Wrist very stiff 3months after surgery
Posted , 21 users are following.
Hi,
Wanted to please hear from others who have had a distal radius fracture and surgery with a plate inserted.
Three months ago i fell and shattered my wrist.
Had surgery on the 8/7/2016 and 2 weeks later cast came off and about 10 days later started therapy.
However, my therapist told me that my hand isn't good..can hardly bend my wrist up or down or twist it. It's very stiff. My fingers still hurt but I can make a fist now.
What I noticed also 3 weeks ago is that my elbow is becoming stiff again ..not to mention my shoulder..also limited movement. I told my therapist and when he touches the area around my shoulder it's is so painful.
Has anyone experienced this also?
How much therapy did you do also at home for those that had stiffness and now their hand is relatively ok?
Has anyone gone to an orthopedic doctor for a second advice following their surgery (besides the surgeon who performed the surgery)?
Thanks
3 likes, 82 replies
louise75296 collie12
Posted
Hi my daughter had a bad fall at school 25th feb this year , and ended up with a right distal radius fracture she had kwiring iin she was in pot until beginning of april & started physio 2days later she was having weekly physio & doing exercises at home, nearly 8mnth later and she has still not got full movement can not bend her wrist or turn it properly shes had mri & today been back for more xrays i feel like where been fobbed off and if i dont get better answers next week will be insisting we see someone else
collie12 louise75296
Posted
I also need to do CT. Is her shoulder and elbow fine or are they also stiff?
Does she also do therapy at home?
My therapist claims that the situation with my hand isn't a result of how much therapy i do or don't. He claims that my situation is coz of the surgery..don't know if that is true.
Hope your daughter gets better soon.
louise75296 collie12
Posted
Her shoulder and elbow fine , its her wrist she has trouble with she does exercise on the hour every hour her muscle in hand seems to b fading away because she can't use it . Shes down at the minute everything seems hard work and doesnt seem to be getting better
vicky87059 louise75296
Posted
Hi Louise. Sorry to hear about your poor daughter. Does she still get pain when she tries to move her hand back and forth and turning it? it can take up to a year in told for mobility to return but your daughter is so young and children usually get mobility back very soon after coming out of POP. I'm depressed about my wrist not moving and still
Painful after 5 months I'm sure it must be getting her down a lot as well. Hope you find some answers from the MRI. When do you get the results? Fingers crossed we all get back to some mobility in the future
eva96035 collie12
Posted
collie12,
Hi my name is Eva and I haven't had surgery, but I have been told by first doctor that I went to that I had Intra-Articular Distal Radius Fracture from having a fall at work back on June 30, I had went for x-rays on July 1st and they were trying to get in touch with Ortho Hand Specialist and no one was in since it was July 4th holiday weekend. I got in with Hand Specialist on July 12 he said wasn't fracture but fall had caused Arthritic Episode had Cortisone Injection on July 26 and from there things have went down hill. This has never felt like just Arthritis, I had been diagnosed with OsteoArthritis a year before and it does hurt but this was a different kind of hurt and I had been told by a total of 5 doctors that it was fractured. I started having pain initially in thumb region in meaty part of hand at base of thumb and slightly in wrist, then all of a sudden it has went across my wrist toward the ulna side and started going up my arm, hand specialist told me next that he suspected Carpel Tunnel Syndrome I was sent for MRI and it showed no changes since MRI the year before and so I was then sent for EMG Nerve Conduction Study, Carpel Tunnel was ruled out but said I had nerve damage to nerve around elbow in the Cubital Tunnel area so now he say's that I have Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, the pain has moved on up the arm into the shoulder area and my whole arm has felt like someone has took it off and tried to beat someone with it the pain radiated into my shoulder blade and up the side of my neck. I have appointment with second opinion Doctor but it's not till November 9th . I haven't had any surgery though, and the doctor I have been seeing I wouldn't let touch me especially with a scaple. I have been outta work everyday this week due to pain in my hand/wrist/arm. I called the Doctor office and tried to see if I could walk in and see him because I had such swelling and that made the pain even worse and because I have been having pain in my shoulder he wouldn't see me because it's workers comp and he said that he couldn't see me for my shoulder hurting. I explained to his nurse that I had went to the ER to get my shoulder seen about last Wednesday and that I wanted to see him because I had pain in my hand and swelling and the swelling was present in hand and going up arm. I