topic Re: Fall...wrist pain in Wellness

Fall...wrist pain

abigailsmom — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 23:56:41 GMT

I fell in Jan on my wrist. X-rays showed nothing broke. Dr put in splint for a couple weeks. Still in pain. How long should I wait before having it checked by a hand dr?

Re: Fall...wrist pain

lolakimono — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 00:04:25 GMT

@abigailsmom

That is too long.

Is it swollen?

Re: Fall...wrist pain

abigailsmom — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 00:07:30 GMT

No swelling. Just pain...in the wrist area and pain moving fingers around.

Re: Fall...wrist pain

lolakimono — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 00:32:48 GMT

@abigailsmom

This is MY personal experience only.

1) I had a slip and fall on black ice, and on the way down I used my wrist to brace the fall so that I didn't crack open my head.

2) I felt immediate pain, which turned to swelling, and lasted for several days. My fingers were almost touching, they were so swollen (think of the Hamburger Helper hand). I had x-rays, which showed no break, and later, a bone scan (radiation) to detect any bone fragments.

3) Within a week, I had seen an orthopaedic surgeon, who said it was probably a "really bad sprain", which in his expert opinion can take longer to heal than a clean break. I was leaving to go on vacation abroad, so he put it in a double cast to protect my wrist from further damage. As soon as my wrist was in the cast, the pain disappeared.

4) When I returned from my trip, he cut the cast off and it started THROBBING again. He sent me to OT, 3X a week, because between the brace, the sling, and the cast, my (dominant) wrist had been immobilized for too long, and he was worried that I would end up with a "claw."

5) Doing the OT exercises caused MORE pain, and the swelling only went down while I was iced.

6) After week 2 of OT, I asked him to order an MRI. At week 3 of OT, I went for the results, which showed a TEAR in my TFCC.

7) He referred me to a HAND SURGEON, who handles this kind of tear a few times a month, whereas my orthopaedic doctor only saw about one of these in a year.

The optimum time between an injury and the surgery is within 3 months, to get the maximum mobility back to the injured hand. (This is information directly from the hand surgeon.)

8) I had more than 3 months between my fall and the hand surgery, but he was able to correct the problem with a scope rather than through "open" surgery.

I had ANOTHER cast, and when that was cut off, I again entered OT, for 3X a week for 5 months, until I was discharged.

This is my dominant hand, so as a teacher I needed to be able to write (well) with it. There are many things I will never do again with my wrist because of the scar tissue and difficulty bearing weight/repetitive movements.

About two years after the surgery, I followed up with a hand surgeon outside of my network. He gave me a cortisone injection into the joint (insert expletive from the pain) and said that scar tissue can take between 5-7 years to break up.

I have to baby my wrist now, and it will never be like it was, but I did have the good fortune to get to a hand surgeon for a proper diagnosis and correction.

Don't wait any longer to get answers. It might be that you need an MRI to see the total picture.

Re: Fall...wrist pain

MaggieMack — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 00:39:05 GMT

It depends on the actual damage done, only a MRI will tell. I tore my MCL, it hurt like heck for the better part of a year. They don't usually operate on those. That was almost three years ago. Get an MRI and be prepared to be patient.

Re: Fall...wrist pain

ChynnaBlue — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 02:20:47 GMT

"Still in pain" is pretty general and I have no idea what that means, but I can tell you my experiences. I've had three fractures and two sprains and the sprains have both hurt much more and much longer. The throbbing lasted longer and it hurt no matter what I did. While the general pain was over in a few weeks, it still hurt if I flexed too far or put pressure on it, like using my arm to push off a sofa or bed or pick up something heavy. That pain lasted much longer, but wasn't nearly so bothersome.

I would go back to the doctor who treated you before (if it was your regular doctor) and get it checked out and ask her or him if you should see a specialist.

The last time I had a sprain I was out of town and went to a hospital ER out of town to make sure it wasn't a fracture. They put me in a splint and it still hurt a lot a week later and I had pain that radiated up to my elbow, so I went back. The ER doctors diagnosed some weird thing (not a fracture, break, or sprain), had a bunch of med students come in and look at my weird "very rare" thing, put me in a whole cast, and sent me away. I was working at a summer camp and on my next day off, I drove home and saw my mom's orthopedist. He told me it was just a regular sprain, removed the cast I'd just had put on, gave me a prescription of vicodin to take for a week, and told me that if I was still in pain threeweeks later, I should come back. If I felt better, he said he wished me well and I had no reason to come back. I never went back because it stopped hurting three weeks later and was just weak and only bothered me when I over stressed it.

Re: Fall...wrist pain

hckynut — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 05:02:34 GMT

How long should wait? Long enough to get to a phone and set up an appointment with a Ortho doc that specializes in that part of the anatomy.

Pain is relative. What is pain for one person, another person may not even notice it. You can never go wrong with ICE, swelling or no swelling.

hckynut(john)

Re: Fall...wrist pain

Big Sister — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 07:48:17 GMT

@abigailsmom Until you can get to a hand/wrist specialist, get a wrist support from your local drug store. I just bought one yesterday for my ankle.

When I fell several months ago on my left side a friend took me to the urgent care clinic. X-rays showed no break in the ribs. The pain got worse and I had x-rays taken at another location about one week later and they showed I had fractured two ribs.

Re: Fall...wrist pain

chrystaltree — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 17:37:28 GMT

Yeah, I am shaking my head over this one....lol You should have gone back for a repeat xray or an mri 2 weeks after the injury if you were still in pain. A bad sprain can be much worse than a clean break and sprains take longer to heal.