Mrs Earl has fallen and done here wrist in 3 days ago. All swollen and bruised. Saw GP today who told her to go to A&E which she did and got a xray. Nothing broken. But its it still hurts like a bit*h. Can’t do the washing, cant change a nappy, cant ride. I assume there could be ligament (or other) damage.

What should she do now? Back to GP and request a MRI? How long will that take? Get a MRI privately? I assume she would have to see a private consultant first which is extra cost.

Any advice much appreciated.

leave it a bit longer? You cannot expect an injury to get better in three days

It’s a 3 day old wrist injury where nothing is broken.

Why not wait for it to heal up a bit and do the washing and change some nappies to help out?

Then if things don’t improve, go back to the GP and seek further advice…

Get the frozen peas onto it and try a tubigrip too.

I.C.E.

Ice
Compression
Elevate

Give it a few days rest. If its not improving, seek further advice from GP. I had a couple of bad wrist sprains a few years ago (goalkeeping) and they are forever playing up now, always wondered if I’d done more damage and it didn’t heal properly.

Healing vibes in the direction of mrs Earl

If not settled by 7 days post injury see your GP and ask for a referral to fracture clinic.

For now rest it, regular painkillers (brufen and paracetamol good as any)

Wouldn’t MRI a wrist at this stage with an acute injury.

Other thing to add is certain fractures (scaphoid esp) may not be apparent on an initial XR.

Hope that helps.

James
(someone who says a whole lot on injured wrists on a weekly basis!)

Give it a week or two- Mrs Earl has probably torn ligaments rather than broken the bone.

I fell off my bike back in October and ended up in A&E the next day with an extremely sore and swollen left wrist. It wasn’t broken – and it took two sets of X-rays to prove it as everyone (me, consultant, nurse) thought it was. Given a splint and sent home. Was as sore as anything for a week – and I was tempted to go back – and then the pain started to ease a bit. Was OKish after two weeks, but biking was agony for 6 weeks or so.

Came off my bike last year and ended up having an x-ray on my wrist cause I was in agony. It was just soft tissue damage in the joint and took over a month before I was pain free.

crashed road bike in January, pain was so bad after 3 weeks seriously thought i’d broken it. Couldn’t do anything including getting out of the bath. (had to role onto stomach and press up push myself out). Started taking ibuprofen 4 times day and it has taken about 7 weeks to get nearly back to normal.

It will heal it will just take alot of time.

Thanks for all the advice. She is semi-confident that the xray didn’t show a broken bone.

However she is flapping a bit. If it is something as serious as a torn ligiment, is it better to get it sorted sooner rather than later?

Most problems will right themselves.

Even if there was a significant soft tissue injury initial treatment would be rest then physio.

Only if there were persistent problems would it be worth pursuing.

I.e. Chill and give it time – at least 7-10 days rest minimum

Thanks jet26.

What jet26 says.

The one to watch for is the scaphoid. Broke mine riding Fixie 30yrs + ago. Still hurts. Google anatomical snuffbox. If that is really tender she may well have a scaphoid fracture which hasn’t shown yet. So if it is still painful next week seek help.

+1 Stoatsbrother. Its easy to miss a fractured scaphoid on x-ray.