Hand Therapy

[Caz28]

I broke my wrist, badly, multifragmentary fractures, back in January. Got excellent treatment at a&e and got away without having surgery. My hand is still very stiff and I get a lot of pain down the ulna side, although it was the radius I broke, there is a shortening of the radius and they tell me pain on the other side is normal. I am using my hand a lot more now and doing my exercises at home. The problem is every time I attend the hand therapy session at hospital I got a lot of pain in the back of my hand, it lasts for days and stops me using it as much. I've told the physio about it but she didn't seem too bothered and told me to take pain meds! I've started to dread going.

[RAYJAYC]

Maybe ask her how long the 'after pain' should last as it's affecting your life more now? Kind of 'put her on the spot' but for the right reasons!

If it's putting you a step back from how you were healing beforehand then surely the sessions aren't much use!

Do you take any pain relief generally for it or only need it after physio? My physiotherapist always asks if my session caused any 'payback pain' because if it does, then that next session needs to be different or more gentle. Obviously, moving, exercising or manipulating any injured and recovering area can be a little sore but if it's making it worse then I'd think the physiotherapist needs to rethink her approach; textbooks and theories are great but one size doesn't fit all!!

RAYJAYC

[Caz28 in reply to RAYJAYC]

Thanks for your advice! When I saw her today she wanted to increase the resistance on the machine they use, so I disagreed and explained what had happened again, I said I thought it was counter productive and she didn't seem too impressed! Her reaction was, you need to work through the pain! I don't take any pain medication now, on a normal daily basis I can cope with the level of discomfort, I just need it after physio! So far, so good since my return, but I think that's only because I took control.

[johnsmith]

I have had the experience of breaking my wrist so know at first hand the massive amount of pain you can get after the break has healed. The pain is due to muscles shortening. To reduce the pain to zero you have to get the muscles to lengthen out. This can take months. You need appropriate exercises to help stretch the muscles. You will the help of complementary practitioners to stretch some of the muscles so that you can get full strength in your fingers.

Physios on the NHS will waste your time with one size fits all. You going to need to network to find a physio who has an understanding of what is needed to be done.

It is painful work to stretch out the muscles. See a yoga teacher they may be able to help with exercise instruction. The exercises are painful. You have to handle the exercises with care. See a sports massage therapist they may be able to help.

Hope this helps

[Caz28]

thank you for the advice!