I had a trip over the handlebars bars last Wednesday and had a pretty harsh landing, turns out I’ve fractured the scaphoid bone in my left wrist. As I’ve yet to hear anything from the hospital about how long I’m due to be in a cast, or recovery after that, I was wondering if anyone has done similar and what I can expect?

I went to A & E first thing the next day and they said there was no need to put a screw in it or anything, so I don’t think it’s bad.

6 weeks in a cast for mine, they don’t heal fast (poor blood supply apparently)

After that, back to riding cautiously fairly quickly but it still plays up 15 years later (I can’t ride rigid forks off road for very long or I get pain, and for long days I fit bar ends to allow me to have parallel wrists as that makes it more comfortable)

I have broken both mine (one skateboarding one snowboarding). Only had a cast on 10 days or so, the second one happened 2 weeks before a long-planned surf trip to Portugal so I just strapped it up with waterproof adhesive tape and toughed it out. Weirdly I think the paddling helped it heal, definitely got over that one faster than the first time.

They stay fragile for AGES after they have healed though. Small knocks and they hurt like ****. I didn’t ride a bike at all for at least 6 weeks and for a good while after that took it really easy.

Can be a long time depending on healing. I had one that took 12 weeks.

Listen to the medic on whether you are ready to get back on the bike or not

I don’t have any issues with it now

Cheers for the replies. The consultant at the hospital said the fracture clinic would review the x-rays and then notify me of how to proceed. Still haven’t heard anything but if they’re as short staffed as the A & E dept then that’s no real surprise.

Think I might invest in some sort of wrist support for when I do get back on the bike. I’m off snowboarding in Feb so will have to take it easy then too I guess.

Take your time with it, be nice to it and don’t over do it (like ride on it for two weeks before getting it diagnosed). A long story of woe and a bone graft and Herbert screw may follow if you do. Broke in August, riding again in March.

I went snowboarding in a cast three weeks after breaking scaphoid, 2 fingers, 2 metacarpals. I was very careful – hung the offending hand as far away from me as possible. ie not really very careful at all. But I did cancel the first snowboarding holiday almost three weeks previous, which would have been the day after the breaks.

I had a 661 guard for once back on the bike but rarely used it as the protection would have been minimal and it didn’t sit right for bar grippage

As above
* small bone
* poor blood supply
* takes ages to mend

Have broken both one was diagnosed immediately 3 months in plaster prob 18 months before it was unobtrusive.

The other one went undiagnosed had to have it re-broken grafted and pinned. That was 1996 hasn’t been right since

Good luck

Was in full wrist cast for 9 weeks when I did mine

4 months for me until I was given the all-clear.

For me it was 2 weeks in a splint before getting a cast, then 10 weeks in a cast. After 5 weeks the cast was starting to smell revolting and it “accidentally” got wet resulting in having to get another cast (and getting a chance wash the minging hand).

I had to take it easy for a while after the cast came off – no off road cycling or chopping firewood but swimming was great for rehab.

Not an injury I’d care to repeat!

Sounds like it can be a bit of a drag to get over it. Oh well, I have an appt. now back at the hospital this Thursday so interested to see what they say. With any luck I’ll be back on the bike soon but no point rushing these things.

Almost 30 years and counting here 😆

I suppose it might have healed quicker if I hadn’t waited 18 months to get it diagnosed. Was booked in for an op, but the consultant decided I was better off leaving it, and to be fair he was right – rarely have any problems with it now, or for the last 25 years (apparently it has cartilage grown around it holding it together). I’d recommend getting yours fixed properly though.

how did you lot wait so long to get it diagnosed? Both mine were so painful and my wrists totally useless. Straight to A&E!

Yeah I was straight to A&E, well when I woke up he next morning as it happened at 11pm at night. I got woken up by the pain at 5am and instantly knew something wasn’t right.

I couldn’t tell you which crash caused mine. I thought I’d sprained my wrist and months later a physio friend suggested it could be the scaphoid and to get it checked. Mine didn’t heal so eventually I had an operation. That was January and it was probably April before I was back on the bike.

Went to casually the day after doing mine, nothing on the x ray so spent two weeks manning up, “it’s only a sprain” before giving up and going back for another x ray to be told is broken. Then 3 months of the NHS saying it’s Ok, it’s healing slowly before they admitted the bone had died and it’d need a graft and screw.

i did mine at a Gorrick race, over the bars into a bombhole. Pete, one of the course designers was watching on as i did it egging me on to ride it even though I’d been completely stalled by the rider in front stopping and so it was inevitable that with no momentum I hooked up the chain ring, jacknifed the bars and went down.

I rode on about another half lap before realising that it wasn’t just a sprain and headed off to Frimley Green which is part staffed by Army doctors. Got seen by a no-nonsense Major who said he thought it was a scaphoid but if he pressed on my ‘snuffbox’ we’d soon find out.

With just a curtain separating me from the rest of the A&E department, they all found out at roughly the same time i did, give or take a correction for the speed of sound.

Maybe I’m just tougher than you lot 😉 Did it when I was 18, and thought I’d just sprained it – was using that hand to write in the afternoon (though it did hurt), and went to my canoe polo training in the evening – I did have to give up on that after 5 minutes as it was too painful, but I was back training the following week and continued kayaking including competing for the next 18 months. The only other sessions I missed were the couple of weeks I was in plaster after being finally diagnosed.

