I broke my wrist/hand just over 4 weeks ago, I had my plaster taken off on Wednesday. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about recovery exercises. Or want to share their experience of recovering.

Get a Powerball and use it every day.

I suffered quite a complicated fracture of my ulna when I was 18. Pinned and plated etc, hurt on and off and three years. Two weeks after buying a Powerball the pain went and has never caused a problem since.

Looked into and they look good and cheap so I will pick one up today.

I am also thinking of getting a wrist guard/support maybe 661?

Got a 661 wrist guard after I broke mine. Had pain for months after. Still cautious about landing on it. Have taken some bumps on my shoulder through avoiding putting hand out in tumbles.

+1 Power ball, power putty is good too. I also stabbed a tennis ball and got squeezing that. Broke the head of the radius snowboarding and was climbing (cautiously) 3 months later. Oddly it’s the other wrist that gives me more grief now. I find glucosamine helps too, others might tell you its pish.

My unbroken wrist has less movement now (nearly 50 y/o) than the one I broke 7 years ago…

Hi 5 bro 8)

My question too.

Powerball. Follow the physio instructions to the letter.
4 weeks is pretty quick for the cast off – was it plated?
Mine is still quite sore at the limits of movement, I’m down on muscle and power and endurance and it’s quite stiff in the morning but then I’m at an age when things are stiff in the morning …..well, some things …

Progress is not linear, ie every few days it feels a load better rather than each day is better. Suddenly I realised I could lift the full kettle and I couldn’t do that last week, etc. Physio has signed me off with 90% movement and more to come. Happy with that.

Good luck!

At four weeks the bones have not yet healed. The purpose of the cast is both pain relief and to align the bones as it heals. So you still need to be very careful

4 weeks isn’t long so I would assume not a bad fracture?

I broke my left one 3 years ago was in plaster 6 weeks. Out of cast it was pretty much back to normal straight away, I just did simple exercises to increase mobility, not strength. Mrs FD is an orthopaedic surgeon and didn’t let me back on the bike for 3 months as apparently fractures take 6-9 months to heal properly

It’s currently broken again at the moment going back on Monday to see the consultant.

Don’t wear a wrist support, once the bone is set you need to get as much range of movement as quickly as possible. I broke my right wrist in 3 places when I was younger I’d say a month after having the cast off it was almost right, take about 6 months to feel very strong again. My left arm is in Cast right now for 2nd time this year, the first time the cast came off I rode my bike the same day. Get it moving but don’t over do it, pain is your guide.

I saw a consultant at a different hospital and had my cast taken off after 3 weeks instead of the 6 stipulated by the surgeon. Each does it differently but he told me that it would be immediately obvious if what I was doing wasn’t conducive to proper healing.

If it hurts a bit, it’s probably fine. If it REALLY hurts, stop what you’re doing.

I broke my wrist in mid feb this year , had to have a metal plate fitted and 8 screws. i was back on the bike mid april and riding trails again by mid may, im still seeing physio and having ultrasound therapy to improve the movement ,im at about 65% strength /movement at the moment but that’s better than the original 5% I had in april:)

good luck with the recovery

It wasn’t bad. Scaphoid and hamate but neither were displaced. I’m already enjoying the the powerball. I’m glad to hear that others have felt pretty much what I feel in terms of pain, stiffness and mobility. I’m using the splint I was given as little as possible.

You lucky barstuard, my scaphoid still hasn’t healed from last November.

So I’m now doing 8kg free weights in the gym using a traditional medical wrist support in conjunction with the 661 support. I only get mild ache. The powerball is working great definitely improving my grip and don’t use any wrist support while using it.

I can ride my bike comfortably on the road using the supports.

In terms of movement I have pretty much got 100% movement in extension, pronation and supination but flexion, ulnar deviation and radial deviation all need some work.

Any further advice or tips from STW?

I’d be careful! Scaphoids can take a long time to heal because of their poor blood supply (over 6 months in a cast for me!)- sounds like yours is a nice ‘clean’ break but I woulnd’t have thought any scaphoid break would be anywhere near healed within 4 weeks (I’m no doctor though!). They just take longer than other bones, I’d take it easy for a good few months at least as it’ll break easily until it’s fully healed.

Mine hurts for a week or so if I fall on it, or do press-ups, I waited a year before doing anything strenuous. Kinda worried it’s still broken!

Well I was really hoping to get back to riding by end of July and racing by end of August.

I’ve done both.

Don’t rush it you need that joint to be working for you for hopefully the next 50 or so years.

I found swimming a good strengthener as you can tune it to exactly as strong as you need.

The other thing I learnt is a good physio can inflict a lot of pain, way more than the break.

GWS but don’t overdo it.

It’s fustrating not being able to ride and race, but at the end of the day you don’t want it to affect your riding due to rushing it. Even if it feels fine, the scaphoid is likely to be very weak for quite a while. I didnt get back on the mountainbike until 50 weeks later (had it pinned though), and I cant even do more than 20 press ups without it giving me bother for a week! (to the point where I sometimes bandage it up again). We’re all different though, hopefully yours was a ‘better’ break than mine!

50 weeks

😯

Currently done 8 weeks in plaster, back next Tues for another check.

Really starting to pee me off now!

Strangely I got less pain on mtb than road bike. 661 support on mtb, strapping with tape for road. Still get a bit of pain 11months after initial break.

So just over 7 weeks since I broke my wrist. I went to the hospital today for a check up and the Dr said I can start riding again. He did suggest I will probably want support and padding to ease the discomfort.

Broke my wrist earlier in the year , scaphoid bone… in plaster for 9 weeks… still aches after a long ride, broke the other one a few years ago… took a good few months to get back to normal….