Swelling post distal radius fracture

Sorry to hear that you refractured your Ulnar - very frustrating!

I’m glad to hear that you are making progress and find your story reassuring. I agree with you about the lack of information about healing and what to expect, and what is normal whilst healing.

My cast was removed about a month ago following a fracture to my right radius and have been very concerned about my symptoms following the cast removal.  I was fortunate not to have surgery - my bone was manipulated back into place instead.  My wrist is still very stiff and weak and that palm of my hand has a weird rough sensation when I touch things and small patches on the back of my hand tingle - especially the back if my thumb.  My orthopaedic doctor didn’t seem to concerned at my last appointment two weeks ago but I find these symptoms very annoying and alarming but understand from you post that these symptoms along with the swelling have taken a long time to subside for you! I just need some reassurance that what a am experiencing is normal!

My first physio appointment at the hospital is tomorrow so I shall relay my concerns to the physiotherapist and hopefully get some reassurance!  I would like a timescale as to how long it will take me to get a full range of movement but understand that everyone is different. At least I can now tie my shoe laces which I could not do in the beginning and also tie my hair back - small steps!

I am not yet driving which I find very isolating as I am quite independent and hate having to rely on other people.

Keep us updated on your progress - I find it comforting to hear about other people’s experiences and don’t feel as if I am going through this alone!

Your experience is relatively normal and like you, I kept worrying if what I was going through was normal and what I could expect - and when.

A few things I found that helped:

Stress balls - the help build initial strength in the fingers.

Stretching my fingers - pressing them in towards my palm.

Rubbing the skin if i feels tingly or irritates - also rubbing in something like Neutrogena hand cream to keep it moisturised

As things progressed, I bought a few weights - 0.5kg; 1kg; 1.5kg then 2kg - be very careful how you use these and only do what you're told is safe. If you feel any pain, stop immediately.

The tingling and numbness gradually started to fade after about 3 months - I was told it can take up to 12 months for the wrist/hand to feel normal - on reflection, I think that was good advice but I know it's different for everyone and also that age makes a considerable difference too.

All the very best!

Thank you for your advice.

I have been to my first physio appointment today and found it quite reassuring- apparently my range of movement is quite good after being one month out of the cast even though I don’t feel it is!

I was given a few excercises to do 3-4 times a day which includes squeezing on a stress ball - I have just tried to do this and found it very difficult but I will persevere.

Like you said, I was told that the numbness should disappear gradually but may take time - that is the symptom that is worrying me the most as I cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel yet. 

I have found that my fingers are very stiff in the mornings with increased swelling -  is this normal as I feel I am going back to square one with them every morning!? I find that I have to try and make a fist a few times just to get them moving again!

I would value any further advice and if anything worked for you to reduce swelling - thank you!

It's perfectly normal to have morning stiffness, I still have it after eight months but it's now much less than it was. Patience is very important but you must exercise regularly - bit by bit you'll see small but gradual improvement. I found that as I became more confident, I tried pushing it too much sometimes, and a few times, had small setbacks, but I now find that I'm getting to the point where my wrist is starting to get back to being 'relatively' normal. 

I don't think it's reasonable to expect 100% recovery but considering the damage done with my accident, I am very happy with progress.

As I've said, be patient and careful, but exercise regularly. 

Wrist update - I have just been to fracture clinic this morning and was told by the consultant that he does not need to see me again! I told him that I am still experiencing numbness and stiffness but I have to say that this has improved over the last couple of weeks. Is this normal to be discharged this soon? Also I am a bit concerned as they did not X-ray my wrist either!

I still have physio appointments - my next one is in two weeks.  My movement has improved and have progressed on to strengthening exercises with a resistance band but am finding this a bit difficult as I am not yet able to make a full fist.

I was told by the consultant in fracture clinic to give them a ring if I have any problems but am concerned that I have been discharged too early.  They must know best so I may wait a few weeks and if symptoms do not diminish I may contact them then - do you think this is a good idea?

Thank you fo your comments - you have put my mind at ease!  I think I need constant reassurance that everything is ok and was a bit shocked as to not have an X-ray and be discharged so quickly! I have a physio appointment in two weeks and he is very good at reassuring me so hopefully he would let me know if he had any concerns.  

How are you?

Hi - how are you?  Sorry to hear about your golfers elbow - I also have been having trouble with my shoulder now!  My doctor said that it’s tendonitis from not using my arm and my physiotherapist has given me exercises to do - so annoying that further complications have arisen!

