So just back from hospital and it looks like I have buggered by wrist by breaking / fracturing my scaphoid. By Jove it hurts.

This week at work was supposed to be driving round the country presenting at seminars. I’m guessing that is out.

So what, other than strong Painkiller’s, awaits me? Guessing too that the bike & running I’d out of the question for the foreseeable. Quite frankly, balls.

Which hand and are you right or left handed?
If it’s your good hand then time to learn how to do a lot of things badly for a couple of weeks.
If your in a pot and able to move no reason you can’t be got round the country (train/taxi) and keep working. Broke thumb and ran a training course the next day while hand swelled up like a balloon.

If you can balance it then a trainer isn’t a bad option.

If it’s your good hand then time to learn how to do a lot of things badly for a couple of weeks.

Though on the plus side it feels like somebody else is doing it.

what wiping your arse?

Have you got a splint on it? I had mine in a splint for 6 weeks (although it took 2 weeks to identify the break) and was able to do quite a bit but stayed off the bike.

When I did get back on the bike I had to contend with the mind games that the brain plays on you whenever I rode for the next 4-5 months. The physio says the brain sends additional signals for you protect the recently broken parts, even though they’re perfectly usable! Put me right off my rad cross country riding style it did…

Can be a right bitch of a bone to break due to poor blood supply.. This time 2 years ago I had a nice pink cast on my wrist.
Took about 3 months to get back to about 80% healed. I bent my wrist inward rather than an out stretched hand and tore some muscles/ ligaments too which still ache occasionally. Squeezing a ball and stretches helped when the cast was removed. Used a 661 wrist guard for quite a while after too. Hope yours heals quickly.

Took me over 3 months to get back to work, most of it physio. They also used an ultrasonic gadget to help the repair. Even after that I still had some hassle with it for months. Wasn’t as bad as breaking the collar bone tho.

Do your utmost to make sure the bone unites, if it doesn’t you’re potentially talking surgery to have a screw and a bone graft, I spent best part of a year faffing with different splints, I caught the injury too late though and surgery was my only option. I know a good surgeon in London, private though.

When I supposedly did mine they put my wrist in a cast that bend my hand as far back as it could go, and splayed all my fingers wide. Put paid to my summer student job of fitting kitchens. In the end it wasn’t even broken, they did that just in case, as the break can sometime not open up enough to see on an x-Ray.

Cheers guys. It is my right/good hand which, on the plus MAY mean I’ll be OK to drive. On the negative side it scuppers most other things.

Got a splint and drugs to keep me pretty stoned this week before going back to see orthapedic consultant.

You might want to ask your insurance company about whether you are covered to drive.. some will some wont.

Sorry to hear , but how did it happen?

Are they 100% sure it’s broken? – Doctors wanted to put my wrist in plaster for 6 weeks just in case but I said no chance. They relented and sent me for an MRI scan instead which gave me the all clear and I was riding again after a few weeks when the bruising had calmed down.

Broke mine in May, just approaching being back to normal. 3 months in plaster and plenty of physio to follow.
The physio was more due to the length of time in the cast rather than the break though.
Mine was detected the same day on x-ray, but on that one and the following two they missed an additional fracture in my capitate. This was only found following a private MRI scan. Not really an issue as the cast for the scaphoid held the capitate in position while it healed anyway.
I did some running, did my first 5k and 10k with the cast on.
If they put you in plaster get a waterproof cast protector, makes showering a lot easier.
Its crap, but you’ve done it at the right time of year, I just spent a summer of not riding. 🙁
Hope it heals well.

buy a turbo trainer if you want to keep any fitness – your cast will likely get sweaty and smelly but in my case they changed it every few weeks so it didn’t stay smelly long.
be prepared, the first few rides it will be sore, when you do start riding do it on the road where its less bumpy so less painful.
do the physio, it will hurt but will help.

My cast was on for 9/10 weeks and then first few rides in the following weeks were sore. Do the physio. It will get better.

* get it x-rayed
* wait for swelling to go down
* get it x-rayed again
* medics decide it’s not broken
* wait 1 month
* get it x-rayed again
* medics decide it is broken
* get it professionally broken followed by a bone graft and a pin put in it
* get used to 18 weeks in a cast (no driving, cover with plastic bag in the shower)
* get used to regular 6-weekly visits to the hospital
* get used to seeing your powerful sinewy arm wither away every time the cast comes off
* get used to not being able to bend your wrist backwards for 9 months after the accident

Good luck GWS

You’ll be needing some of these:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/broken-scaphoid-good-news-stories

Did mine last year. No time off work. All good now. Guess I’m one of the lucky ones!

