Fell on hand

Posted , 3 users are following.

Hi all, my first post after I fell on Saturday afternoon onto an outstretched and open hand in my line of work before I jump the gun and possibly waste NHS time for (possibly) an injury that could be treated at home.

I fell over a small knee high barricade of sort on Saturday afternoon around 12/1PM in a pitch black warehouse complex I was called to.

My left hand was against my chest and received a simple scrape, whereas my right hand got the ground first, outstretched and open wearing gloves that stop just before the wrist.

I didn’t hear a noise on impact as it was already loud, but between Saturday evening and Monday afternoon, my wrist had slight (but quite noticeable compared to the other hand) swelling with a little bruising, with it being very tight and painful to move, and very painful to angle up any further than a straight hand.

Now, my hand is not as painful or swollen as it was, but a friend did recommend getting it checked out and said it could be something to do with my scaphoid.

Now in saying that, had it been an injury worth getting checked out, would it be normal for it to feel better and leave it be a few says, or even if there is more ability to move now the swelling has went down, to indeed get it looked into by Minor Injuries?

0 likes, 2 replies

2 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi I'm not able to see your wrist so can't be 100% sure it's ok to strap up at home or whether to say get yourself down to A& E or even a local walk-in centre if they have the facilities to x-ray it, I had a fall three weeks ago on the Sunday and although I knew it was broken because it wouldn't straighten I decided to just use a lollipop stick and strap it up but when I went physio she insisted I went through to have x-ray I have caused a mallet fracture which they have put in a special brace and it's got to stay in 6/8 weeks and fracture clinic after 6, they say if they didn't do that it would never straighten properly and would cause problems doing things, so if I was you I would go get it checked out, better safe than sorry

  • Posted

    Falling onto on outstretched hand is classic scenario when someone breaks their wrist (distal radius fracture), especially if you fell back onto it. It’s exactly what happened to me, and I broke mine. Scaphoid fractures are very rare, but it is a real thing so it’s possible. The reason your hand could be swollen but your wrist is broken (assuming it is in fact broken) is simply gravity. When standing, your hand is below your wrist, so edema and swelling is pulled down below the injury. If there is a fracture in your hand, it’s extremely likely it would be a metacarpal fracture. In ANY case, you need an X-ray to confirm. Please let us know what the results are?

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