specialists - they say all is good, just need time.
Yep that's about right. Mine was the same, however physio will sort that out. Mine was taking longer than usual. Played football one Saturday, and wrist hit he ground and bent normal distance. man the pain was horrible. Didn't break it again, but it ensured I had full movement from then on
I fractured mine a few years ago.
Was a messy break, most of the Doc's in the public hospital were saying it would require surgery. But the head of the emergency ward looked at the x-ray and said "I think I can jerk all that back in place".
He did, set it, 6 months later could still hardly move it and was in heaps of pain after a day on the tools.
Went back and was told "Its as good as it will get"
I ended up going to a specialist in Sydney, he x-rayed it and said it had been set on a bad angle(who did this to you?) which is why I had limited movement and pain.
Long story short, he re-broke it, took some bone from my hip to extend one side of the bone to straighten it, added a plate and scews to hold it all together.
End result,,I have full movement again, but still occasional pain if I put it under heaps of pressure.
Moral of the story,,,, get a few different doctors opinions if you dont get full range of movement back or are getting pain after 6 months.
Get some physio onto it for sure, and if you dont leave the physio in a little pain they prob havent pushed hard enough
When I left the public hospital I was told no physio was nessecary then later informed more likely the hospital didnt want to be paying for such physio
get a small metal rod - handle bar diameter. Tie a brick to a sting and attatch the string to the rod. Using both hands wind the brick up on the rod and back.
Hooray for backyard physios
Thanks guys for sharing your experiences. At least now I know 2 weeks out of plaster is nothing and I need to be patient- the doctors I saw where not very forthcoming with time estimates.
"Played football one Saturday, and wrist hit he ground and bent normal distance. man the pain was horrible. Didn't break it again, but it ensured I had full movement from then on"
mineral1 - it is really good to hear it won't break if bent the full distance - I was wandering what would happen if it was forcefully bent like that. The pain must have been unbearable though - mine hurts like all hell if I try pushing it past its current range.
lotofwind - after reading your story I do feel lucky... although I'm not there yet - I guess I'll wait and see.
Don't worry about 2 weeks out of plaster it can take time. 6 weeks in plaster, 5 months on crutches and a few more in a moonboot and am only just getting to the point where I can play running sports for a full 80min over 14 months later. Been windsurfing since October but still no real jumping. Make sure you try do physio it's not just about getting it good to use again tomorrow but keeping it good to use for years of windsurfing still to come.
Getting a physio that knows about surfing or windsurfing is great as well. I got back into windsurfing stronger, fitter and healthier than before the injury and my sailing has improved as a result, good perk for all the money physio every week or 2 cost at the time.