I was concerned about the numb feeling in my wrist following my discharge from fracture clinic so I saw my GP last week who said that most likely my soft tissue is inflamed thus causing pressure on the nerves in my wrist - the soft tissue takes a lot longer than the bone to heal and then nerve healing takes longer still!

I have since seen my physiotherapist who has said that my movement is at 80% which is encouraging as I hope to return to work in September - I type a lot so I guess I will have to practice that as well as my fingers are not moving as quick as my other hand.  I am able to make a tighter fist (not so much first thing in the morning) and my strength is improving following exercising with a resistance band but I do find that moving my wrist with my fist clenched agrivates the nerves and causes a tingling feeling but physio said that this is only the nerves trying to send a signal and should improve over time but may not fully - only time will tell!

As you have said, patience is needed, and I really should be grateful that it was not a lot worse!

Best wishes and take care,

Vanessa.

Hi Vanessa

It's good to hear from you and to know you're making good progress.

The numbness will eventually subside but aches will continue because even after 9 months post fracture, I find I have to stretch and rotate my wrist and fingers often. 

Patience is the key here - we will all heal at a different rate but I think we have to accept that we will not be 100% after a fracture however, we learn to compensate and life does return to almost normal. 

My physio says that in a few more months time, I should get to the point where I won't even notice my fracture and my hand/wrist should feel normal. It's almost there now - I can write, drive and carry heavy items too, BUT flexibility of my wrist is only about 60% of what it was and I find I rotate from my elbow more to compensate.

Take good care!

Thank you for all your encouragement- I wouldn’t have survived the past couple of months without your reassurance or comments from other people on this forum!

I’m glad that your making progress and hopefully in a few months things will feel more normal - I find that I am constantly thinking about my wrist as it still feels weird and I have to make a conscious effort to use it as my left hand has been compensating for my right!

I have been into work a few times just to see how everything is and I tried to type on the keyboard but fingers are very slow but my physio said to keep practising and this should improve!

My shoulder is now hurting but have been given exercises to do with a resistance band so hopefully it shouldn’t get any worse!

My next physio appointment is in two weeks so I will keep you updated - take care!

Until you have a serious fracture you have no idea how painful and disruptive they are - you're simply unaware of the consequence and what to expect.

Whilst you've had an operation to help fix the bones and put them back in place, the healing process is very slow and can be extremely frustrating - and painful too if you overdo things.

Be patient, exercise within the limits of what you are comfortable with, expect to have aches and pains for months but bit by bit, you'll get mobility back - perhaps not as it was prior to the accident, but you will improve.

I'm 9 months post fracture yet I still cannot bend my wrist completely but have recovered almost full flexibility in my fingers, grip and strength - and can drive normally (I was unable to drive for over 5 months).

Wow! It takes such a long time to come back from. It’s only 3/4 weeks since i has my op. I’ve been in so much pain but nothing up to what I was pre op. It’s been the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life. Especially since I live by myself. I managed to set fire to my shirt trying to cook earlier this week. Luckily a friend is bulk cooking some meals for me today. You imagine it will be 6 weeks in a cast and that’s it. These surgeons are amazing though. Especially with a bad break. 

At least reading all of these comments I know I’m not lagging behind. 

OMG - be very careful.

Coming out of a cast is just the beginning - your muscles will have shrunk and you'll be amazed how little strength you have after that is removed - it takes months to recover and you'll need lots of patience. You'll probably experience soreness, numbness, difficulty lifting things - etc, etc. It will seem like you'll never recover but bit by bit, you will. Perhaps not 100% but be patient and extremely careful - don't overdo it!!

The encouraging comments that I have received from this post have been a lifeline for me over the past couple of months since having a right distal radius fracture in April !

From my experience everything is taking ages to get back to feeling normal and only now have I come to accept that fact.  Since having physiotherapy following my cast removal I now have 80% range of movement and strength slowly returning but still too afraid to pick up a kettle!  I am still experiencing swelling and numbness but hopefully this will subside with time!

Wishing you a speedy recovery and if you have any queries just post them on here and I will reply - take care!

Well over doing it is my thing normally. I usually do body combat 5 times a week and a weights class twice a week and obviously I’ve come to a sudden stand still. And I hate it!! The physio already suggested I need to slow down. I even went back to work 2 week later.  I feel very impatient. The physio also thought my cast had come off a tad early (after 2 week when a splint went on) so I need to be careful. But yes all of those things I have noticed. No grip, little movement etc. At least I now know thats all normal now. What a crappy op! But obviously entirely necessary. 

