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Recovering from a broken wrist

rolsen

19-Aug-2004
11:59:14 AM

Has anyone had any experience recovering from a broken wrist?

I'm interested in how long it took to get strength and range of movement back, as well as training used.

I broke my radius skateboarding (no laughing). Apparently it was quite a bad one, the top broke off diagonally, into lots of bits. commuted??

The plaster has been off two weeks now, and I'm still quite weak and lacking range of movement, rotation and also bending the hand backwards.

thanks,
Richard

dalai

19-Aug-2004
12:10:28 PM

Skateboarding's great!! The only issues nowadays being old is that when I fall down I stay down hurt unlike when I was younger, and then there are all the 12 year old punks who skate ten times better than I do...

Sorry Richard, fortunately haven't broken my wrist skating yet so can't comment there!

IdratherbeclimbingM9

19-Aug-2004
12:22:26 PM

I broke my wrist skateboarding (back in 1986), but not as badly as your break sounds.
I am no expert but based on my experience I found;-

rolsen 19/08/04 said
>I'm interested in how long it took to get strength and range of movement back, as well as training used.

Although I climbed soon after the plaster was off, and had been doing chin-ups etc while plaster was on, it took probably the better part of 6 weeks till I 'generally' did not notice it twinging while I loaded it in certain ways. The range of movement came back quicker than that because I did exercises like 'tracing the alphabet' in the air with my finger/hand to break down the extra bone tendrils that form around breaks in the healing process.
I also did a lot of surfing at that time and noticed the 'twinge' while getting to my feet on a board (from the original push up movement).

Although its rare, 20 years later I still occasionally notice the odd twinge when my wrist is loaded in certain ways climbing...

Ahh the memories; death wobbles while speed boarding a 3km downhill giant slalom (sp)

rolsen

19-Aug-2004
1:05:36 PM

On 19/08/2004 dalai wrote:
>Skateboarding's great!! The only issues nowadays being old is that when
>I fall down I stay down hurt unlike when I was younger, and then there
>are all the 12 year old punks who skate ten times better than I do...
>

Yeah, Ive been skating for about 15 years - the 12 year old punks were impressed by the shape of my arm though!

AlanD

19-Aug-2004
9:46:19 PM

My climbing partner broke her wrist last year, playing softball. She quickly recovered her strength but had lots of trouble with under clings, actually she started indoor climbing while the cast was still on. 8 months later she had the wrist re-examined and they found she had done some cartlidge damage. Subsequently she's had a cortisone injection which has allowed the cartlidge to repair itself and she's back climbing with only the occasional twinge.

rolsen

5-Nov-2004
1:35:59 PM

Update (for reference):
I have finally started climbing again, four months on. My wrist is still quite sore in some positions but at least I'm out there. Oh, and its good to have an excuse up your sleeve, or it that poking out of your sleeve.

Richard

IdratherbeclimbingM9

5-Nov-2004
1:47:08 PM

On 5/11/2004 rolsen wrote:
>Update (for reference):
>I have finally started climbing again, four months on. (snip)
Glad to hear it.
Be careful not to overdo it 1st up.

elmo_lives

5-Nov-2004
3:37:58 PM

Thats cool to hear that your climbing.
I broke my wrist as a whippersnapper (skating). Unfortunately I didn’t start climbing until a few years after it healed. The problem with this is that the tendons have wrapped themselves around some bone as a natural cast. When it healed I should have stretched them until they would go back to normal or something like that (I’m no expert.) This currently restricts my hand movements and affects my climbing, even though the bone itself has fully healed. The lesson? Stretch your wrists regularly, always seek a specialist, beware of what an ice axe strap does to a frozen and fragile wrist during self arrest and NEVER expect the Spanish inquisition.
Peace

rolsen

5-Nov-2004
3:44:57 PM

On 5/11/2004 elmo_lives wrote:

>The lesson? Stretch your wrists regularly, always seek
>a specialist,

I'm trying to remember to stretch although the "specialists" aren't much help!
My wrist doesn't bend back too far but I hope it will continue to improve.

I have been doing light weights as well. I can't do a push up properly (not that I really want to!) as my wrist won't bend that sharply nor is it strong enough. I haven't needed to use palming (or God fobid) mantle moves yet but I imagine I would struggle.

Thanks for the support,
Richard

oh, if you saw me shaking one foot above my gear on Sunday you'd know there is no need in telling me to take it easy!

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