You might want to ask your insurance company about whether you are covered to drive.. some will some wont.

I’m surprised any are happy if your wrist is in a cast – it has to reduce your control, and it would certainly be interesting if you were involved in an accident.

I drove when my wrist was in a cast (though not the first few days when also in a sling), but wouldn’t do so again. Cycling (on road) was fine though, as the cast took all the weight off my hand 😉

See also my “good news” story which shows it’s not a complete disaster even if it doesn’t heal properly http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/broken-scaphoid-good-news-stories#post-5110840

I did mine on my right hand a few years. Again they put me in a splint for 2 weeks and then diagnosed it as a broken scaphoid. I was in cast a total of 3 months but Im glad I was. Due to lack of blood flow as mentioned above some people have ongoing problems if they are only in a cast for 6 weeks so Id keep in a cast for as long as possible. I have had zero problems since and I went to Morzine riding 3 weeks after my cast was off. Check your insurance for driving, good practice is driving with two hands on the wheel unless changing gear…

Broke mine aged 13, school doctor missed it. 5 years later I’m getting fed up of strapping it up until fingers go blue for every rugby match and still feeling like it’s sprained every couple of weeks. Good old family GP takes the pragmatic route “Take yourself to A+E”. Screw and bone graft, about 9 weeks in plaster. Wrist doesn’t bend back very far at all, but other that that it’s good.

My 18-year-old self reports that the cast doesn’t stop you riding a bike or climbing (didn’t hurt at all in tension), although white-water rafting does require a new cast afterwards.

Broke mine a few years ago, missed on first x rays, told it was a sprain so after 2 weeks of MTFU went back, x rayed again, this time the spotted the break. Too late, after 4 months they decided after I had a bit of a rant to screw and graft it, further 3 months off bike and some private treatments from Brian Simpson. Now got almost full range of motion but if I jar it boy do I know about it.

**** the cast, refuse to have one perhaps… worked for me and got an air cast instead.

Spin classes are keeping me going i just rest my paw on the bars with a towel wrapped round it.

Just don’t catch your thumb in the loop whilst swinging your arm!

Don’t read horror stories on the internet,
I think it all depends where the bone is broken, the closer to the blood supply the better.
if it’s a small fragment at the end it’s more of a job.
Also depends on the width of the crack, if under a specified distance then it can be left alone.
In my case it was about half way but I needed a screw to hold it together, in and out in a day general anaesthetic.
After 2 weeks cast off then a splint for 6-8 weeks.
Best thing to do is to try and rest it and learn not to move your thumb when dressing etc gives it more of a chance.

Cheers everyone. Still got the splint on and taking 1,000mg cocodamol every 6 hours or so therefore little pain. Got appointment with ortho consultant Monday.

Frustratingly last week I was deliberating between a turbo or rollers. I opted for rollers…

I’ve broken the scaphoid in my right wrist twice now. It healed fine the first time but not the second and I’m now left with a non-union scaphoid fracture.

Does it affect me? Not at all, really.

Yes, it aches from time to time and if I jar the wrist it hurts like blazes but day-to-day I pretty much forget about it. I can still ride a bike, climb, and do all the other things that keep a man sane… 😯

No doubt it will give me trouble in the future but when I was told by my consultant 12 years ago that the blood supply was damaged and half of it had necrotised, I expected to be incapacitated by the time I was 40 (which was a number of years ago now!). Best advice was to keep active and maintain strong supporting musculature and that has served me well so far.

I post this only as a counter to any horror stories out there on the hysterical side of the web. Best advice though is as above – be pushy in getting proper care to ensure it heals properly. And good luck dude.

As above! Broke mine a few years ago, spent 5 months in plaster, over a summer when I would have much rather have been riding. Took up running instead, which I now know is alright but not a patch on bikes however your dress it up.

Now ride harder than I never used to, partly through fitness and partly through realising just how much I love bikes and want to enjoy them while I can.

Letthehealing take its course and come back better. At least you be done it at the right end of the year!