This is so good to hear. I’m so pleased I found this thread because I’ve come across a few people who have had a broken wrist but nobody who did nearly so much damage and I had no idea if i was doing ok til I read this. Then surgeon gave me the hard word and I was a little crest fallen. There was me all worried after 3 and a half weeks that I should be much further forward. I had no idea it was the norm. 

80% sounds amazing.... it’s so good to hear that it can improve to that extent. And gives me hope. I know what you mean about being scared to pick things up. I’m the same. I had a nightmare the

other night that the plate snapped and poked out of my wrist. 

It’s going to take months isn’t it. Not weeks. 

It's going to take a long time - be prepared to be very frustrated, worried that it will never heal, be concerned about the swelling and that every day when you wake up your hand is stiff - this is all normal and even at 9 months post fracture, I still have aches and pains but the numbness has gone, most mornings my hand feels relatively normal but my wrist still isn't right - it feels tight and I cannot bend it more than about 60% of what it used to do. I also find that holding a pen isn't easy - I can write but my wrist aches.

Simple things like holding a knife and fork - again, they take a while - brushing teeth - you name it, you have to find other ways, but gradually you'll find you can do almost everything as you used to.

I am almost back to full strength in my arm and grip but I'm still very careful and conscious not to overdo things. Take your time and be patient!

Thank you for sharing. I am definitely at the discouraging stage.  My surgery with plate & screws in my radius  was on June 8  and after three weeks of therapy on my wrist, I found out last week that I also had a hairline fracture in the ulna which has  slowed down the therapy on my wrist and I am currently only working on my hand and fingers. I still cannot close my fingers.  My hand & fingers  swell all the time. Sometimes it feels like I am being squeezed really tight around my wrist.  Ugh! Frustrating! But it is good to hear that others are experiencing the same symptoms and are recovering, even though it seems it’s a very long recovery!

It is perfectly normal what you're experiencing - very frustrating and very slow to recover!

You will improve bit by bit = things you can't do now, one day you'll be able to - it WILL happen in time but do not force it otherwise you'll do more damage! 

Take good care.

Yes - it’s really frustrating for someone with little patience like me but I am slowly accepting that things will take a time to settle down!

My fingers, knuckles and wrist are still swollen 10 weeks after my cast was removed and I also feel as if I have a band tightening around my wrist sometimes and also numbness inside this - my physio said that this could be due to soft tisssue inflammation pressing on my nerves and that soft tissue injury takes a lot longer than a broken bone to heal and nerves take even longer - great! 

As pauldh says - be careful, take it easy for a while and hopefully you’ll see improvements daily, if not weekly - take care!

It will take a while but everybody heals at a different rate but patience is the key I’m afraid!

I’m plodding along with physio but have now developed shoulder problems so keep your arm moving if you can.  It’s frustrating that one problem leads to another but it’s not the case for everyone!

One good thing for me is that I am now driving again as I felt so isolated at home in the beginning.  I used to wake up in the morning dreading getting out of bed facing another day with an incapacitated arm but this feeling has slowly eased as I am making progress but I still worry about every little symptom that I have but the people on this forum have been great for putting my mind at ease as I don’t feel so alone with worries!

Take it easy and things will slowly start to improve for you I’m sure!

I’ve read quite a lot on here about things taking time and letting heal etc. I suppose age makes a difference and I was 38 when I shattered my distal radius cycling,it was the worst break A&E had seen. I was informed by the consultant that I would have permanent limited  stiff movement and 12 months before I could cycle again. My surgeon was more optimistic and thought 6 months. I am now sporting a titanium plate with 10 screws and my wrist feels 99% to 100% normal , flexation is about 99% and more than a lot of people who haven’t suffered a break. On my first physio session the physio grasped my wrist and forced it to move the pain was immense but good. He told me to force the movement to try and feel cracking as this would be the scar tissue breaking down , the very very worst thing he told me was to think that it would heal itself and movement would return. The longer the wrist has limited movement the more movement is lost long term. I forced and forced my wrist to move until the pain made me physically exhausted for hours. Once plated my physio told me you cannot damage it with forced movement. On my second visit 6 weeks post cast removal I was given the ok to commence cycling again (with a suitable brace) 30 miles at first but within 12 weeks I was back to 100 miles again. My point is , think that your wrist will just heal and movement will return is folly you have to continually break down scar tissue by doing the advised exercises religiously regardless of the considerable pain. Soaking in hot water helps free up the wrist while working on movement also you could take painkillers before. Honestly I do not make light of this I know the frustrations and extreme pain all too well. At one point I told my boss that if I didn’t want to ride my bike I would gladly never move my wrist again! Even now I can still remember how ever tiny movement felt like my wrist would break again. Unfortunately it’s how it is.