I’d jarred it falling off my bike so went to see my GP – he said he didn’t think it was broken but referred me to A&E anyway – A&E doctor didn’t think it was broken, but sent me for an X-ray anyway. Surprise all round when the X-Ray showed a crack, so if 2 doctors didn’t think it was broken (symptoms at the time were fairly similar to when I’d initially broken it) what chance did I have? I was also completely unaware at the age of 18 how easy it was to break a wrist and how non-obvious it can be. Though this year I hurt my other wrist and wondered for quite a long time whether I should go and get it checked, the level of discomfort was quite similar – if the pain had been where the scaphoid is I would have, but it was the other side – and after several months it is totally better, so was just a sprain.

Mine does seem to have been somewhat unusual though – I’ve never seen another report of somebody being referred for an op due to a malunion and then not having the op. I’m sure the consultant was right, by the time I went into hospital it had completely settled down and wasn’t causing me any problems at all – I think the two weeks in plaster helped a lot in giving it a proper rest and chance to recover, though I also switched to kayaking left handed which removed a lot of stress from it. As I mentioned, by that time it had also grown cartilage around the bone which stabilises it.

Anyway, if you get it diagnosed early and allow it to recover you won’t have to go through any of that.

8 weeks in plaster for me, but then i was riding again 2 weeks later…

titanium screw and 12 weeks in plaster

10 years later and it hurts everyday, just a bit mind but it’s getting worse slowly

The surgeon told me this could happen

Broke mine 20 years ago snowboarding, kind of ignored it and I shouldn’t have done, 5 years later I was living in the states, thought I had rsi turned out the scaphoid was broken and dead mri showed it totally grey. Surgeon wanted to operate there and then but I got second opinion from sports orthopod who essentially said leave it because a messed up Herbert screw operation is awful so just live with it. One day you’ll need a fusion, enjoy the next 10 years. It’s always been ‘there’ and I know how to live with it, until this year I decided to start riding off road after getting knocked off roadbike by car. Bought a jones bike because the bars made sense as did the posture, totally wrecked my wrist, pain every day, told to expect a total fusion when I couldn’t live with it anymore. Bought a bike with front suss and swept bars then it all got a lot better on both bikes. Rode around with wrist guards from 661, worked ok. Finally I took the jones on holiday after failing to sell it, needed a bike to take a child seat. What I realised was that maybe I should be gripping the bars super tight with loose arms, this changed everything for me, like everything. I now have super strong wrists and no pain, best it’s ever been. I think able roadies barely grip the bars so telling them not to grip had me basicallly no handed!

Think carefully about bikefit too, sweep angle and stack height.

On my odyssey I’ve spoken to 3 hand surgeons and a couple of people who have had operations and it’s far from a straightforward process and outcome. The surgeons know not everyone is good at that operation, it takes skill and practice. Be fussy about who works on it because I met someone who had the op done soon after injury and has very reduced mobility and lots of pain. Worse than me.

All this said one day my wrist will need to be fused solid so that’s not that great, but surgeons say it’s actaully really popular in the end because then it is finally ‘fixed’

Take care and ignore the ‘light touch’ on the bars, it’s nonsense, grip tight, it holds the hand/wrist bones together nice and tight

Did mine a couple of years ago, I was lucky in that it didn’t need any surgery to fix it back in position so was in a cast for four weeks, back on the bike in a very gentle way after about six weeks and back on it properly albiet with wrist guard after about three months. As per other stories the biggest problems seem to happen if you don’t get it properly fixed up to start with so give it the time it needs.

Fused solid as in no wrist flex at all? Ugh – definitely wouldn’t want that, it might be OK for biking and even for paddling, but pretty rubbish for rock climbing. Sounds like you’re in kind of a similar position to me, though as I wrote above I’ve been pretty lucky with the long term outcome (the only problem which makes any difference is a slight lack of mobility in that wrist – not good on some climbing routes, I think one of our new bouldering routes I can’t do because of it). Never had being fused mentioned as an option, though it’s 27 years since I last saw a medical professional about it – I do remember being told I would likely get arthritis by 30 but now 17 years after there’s still no sign of that, so I think I might make old age before it is a significant issue.

1 week riding with broken scaphoid, then after confirmation of break, 5 weeks in a cast then 2 in a splint. Back on bike this coming weekend 8 weeks after the initial break, which I’m overjoyed about. Doc says take it easy, keep it XC, and stay off the DH bike for a couple of months depending how it’s healing. Everyone’s different and every break’s different. Listen to your doctor but get a second opinion if you’re not convinced. Stay sane.

I was in a cast for 6 months when I fractured mine – worst summer ever! It was about 7 years ago, doesn’t bother me day to day anymore, but I have limited flexibility still.

Broke my right scaphoid several years ago in a small motorbike “tumble” 😆
I thought I’d just sprained my thumb or something, so carried on my shopping trip and called in at A&E on the way home.
They wanted to put wires in it, I just wanted to go home, reluctantly they put a cast on and told me it’d take longer to heal that way.
4 weeks in a cast, and about another 4 weeks before it felt near normal again.

What I realised was that maybe I should be gripping the bars super tight with loose arms, this changed everything for me, like everything. I now have super strong wrists and no pain, best it’s ever been.

This is really interesting stuff, thanks for posting! 🙂

@lexhorton have you tried other things like powerballs and those squeezey grip exercisers?