Wrist fracture

Hi Katejo, My experience is near enough same and happened about 5 days after you. I slipped and landed on it by the pool. X-ray showed distal radius hairline fracture and I was put in a half-cast since. Follow up with consultant who was fine with fracture but worried about my "lunate ??" and advised an MRI scheduled tomorrow..... I too have opted out of painkillers and feel NO pain at all aside from the mornings, just a dull pain. Travelling in 2 weeks so hoping 4 weeks overall will be enough. Im taking CAL/MAG/ZINC supplements, eating well and doing some exercise bike to help blood flow and healing.

Interested to know your progress and what happens and hope you heal in time for hoidays. (I am a 29yr old male, very active and have never had this injury before)

Stay positive and get well to everyone on this thread !

Hi aiser17300, It was good to get a reply from someone with a similar injury to mine. Did the doctor use the term 'hairline'? Mine looked hairline on the xray but the doctor decribed it as minimal displacement in his letter to my GP. Not sure if that is exactly the same. interested to hear about the MRI. i didn't need one. No idea what 'lunate' is. You are quite a bit younger (I am 52). My update is as follows. i have had 2 hospital appts. with further xrays. They are happy with my progress and I have been told that the plaster will definitely be removed in just under 3 weeks from now (total exactly 6 weeks) without need for further xrays. I will be going on my trip. I asked whether I would then need a wrist support but was told no as I will need to exercise/use the wrist. Have you told the hospital about your travel plans? Are you flying? If you do still have the plaster on, you may need a letter from the hospital to satisfy the airline. Also the hospital might want to split the plaster/fasten with a velcro like fastening. My pain is just dull ache and occasional twinges. i haven't tried the gym but I do some arm exercises to keep it moving eg. stretch the arm out and try to rotate so that the palm of your hand faces upwards. I can do this but get twinges on the little finger side. I am of course avoiding lifting (other than small things like a mug of tea). Let me know how your MRI goes. I am also taking multi vitamin supplements.

Hello

Just wondering how your MRI went and how your wrist is doing in general?

Hi katejo. My experience is similar, I fell backwards playing volleyball in a friends garden. My wrist was swollen and I couldn't move it. The fall was gentle so I thought I had just sprained it and went home. Next day I realised it may have been broken and went to A&E.( on my 52 birthday). It was broken in 3 places. Both the radius and Ulna were broken. The radius had to be manipulated back into place under gas and air. I did this 2 weeks before I was due to go on holiday to Italy and Greece. I had to back each week to check that the bones were still in place, if not I would have had to have an operation to put metal plates in. Thank goodness I didn't need that, and so I was able to go away with the plaster on. It was very hot and uncomfortable and I was unable to swim but bearable. My plaster has now been taken off 4 days ago after 5 1/2 weeks. I was bizarrely expecting full use, but it was still swollen and painful. The X-rays also showed that the broken part at the top of the ulna i( ulna styloid) is still broken. Apparently this is normal. Already I have more movement in my wrist but it still looks swollen. It is depressing that it could be like this for several months. I am desperate to do yoga which is out the question because it relies the wrist so much. You wanted to know if it was more painful with the plaster on or off. Definitely with the plaster off. Because of the movement. The muscles, ligaments and tendons are all stiff and so I guess need stretching overa time to return to normal. However my consultant told me that I may never have a full use again! Let me know how you get on.

Poor you, particularly as it happened on your birthday! You were very unlucky to break it in 3 places and have an ulna break too. Was it 3 breaks in the radius AND 1 in the ulna? The more of these accounts i see, the more fortunate i feel. I went down quite hard on the ground but only have 1  distal radius break with 'minimal displacement, minimal swelling and some bruising'  That is what the doctor wrote on his letter to my GP. On the X ray it looked like a hairline fracture to me. After reading your account, i just have a couple of questions.

1. How much pain did you have when the plaster was still on? I don't have that much. No painkillers and went back to work after 1 week (not all duties).

2. re. flying with your plaster on: Did you have to provide a letter from the hospital to confirm that your plaster wasn't new or was your plaster split to allow you to fly? This is just out of interest as I will just have my plaster off by the time i go. I have bought a wrist/thumb support to use during the journey.

I will let you know how it goes once the plaster is off (Fri 4th Sept).

I am expecting to get full use back as I haven't been told otherwise.

Could you go to yoga but only do certain exercises (like standing postures which don't need weight on the wrist)?

Hi Kate, Thanks for the reply and your question. The MRI I had last week went well, the Hand Surgeon ruled out any ligament damage, (this was the reason for MRI), great news as surgery is now ruled out. She said it would be fine for me to remove the half cast too and placed me in an adjustable wrist brace which is definitely more comfortable and can be removed when showering etc. All in all, I experience some pain at the afternoon at work from the strain of typing etc. and stiffness in the morning but I think it’s definitely on the road to recovery. I am still talking vitamin C, Magnesium, Calcium and Zinc supplements and doing light exercise to promote blood flow and healing. How have you been doing ? Are you all set for holidays ?

