Wrist injuries

[scotts250]

Since I got the cast off my left wrist, I've slowly gotten the range of motion improving but I have had very little progress in my ability to roll my hand over palm up. I can get a little past half way now which is better than it was but not much.
It doesn't hurt as much as when I bend my wrist, and even using my other hand I still can't get much past half way.
Anyone have any experience on what I can do to help loosen it up?
Doc. told me to come back 3 weeks after getting the cast off and he would decide then if I needed P.T.
Thanks

 

[Milk]

Stretch it. Stretch it. Then stretch it. Then stretch it a little more. I betcha its just your muscles that are super tight. Keep stretching that and it will loosen up.

Milk

 

[joey26]

After I got my cast off my wdrist was a little stiff, I did what the doctor told me to do but it wasn't working very well and was still fairly tight. I found the best was to loosen it up was to just bend it real far and hold it for a little bit. It would hurt for a while then but after a few hours it had loosened up alot.

 

[ktmracer]

broke my right wrist two weeks ago, and had surgery last week. two pins to hold together the socket of the radius. i am looking at about 6-8 more weeks with the cast on. were there any exercises (with the cast on) that seemed to speed recovery??

 

[Jaybird]

Get a tennis ball and squeeze it all the time. Carry it around with you.

 

[scotts250]

Sorry to hear about your injuries....I got the casts off last Tues.
My right arm didn't hurt much at all so I used it quite a bit and didn't loose much mass already getting stronger good range of motion. My thumb was in the cast so my thumb feels weaker.
My left arm had 3 screws, a plate, and pin holding the pieces together. I got lucky, 6 weeks after surgery they took x-rays, pulled the pin and said to start trying to get some range of motion.

I still have some nasty bruising on my forearm and it's just now starting to get less sensitive/tender. It was tender for the first few weeks and I had to keep it propped up or it would burn like hell. Pretty weak and punny in the forearm now. And to think of all the time I put into riding so I would rarely get arm pump. Bet that's over!

As far as doing anything while in the cast, just work your fingers as much as possible make a fist. I had some clay from P.T. for a rotator cuff which seems to help.

I just hate not being able to get right back out and do some stuff.
Going to strap on some wrist braces and go ride waverunners this weekend.
I rode them a couple of times with the casts on. Just had to hit them with the hair dryer.

I found where the muscles in my arms went.......to my gut......Maybe it will keep me closer to the ground....

 

[Shift-MX]

I broke my wrist about oh say 7-8 weeks ago. Had to have surgery and had 2 plates and a gazillion screws put in. Im allowed to ride in about 2 weeks (6 weeks after surgery). I had a few excersise given to me to increase the amount i can rotate my arm and to increase strength

Rotation exercise:

1. grab a hammer, not to big of one
2. grab about 4 inchs down from the head or to where ever feels comfortable
3. rotate your hand back and forth ten times, do this about 3 times with a minute pause in between sessions.
4. the farther out from the head of the hammer the more resistance.

Strength:

1. Get a 2-4 pound weight (what ever fits your needs) and do hand curls
2. Do 3 sets of 10

Thats about it...the only reason they wont let me ride isnt because of pain or lack of movement...its because i could possibly "rattle" the screws out. You have to wait until you have enough scar tissue covering the screws. Dont ride until the doctor tells you you can. or youll regret it.

 

[mx547]

Originally posted by scotts250

I found where the muscles in my arms went.......to my gut......Maybe it will keep me closer to the ground....

haha. using that logic, i should never crash. i have determined that for each broken bone, i gain about ten pounds. i just broke my fifth bone riding, can you guess how much overweight i am?

 

[scotts250]

Shift-MX: Thanks for the info. I have been doing hand curls with 2lb weights on my left which is getting easier, just limited range still. I will try the hammer excercise for the rolling of the hand. Yeah the doc. said not to ride the bike until before my next visit, in about 2 weeks. Don't want any screws backing out, that would suck.

mx547: I feel your pain, I have to work hard to keep it off or to get rid of it again. It's tough getting old, and I don't get a lot of excercise if I'm not riding. Been riding the bicycle again.

 

[ktmracer]

thanks for all of the helpful info. i will have to try out those exercises and give you guys a progress report. just cant wait for everything to get back to normal.

will

 

[Jaybird]

I've got a cool plate in my left wrist. It has four woodscrews holding it on. It makes a great conversation piece.
I once had this drunk chick feel for the screw heads, and when she did feel one of them and realised that it actually was a screw head she screamed! LOL...great fun!

LOL, Jay...fat AND old huh? :)

 

[scotts250]

They say chicks dig scars.....well not after you marry one. Then scars mean just the opposite! But then again I guess her status has changed from chick to ......... but she puts up with it anyway.

 

[wy4tt]

about 9 months ago i crashed and fractured my scaphoid (bone at base of hand/wrist) and i had a full arm cast for 6 weeks, then a lower arm cast for another 6 weeks. spika, so the thumb was cast too. let me tell you, when they finally took that last cast off, it looked like someone had stapled a piece of spaghetti to my shoulder! sucks! i've done pt, and have been working out for months now, and it's still not quite up to par. an anti-inflammatory can help too. vioxx is a great one to try, if ya haven't already. miracle drug. anyway, good luck.

 

[scotts250]

Been taking VIOXX, and doing self P.T. until I go in for my next appointment which I had to postpone for a week due to a business trip.
Over the last 3 weeks since I got the casts off, I've been doing lots of stretching, hand squeezes with clay, and some 2lb wrist curls/extensions on the bad wrist. The right wrist is just slightly tender at the extreme ends of motion or under a impact and most of the strength is back so no problem there.
My left wrist is coming around, I have about 65%-70% range of motion back, and I can start to see some of the muscle mass starting to come back in my forearm. Still pretty weak and stick like though. I'll find out next week if the Dr. thinks I need to go to P.T. I figure I'm doing an okay job at it by myself, but I'm going to wait for my next Dr. visit to ride my bike again since the Dr. told me not to load my left wrist too much until I come back for another follow up.
It's been 9 weeks yesterday since I injured myself.

I just had to fly on an airplane for the first time since the new security measures etc. Was pulled aside and searched at a couple of airports and at one the guy was pretty thorough and had the scanner set pretty sensitve. It would make a faint beep when he passed it over my left forearm. He saw the scar and asked me what I had in there. I can imagine the hassle if you had some serious plates etc installed say in a femur or some place under your clothing.

Hang in there WY4TT, took many months for me to build up my left calf after 12 or so weeks in casts, but it did pretty much come back with time.