Broken Wrist

[Hallows]

I read all the posts from fellow suffers of osteoporosis. I fell on the ice three weeks ago and broke my wrist. Osteoporosis or not this could have happened. Just some advise about the pain! It is incredibly painful. I am taking paracetamol and ibuprofen regularly. Night time is the worst as the pain wakes me. I thought that it would have eased more than it had by now. Any advice? Is this normal? Doctor thought an operation post 65 is not always beneficial. I have arthritis in this hand too. Bloody old age!!!

[fraid]

Years ago I was told to keep moving my fingers when I shattered my humerus, weeks later they finally xrayed to find I had broken wrist too, plastered( no I didn’t drink then) don’t know if they do now but def.needs stabilising.🤔

What op are they talking about? Problem is every time you twitch a muscle in your arm if affects your wrist etc. all connected. Is it totally stabilised? Pain wise you need to talk to doc, I put up with so much pain for so long, wish I had spoken up sooner.🫤

Good luck 🤞

[Hallows in reply to fraid]

Thanks fraid, they considered putting metal fixings in. It is in plaster so can’t move about. Think I just expected the pain to have gone by now. I am just feeling sorry for myself! Back at clinic tomorrow so will see what they have to say. Thanks

[Fruitandnutcase]

Ouch! Like you say ‘bloody old age,the gift that keeps on giving’. I fell off my bed onto a wooden floor in January 2020 and broke both bones in my wrist. I was 72 at the time.

With the help of gas and air my wrist was pulled back into shape and fortunately I didn’t need an operation to pin it. I say fortunately because I had a discussion later with a hand physiotherapist and said I thought it might have been easier if I had had pins put in but she said definitely not! Apparently when that happens scar tissue is involved which is not good.

I can’t remember exactly how long I was in serous pain for - certainly for longer than I imagined and far more than three weeks. I’d say that’s early days for you. Night time I slept with it propped up on a pillow, by that time I had got our double bed to myself in case my husband leaned on it or anything.

Id say the big mistake I made was to keep wearing the sling for too long. I was told to wear a sling and keep my hand ‘up’ so I kept it up towards my shoulder all the time. I did move my arm up and down and I twiddled my fingers regularly etc but even then when the plaster came off my hand was a mess to look at.

It looked so awful that when I went for a 1to 1 session with my Pilates teacher before starting classes again she looked at my arm/ hand and said she had ‘ never seen anything like it - had I been offered an appointment with a hand specialist?’

I hadn’t, in fact when the plaster came off my pasty little arm lay on the table between a young doctor and myself and we both looked at it, I asked about physiotherapy and the clinic nurse who was also in the room, got up, went to a filing cabinet, came back and whacked a sheet of A4 paper with line drawings and instructions for exercises on it and said ‘that’s your physiotherapy’.

I phoned the clinic a couple of weeks later because things weren’t right - it didn’t hurt by then but it was ‘odd’. Unfortunately I got the wrong day - the clinic was dealing with knees and hips that day. Spoke to a nice young nurse who obviously consulted with the other one and came back with instructions that I had been discharged and if it wasn’t right to go to A&E! Well I was neither an accident of an emergency and as all that was right at the start of covid I did nothing. Then things got worse and I realised that my hand had developed CRPS - a very unpleasant condition.

To cut a long story short, by a strike of good luck I was eventually contacted by the osteoporosis physiotherapist because the class she was scheduled to run for people newly diagnosed with osteoporosis was cancelled because of covid. She asked how my wrist was. I said my wrist was absolutely fine but my hand was trashed and I was pretty sure I had CRPS - and that I knew I needed physio but my GP said she couldn’t refer me because of covid lockdown but that she had prescribed Pregabalin ( not for long because I really didn’t get on with it) Fortunately the osteoporosis physio got me started on desensitisation exercises and got me an online meeting with a hand physio which helped a lot.

I’d say

1. Don’t hold your hand up out of the way for too long like I did, I know they said to keep my hand elevated and it was very comfortable held like that but I’m not sure they meant for so long and in the end I don’t think that did my hand any good at all. In the end I’d been keeping it up for so long that I had to keep that hand in my pocket to stop myself holding it up towards my shoulder.

2. Keep doing the physiotherapy exercises you are given - hopefully you might even get to see a physio, I ended up paying to go to a private physiotherapist.

3. For a while I took paracetamol then two hours later I took ibuprofen so that I was always taking something then I gradually stopped the ibuprofen.

4. If, once the plaster comes off your hand doesn’t look right (you’ll know!) then keep on at your GP until they do something to help you or else find yourself a good private physio.

Hopefully things will get better soon but I’d say three weeks is maybe early days.

[Hallows in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

thank you fruitandnutcase for taking the time to reply. I will heed your advice. I am trying to keep the sling off and keep moving my fingers. I didn’t expect the pain to last so long. Hopefully things will start to improve soon.

[Farrah10]

Hi poor you and yes it is painful, I did the same in 2021 and it was the nerve pain which was most tricky.

It did improve after a few weeks . But if your not happy do seek a review.

I was told it can take up to 1 year to get back to normal getting better all the time.

I also have a slight bony lump now which they said is best left as surgery has its own issues.

