Your experiences with a broken wrist?

[el henry]

Broken wrists are in the skating news these days.

Skimming the posts, it looks like many of us have experienced the joy of a fractured wrist. I have read, although I cannot find the link immediately, that it is the most common fracture in the US.

I'll go first

Two years ago, as a woman of a certain age in the US, I fought the sidewalk and the sidewalk won (that is, I fell on my outstretched hand trying to break a fall.) The ER put me in a cast that restricted my fingers and told me to see the orthopedic doc.

Next day, orthopedic doc tells me the wrist is fractured in two places (fairly common ) and displaced (also common). Common, but bad.
Four days later, surgery with a plate and some screws.
Interestingly enough, after surgery, no cast. A plastic splint with stretchy fabric.

Three months of occupational therapy. Mostly concerned with getting my hand and fingers in working order.

It was my dominant hand, and I would not wish this on anyone. Even now, I would say the right hand is 90% of my left, it will never be completely equal.

And you?

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Broken wrists are in the skating news these days.

Skimming the posts, it looks like many of us have experienced the joy of a fractured wrist. I have read, although I cannot find the link immediately, that it is the most common fracture in the US.

I'll go first

Two years ago, as a woman of a certain age in the US, I fought the sidewalk and the sidewalk won (that is, I fell on my outstretched hand trying to break a fall.) The ER put me in a cast that restricted my fingers and told me to see the orthopedic doc.

Next day, orthopedic doc tells me the wrist is fractured in two places (fairly common ) and displaced (also common). Common, but bad.
Four days later, surgery with a plate and some screws.
Interestingly enough, after surgery, no cast. A plastic splint with stretchy fabric.

Three months of occupational therapy. Mostly concerned with getting my hands and fingers in working order.

It was my dominant hand, and I would not wish this on anyone. Even now, I would say the right hand is 90% of my left, it will never be completely equal.

And you?

Broke it on a freak fall on a 3T, also my dominant wrist, thankfully I could kind of write with my other hand (finals too lol) and got better while healing. Was in a cast up to my elbow for weeks, lots of PT. Still years later it hurts at times.

 

[alyssamarie]

Not my wrist but I broke my left arm twice (once one bone, the other time two bones near my wrist). Not dominant arm. Had to have 2 surgeries, Left arm will always be weaker but have been slowly building up muscle. I can tell the weather now only pro lol. I can't do the whip around your arm is supposed to do for spins.

 

[Alex Fedorov]

my most dangerous (I think) adventure on ice ended without injury, but an ordinary fall on my side on the ice led to a fractured shoulder with a slight displacement. There was no operation, the bone was put in place in the trauma center (I don’t know what such medical institutions in other countries might be called, we have something like an immediate emergency service).

This happened in early December 2017. Plaster cast, fixing the bandage until January 20, 2018. I removed the plaster myself, then went for an X-ray, made sure that the bone had healed correctly. After that, almost until the end of 2018, I could not fully raise my hand up. In addition, the hand ached from time to time. Then the mobility was completely restored, and now I do not feel any consequences at all.

 

[iluvtodd]

I haven't had this happen (touch wood), but my husband Mark did. He didn't realize it when it happened. One night when he came home from work, he tripped on the "black ice" in our driveway. He thought the pain would go away, but a month or so later he was still feeling it, and checked it out with the doctor. I'm fuzzy on the rest of the details, but it turns out it was a broken wrist. He's OK with it by now, but he does have rheumatoid arthritis (he takes medicine for it as necessary when it does flare up). I don't know if there is any connection between the RA & the broken wrist, though.

 

[elbkup]

I responded to a post in Aliona’s FF about my own experience with a broken left wrist May 2019… not dominant, but hard enough to handle. One never knows how much we depend on the left hand til it is gone... Anyway copied my OP to respond here…

We who have “been there” have a lot in common with Aliona.. hope her injury isn’t as serious. Having a great surgeon is the lion’s share of the battle and, man, you were lucky! I was taken to the ER in terrible pain… I “knew” instinctively it was broken but the intake physician (a man about my age) who I swear needed a corneal transplant said “It’s not broken.. you have a sprain…” but he asked for x-rays anyway.. even the x-ray tech said it was broken when she took the films but the break was so clean it was indeed hard to tell!! The intake physician later apologized to me..Guess it comes with living in the back woods where great healthcare is scarce.. haha

Fast forward to present, the wrist is definitely weaker but I was told to use it.. not to favor it, and this seems to work building strength.

 

[skylark]

Several years ago. My feet slid on the ice and kicked out from under me, so fast there was no time to interfere with the instinctive response: breaking my fall (and my wrist) with my right (dominant) hand. A good thing, too, I think. What was the alternative, breaking fall with the elbow? That would have been worse.

My friend got me an immediate appointment with the best hand specialist in the state. No surgery, but I had a hand-to-elbow cast for 2 months, and physical therapy for 6 weeks after. It was quite the waiting game, as everything I do for work or fun involved my right hand. But I have had zero lingering pain.

Side note: as soon PT was over, my surgeon repaired carpel's tunnel on the same arm, so it was 4 months in the cast in total, with, thank goodness, a six-week reprieve in the middle. And a "Twilight Zone" side note: When my right hand/wrist carpel's tunnel healed, I no longer had it in the left wrist either (or at least symptoms of it: pain, numbness, etc.) ... which had been worse than my right wrist, and a test had said the left wrist was at 0%. Someone told me later that "phantom healing" or "sympathetic healing" isn't un-heard-of. But it's very mysterious.

Later, I was saying I'd really missed playing the piano and then a couple minutes later saying I was a little depressed during the cast months. A friend (and fellow pianist) who was listening said, "you were probably depressed because you couldn't play the piano." She was right. Because I'm an emotional pianist, it makes all the difference in my mental and emotional health.

 

[4everchan]

i have broken many bones... the right wrist : playing basketball... an idiot pushed me into the wall... i have also broken, an ankle, a leg (at two spots) an elbow, both shoulders, some ribs... and somehow, I am still alive... most of these were just random freak accidents... 3 of these happened on the very icy or hazardous city sidewalks. I could almost be a physiotherapist cause i have done it all... the elbow was the worst fracture... it required surgery and lots and lots of rehab.... and of course, as a professional musician, it's been a challenge....but I did all I needed to regain my mobility and strength. ... Also, I am ambidextrous, which has been very helpful as I have been able to favour one side or the other depending on what bone i would break... but yeah... hopefully I am done falling on the ice or in potholes

 

[CoyoteChris]

My brother fell on my left wrist and broke it when I was maybe 7-9 years old. I dont remember much except a neighbor drove me to the ER (mom didnt drive and we only had one car anyway). They took xrays and put a cast on my lower arm almost to my elbow IIRC. Clothes and baths were awkward but the pain really wasnt too bad...I think I had the cast 6 weeks and they cut it off. I remember my arm wanting to rise and having to hold it down for a bit after the cast came off. No lasting effects, thankfully....