The driving is the thing. I’m so isolated and living on my own doesn’t help. It’s only just under 4 weeks so I’ve got a long road ahead. I had no idea when I turned up at A&E in Halifax that day what a long road it would be. you just think “oh 6 weeks in a cast and then I’ll be ok”. People keep seeing me in a splint now and saying “oh is it all ok now?”. I feel like yelling “noooooo!”.

That’s the thing. I’m scared to death of damaging it. Especially since they’d told me they didnt know if they’d get a plate on and had struggled to do so. How long after the op did you start physio? I turned up at physio 3 weeks post op and they said “oh no it’s way too soon really to be doing anything”, although agreed that I could do some very gentle stretches  which i’d  been doing anyway. They were also astounded I had a splint instead of a pot at 2 weeks post surgery and thought the surgeon must have got his dates muddled. That’s been fine though. I’ve been so tired. I went to my 4 year old nephews birthday party yesterday and embarrassingly fell asleep on the couch for any hour. 😂

Let’s see my incident was 3yrs ago I  crashed my cycle at 40mph leaving my wrist misaligned by  approx half an inch, I had my wrist in a cast for 2weeks post op.  then my first physio session was approx 2weeks after the removal then I only had one more again after another 2weeks. When I had my cast removed they X rayed it to ensure it was OK, I remember the look on the Radiographers face when she told me what was in my wrist , not very reassuring. Obviously when the cast was removed I was told not to lift heavy items such as a full kettle of water. Apparently washing up is very good , hot water and movement. I mean even trying to brush teeth (hold brush an move head!) and comb hair was a painful nigh on impossible  ordeal.The first physio session, he just rolled up his sleeves grasped my wrist and forced it to move showed me what exercises to do. Between physio sessions I really forced my wrist to move trying to get a millimetre more movement each time, this would leave me exhausted due to the effort and pain. Such was the effort and pain involved my wife would go out of the room! One thing I did under recommendation of a nurse was sleep with my wrist in the sling that I had in hospital post op. to keep my wrist above my head, I tied this on my bed post and slept on my back (which I hate) I did this for about 8 weeks. I found it made a massive difference in reducing the swelling which in turn speeds up the healing process. Are you doing the grip exercises?  I had a stress ball and would do these while watching a film (all film) then the next day I couldn’t even grip! Apparently only a few reps. every hour is recommended. On my second physio session apart from laughing at the exhaustion my very intensive activities had caused me said there was nothing more that he could do and just carry on with the exercises. He also said that I could begin cycling, so the next day I donned a rigid brace and cycled 30 miles, and wondered how I hadn’t managed to break more bones as my control over the bike was rather limited! Upon return I administered a bag of frozen peas on my painful wrist. The next day I couldn’t even lift my head completely exhausted, undeterred I rested for that day then cycled another 30 miles the next day and thus the pattern of cycling and complete exhaustion commenced. It was 12 weeks before I could drive and return to work however. It’s worth looking into food that is good for such injuries I did even to the point where my wife was buying me petit  felous!The point that all the medical professionals drummed into me was early movement is essential, I think the extra fracture that you have will be an issue, I was plated and screwed into position so that allowed me to work it extremely hard while the break healed, the titanium plate is stronger than the wrist originally was. You can only go of medical advice as every case differs. I was extremely lucky to have had such an accomplished surgeon who lectures on sports injuries! I think my operation was about 3hrs long and the next day I could cross my fingers, got dressed and even managed to tie my shoelaces!  I have a very high pain threshold and this helps because the pain is relentless and intense during the flexation exercises.

Good grief!!! You went for it. Normally I do a  high volume of exercise and have done almost none since. That’s because I generally do body combat. A lot of jabs, hooks and upper cuts. No no no. Gave it a go too and it hurt like hell so had to stop. It’s mostly stretches I’m doing, including opening and closing my hand in to a fist. Also twisting my hand (and therefore my wrist also) around every which way. They just said it was too soon for anything else. Mostly because it was a complicated fracture where they’d struggled to get the plate on. I started panicking that it would somehow ping off! In fact I had a nightmare last week that my wrist broke again and the plate was stuck out of the skin. 

Generally I don’t sleep a lot. I don’t need it. But both today and yesterday having had short trips out I fell asleep for an hour. 

I’m turning in to an old woman!!! I’m 46.