told her that I hadn't went to work due to the pain and swelling and she said that doctor wouldn't see me because of the pain in shoulder and that he had told me he would see me with the pain around the elbow but he wants to do surgery on my elbow and move the nerve to the front of my arm to take care of the nerve pain, he had told me that last appt but He seemingly has forgotten about what I started seeing him for in the first place, he wanted me to use my insurance because this didn't have anything to do with my hand and I told him that nothing was hurting until I fell, so the way I see it this fall I had at work has everything in the world to do with the pain in my hand/wrist/arm/shoulder. I also ask if he would at least write me a work excuse since I had been out due to pain and swelling in my hand and she said he couldn't write me outta work either, that he had already gave me several notes for work and I told her No Ma'am he did not he had gave me 1 excuse to be outta work the whole time I have been going to him and she said I'm pretty sure he gave you more than one that last time you were in here and I told her again no Ma'am he did not He gave me an excuse to be outta work that day that he saw me and she said well you had 2 excuses what was the other one for and I told her the same thing it always was for No use with left arm while at work until further notice. I can guarantee after I go for my second opinion I will not be going back to this doctor I have been seeing. I told her nevermind if I need to see a doctor I will go through the Emergency Room. That's the kind of treatment that I get just because I got hurt at work and this has been a neverending story.
If I were you I would get a second opinion about what is going on with you because it sounds like something definitely is wrong. That's why I'm getting mine. I tried to switch doctors in the beginning but they wouldn't let me they said I had to see this doctor at present time and if I had went to another doctor I feel like I would have been on my way to recovery instead of the palm of my hand feeling like it's been beat or continuously slammed in a door and the rest of the pain I have been enduring. Please keep me updated in what you find out because I'm not even on my way and no telling how long it will be before I get underway to recovery and I wish you all the best of luck and God Bless You and I hope things begin to look up for you very soon, your in my prayers...
louise75296 eva96035
Posted
Blimey its not just my daughter then thats getting messed about, i'm having to do buttons up , tye her hair up spray deodrant under her right arm because she can't get correct angle to do it, its getting her down its not nice to feel like this shes only 12yrs old x
collie12 eva96035
Posted
Eva, sounds like you definitely need to switch doctors. Hope you can do it soon. Can't you go to a private doctor?
I will keep you updated.
collie12 louise75296
Posted
I know what she is going through..and it sucks extra coz she is so young. I also can't tie my bra or wear pants with buttons. When I brush my teeth I need a cup to rinse it out whereas before i could use my hands to fill them with water to rinse my mouth out..i can't turn my wrist.
Seems like what my therapist said could be correct..that my lack of progress is probably due to the surgery and not to how much therapy i have been doing...i go 4 times a week and also do it at home.
I am worried coz in addition to my hand my elbow and shoulders are very stiff.
louise75296 collie12
Posted
I wish i could afford a private doctor i'm a single mum of a 12yr old & 3yr old. So not working the min, i can't see anyone wanting to employ me the amount of appointments i'd need time off for shes only 12 so got to attend them with her
louise75296 collie12
Posted
But no one thinks to tell you all the risks in full or how long recovery will take etc etc , i was told she would have kwiring out a few months of physio and she'd be fine. If only it was so easy . When they potted her wrist it was potted at the natural way her wrist falls & i dont think that helped at all either x
eva96035 collie12
Posted
Collie,
I know I need to switch, tried back in July and that said not at the moment I couldn't and it's workers compensation but then I got email saying they were going to allow me a second opinion and this time I researched the doctors before picking one. If I were to go to private doctor then it would kick the insurance I got out because of it being workers comp. I can't wait until I go for second opinion I have heard good things about the doctor I will be seeing they say he's a brilliant doctor and does really nice work. I'm just ready to get some relief and find out what's going on with the rest of my arm. I don't want to see the doctor I've been seeing because he's the one I have to see with the hand pain but he wouldn't see me this week even though I told them that I was having pain and swelling and it didn't even swell when I first fell but is now and I'm fearful that it has displaced and probably will need surgery where it could've been fixed with a cast and immobilization at the beginning.