I agree with fruitandnutcase!! Mine was exactly the same., keep doing the exercises. good luck

[Hallows in reply to Farrah10]

thank you Farrah. I think that broken limb pain must be underestimated!! You see people walking around with plaster casts on and have no idea of the pain they are in. I am going to the clinic later and will be having an X-ray. Let’s see what they have to say.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Hallows]

A year to get back to normal sounds familiar.

I had several X-rays while I was in plaster and I had three changes of plaster as the plaster became to loose. Then when it finally came off I had red marks where it had been too tight - the young doctor I saw did say ‘Oh your plaster was very tight’.

I think you have keep on at the hospital if you think something isn’t right.

Good luck at the clinic today.

[Hallows in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

thanks. Just googled CRPS. Never heard of that before. Keep well

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Hallows]

Something you definitely don’t want to end up with - it’s the weirdest thing ever and pretty horrible into the bargain.

[Holdingbacktheyears]

I broke and dislocated my wrist in 2 places and broke a couple of toes in Sept 2019. I fell down the steps of our caravan holding a large washing up bowl with thick plastic handles - my wrist actually broke one of the handles. It was about 4.30 pm and I could not move at all without fainting followed by being sick. It took until about 9.30 pm for the ambulance to arrive and 12 midnight before my arm was manipulated back into place having only gas and air for the horrendous pain. I took 2 solpadol 30/500mg 4 times a day to start with for the pain. I had the plaster off after 6 weeks my hand was absolutely useless. The consultant said to keep trying to press both my hands together as much as I possible or I would not get my use back. This was on a Friday and he booked me straight in for physio as a priority, by Mon afternoon I was at the hospital with a physio. It is absolutely essential to carry out the exercises as often as possible even though at first it seems like you will never succeed and that it is very painful. Some of my exercises were manipulating and rolling out a ball of plasticine like substance which were the less painful ones.

Like yourself I too have osteoarthritis in my hands , fingers, thumbs, wrists and elbows, When I next saw the consultant I told him how bad the pain was particularly in my thumb, he told me that for some reason people have more pain than others and prescribed gabapentin. I took the gabapentin for about a week and it worked really well but then I developed very bad stomach pains and had to stop taking it.

At present I still have a lot of pain which is mostly due to osteoarthritis and I am waiting to have 2 discs in my wrist / thumb area.

Perhaps you need some stronger pain killers but I would also recommend that you try wrapping a heat pad around your arm and hands as I find this gives me relief ( I don’t go anywhere without my heat pad )

Like you say bloody old age !!!

Look after yourself sending you my very best wishes for less painxxx

[Hallows in reply to Holdingbacktheyears]

hi. Holding back the years. Thanks for your reply. I will make sure I do the exercises when my cast is removed. I think you are right about some people experiencing pain more acutely. I am sure the pain will ease in time. Thanks

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Holdingbacktheyears]

Your accident sounds absolutely horrific Holdingbacktheyears. You were so lucky to get booked in for physio - your hand afterwards sounds like mine was - useless. I still do the exercises from time to time and we occasionally do them in my little Pilates class too, just to keep all our bits moving and flexible.

I’ve just remembered that I bought a thing called a TheraMit from Amazon. You pop it in the microwave. It doesn’t hold the heat for all that long but it gives a nice all over heat which feels good. There are two sizes and after reading the reviews I bought the larger of the two and my hand fits well into it so I’m glad I did. I also wished I’d had a hot wax bath for home use but I’d already bought a lot of helpful gadgets so I stopped at the TheraMit.

Hope once you have your discs fixed you’re in less pain. x

[Holdingbacktheyears in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

It seems like we had similar experiences Fruit and Nut and both still have a lot of pain in our hands and arms (I also a lump on my wrist). Like you said I was extremely lucky that I was sent to a really good physio so promptly and also that my accident was just before covid.

The TheraMit sounds a really good idea to give an all over warmth to my hands. I have tried a hot wax treatment but it soon wore off so the Mit sounds great.

Thank you for helping me snd I hope that things improve for you xxx

[HeronNS]

Are they checkin regularly to make sure bones are healing, and still in the right place(s)? When I had an ice related tibial plateau fracture a few years ago, with no bone displacement, I was x-rayed weekly and then, less frequently, for about six weeks total, I think. No, I didn't like the radiation exposure, but I think they use only a very small amount to check for any possible problems, which to my mind was worth it. I didn't need much in the way of pain relief but it's a lot easier to keep a leg stable than a wrist. I had what they call a splint, which immobilised the knee for a week or maybe two (can't remember) then they unlocked it so I could move it. No weightbearing for five weeks.

[Rosepetal60]

I had to have a plate put in when I broke my wrist and arm. Because the bones wouldn’t knit together. Not surprisingly as I had, had a previous break on same arm many years ago. (I’m 70) I had lots of X-rays and several plaster of Paris on & off my arm and wrist before getting to the point of having to have a plate put in. That was an interesting experience . ( which was last option). Think it took about 3 or 4 months and then physio. Now when I had a tiny bone break in my wrist about 12 years ago. I decided I would wear a Velcro splint which I had bought from a pharmacy some years previously. And I’m sure for me that did help support my wrist during the day. ( I took it off at night) I don’t remember bad pain with the wrist break. As I remember not going to A&E for three days as pain wasn’t too bad. But it’s possible I might have been taking a limited amount of ibuprofen. Hope this helps.