Lucky thing! It must be your relative youth! I originally thought that the 6 weeks was a precaution and might be reduced to 4-5 but i was told that I had to keep the plaster for the full period. However I won't have a wrist support after that. I did ask but they want me to use the wrist then. Only 1 week and 4 days to wait now. The wrist isn't hurting much now. Just feel discomfort if i extend/bend my fingers or rotate something (like a key in the door).  I have bought a small wrist support to wear on my outward journey. Just to protect it if someone bumps into me and to remind me not to carry my bags in my right hand.

Hi Kate here are the answers to your questions - I had very little pain with the plaster on apart from the first few days and went back to work as a teacher after 2 days as it was the end of term anyway. It was more awkward than anything. In fact it is more painful now because I can do more which I couldn't with the plaster on. I'm probably pushing myself too hard!!

I spoke to the doctors, Thomsons and the holiday insurance company and they all said that I didn't need to have the plaster split as it had been on for 2 weeks. You only need to do that in the first 48 hours. The insurance people told me that as long as the doctor was happy for me to travel I was covered, but they didn't need a letter. I guess if the doctor had said no I couldn't travel and then I did and needed to claim they would check.. 

I will try the yoga soon but a lot of the moves require wrists and I will get frustrated when I can't do it. So I am sticking with Zumba, Aquafit and Bums, Tums and thighs for now. I'm just expecting too much too soon.

Enjoy your holiday.

Hi Mandy

Thanks for your reply. I didn't have any problem with the insurance for my holiday. I contacted them early on. They just said that I was covered for trips already booked but would have to pay a small supplement if I booked another trip before my current annual policy expires. I probably won't so that doesn't matter.

I was only thinking about a requirement of a letter at the airport to prove that the plaster was more than 48 hours old.

I am looking forward to my trip but will take a wrist support to protect the wrist at least during the journey.

I am doing hand/wrist exercises in plaster to keep it moving. I can do most jobs at home (like chopping veg, spreading butter, turning door key) without much trouble. I will just have to wait and see how it is next week. Will add an update later. i hope you manage to do some yoga soon. Is Aquafit like water aerobics?  Perhaps that may help to get your wrist moving?

Hi Aiser17300

how are you doing now that you have been out of the plaster for a few days? Do you need the wrist brace most of the time? I am trying to predict how much pain I will  have when the plaster has been removed, particularly because I am going away a couple of days later. I can move my fingers (clenching fist and stretching my hand) with only minor discomfort. I can almost turn my arm so the palm is facing up. I just want to know if i am being unrealistically optimistic!

i broke my radius 2 yrs ago,and do not have full movement,of it at all. i hope you get full movement, think i was just unlucky,with the cast not holding the bone in place,and it needed manipulating back, 3wks into the break! don't give up hope! i have grip strength back,but no flexing at all. lifting and gardening are a pain in the arse,as the wrist is swelling,at the moment. spent 8 wks in cast and 6wks of physio,but no improvement.we are all different in how we heal,i wish you luck 

Hi Christina

I suspect that Jan isn't checking this forum now as her injury was some time ago. I just thought i would add a couple of comments to your entry although I can't answer your exact question. Did you have any xrays between your initial fall and the xray after 5 weeks? I am surprised that they didn't spot the bone shift before now. Mine is just a simple fracture but I had an xray after 1 week and I have another one this Friday. Which hospital is UCSD?

They didn't want to re xray my wrist but I insisted. I changed hospitals after 3 weeks but by then it was too late to operate my cast was on for 6 weeks in all everything was really swollen an painful when my cast came off I still have s fracture but going down the radius all the others had healed which were across. I have had my cast off for a week and the swelling is staring to go down and I have some movement but been to physio today and they are happy that it's all in place. I was using ice through cast and am still using it and glucosamine gell and bio oil. It's good to get a second opinion. I changed to Chelmsford hospital in Essex as they saved my finger a few years back

Good luck

I am shocked that your hospital didn't want to xray your wrist. I assume that you did have 1 xray when it first happened? My hospital seems to do regular xrays. I was a bit surprised whenI was asked to go back for a 3rd one this week. By Friday I will have had 3 xrays in 2 weeks. I am hoping that I perhaps don't need the full 6 weeks in plaster as my pain is very bearable and I can move my fingers and thumb well. I just get mild discomfort when I tilt the arm/wrist from left to right. I have gone back to work but don't do all my usual tasks. I think that the swelling has gone down more because the fibreglass feels looser than it did a week ago. I am due to fly to Italy after exactly 6 weeks and hope that a wrist support will be enough by then.

 

I did have a few xrays in Torquay and then one when I went to Colchester and another one when I transferred to Chelmsford but they didn't want to xray it when the cast came off. I have broken lots of bones and it didn't feel right which was why I asked them to recheck it. Which was when I was told it still had a fracture going down but they said it didn't matter. They didn't put mine in a splint when it came off as they said it was important to get the muscles and nerves working. Mine Was really painful in cast so hopefully you will be ok for your holiday.

My pain is very manageable at the moment. Have hardly had any painkillers so far. More discomfort than real pain . If I were due to go away now, I would go. Just have to wait and see how things go for the next couple of weeks.