I will keep you updated on condition when I find out final results.
eva96035 louise75296
Posted
Louise,
I know where she is coming from it's definitely a challenge to get on deodorant, lotion, or simply wash hair, I have learned how to do a whole lot with one hand. you never know how much you miss the use of a thumb but I guess that's why they call them opposible thumbs because they serve a greater purpose than one would think. I can't wait to finally get to see a doctor who is known for doing the best he can for his patients as the one I see right now doesn't seem to be able to have a definite ideal of what is going on with me and he seemingly has forgotten about my hand all together, and it's like he doesn't believe me when I say how much pain I'm in and it's affecting my sleep and everything else like now for instance it's 3:20 am where I live as I live in Georgia and I have to be getting ready to go to work at 5:00 am this morning and I have been up since 12:50 am I guess I need to try to nap a little more just don't know how successful I will be.
I will keep updated on what kind of answers I get eventually I hope...
louise75296 eva96035
Posted
eva96035 louise75296
Posted
Louise,
I know it's a hard one to see, but the x-ray I'm talking about was took the first day after my fall and all these other doctors see it and have showed it to me and the Doctor I have to see because of workers comp doesn't see what all the others see and I don't see how he doesn't considering that he's a hand specialist and looks at x-rays all the time lol... when they showed it to me I thought it's weird how something so small can hurt so bad like this does.
louise75296 eva96035
Posted
eva96035 louise75296
Posted
Louise,
I'm sure that's probably the case, that's probably why since my hand started swelling he doesn't want to see me until after I go see the second opinion doctor which is November 9th, last week I was out of work all week lite duty. The first day I called his office and his nurse/receptionist or whatever she does for him said she would relay the message and get back with me, didn't hear anything the rest of the day so next day I sent message on patient portal and she called in about an hour and said he does deal with shoulder pain and this was because I went through the emergency department because I had pain radiating up my arm and into my shoulder into my neck also and I did what I'm supposed to do I always tell my doctors about any doctors visits other than them and I didn't know what the problem was so that's where he got shoulder from and I told her that my hand was swollen and the pain was bad but just kept hearing the same thing. So next day I sent another message and she called back in about an hour again and this time I told her that this didn't have anything to do with my shoulder that I was having hand pain and the it was swollen which causes the pain to be worse and finally he agreed to at least call in some medication and I was told he was fixing to go out of town but this week when I ask for pain medicine because the swelling came back 2 days after I finished the medrol pack she said he would see me after I had my second opinion appt to see what that doctor has to say and that if I was in severe pain I needed to go to the emergency room or a walk in clinic for that so he expected me to go for that long with my hand hurting and swollen and why would I for the Love of Christ wanna go back and see him after I see the second opinion doctor I wouldn't let him touch me no way now. You can't be a doctor like that and expect to keep patients. but I will let you know how it all turns out because I'm going to the Emergency Room and after I go to second opinion doctor if it's as bad as I think it is I will call and cancel my appt with him because I've had enough non sense from himj 4 months and he doesn't know or doesn't care I don't have to have him do anything for me. right lol...
louise75296 eva96035
Posted
8mnth later and we've at last been reffered to a diffrent hospital & diffrent surgeon, he's admited to not knowing what else to suggest x
eva96035 louise75296
Posted
I know right, you know Ms. Louise what is sad aboutt this whole situation with me is that I tried to switch doctors a long time ago and my workers comp adjustor wouldn't let me she thought that after I had the MRI, that I would be happy with the results and I had it August 15th, that's the kind of thing that makes my blood boil, I just wonder sometimes how long it would take them to get themselves taken care of if they were the one that was injured ?