My lad is off to fracture clinic and possibly theatre this morning. Anyone had a metacarpal pinned? How was it for you?

it was alreet. the surgery lasted 3 hours

12 weeks in plaster afterwards, a small scar

no big deal

Mid shaft radius fracture, broken 18/12, repaired 28/12, healing currently. Plated but not pinned (pins are where they put the metal rod down the shaft of the bone).

Any idave tips for keeping weight off while doing f*** all excersise, and building bone quickly?

building bone quickly

avoid anti inflams like nurofen and ibro etc.

Good luck to the lad, the 12 weeks + recovery is the worst bit

tinas – you have 2 legs and 1 good arm, so I assume you could walk up hills, squat, lunge, ab crunch etc? Lots of possible ways to still exercise. Main thing is not to eat crap. But then you know that. Also some evidence that visualization can enhance healing.

Yes, same bone but on the thumb. It was dislocated too. It was GA, which I assume most pinning is because according to the doctor I had ‘we’re a bit rough with you’. Plaster for 6 weeks. The worst bit was when they pulled the pin back out with pliers.

Not pinned but broke my 5th metacarpal 2 weeks ago. Apparently mine was a clean break & well aligned – consultant said it was diagonal through the bone but i’ve not seen my x ray to compare. They just strapped my fingers together and sent me on my way.

Though when changing the strapping I found I’ve now lost mobility in my 4th finger & the knuckle on it is swelling like a goodun so i think something else may be amiss 🙁

Yes 6 years ago I go my left hand got caught in a large winch on a yacht, took three of my crew mates to unravel my mashed hand then flown off to a very nice hospital in Punta Alla. Plates were fitted, took 3 months before the plaster came off and took another 3 months of rehab before my hand was working normally.
No issues since then, a little ache when it’s really cold and damp, but all good considering the damage caused. Plates came out 2 years ago when I broke my fingers coming off my roadie at speed in Florence.

Yer lad’ll be fine.

He’s young (mid teens at a guess) so a little plate across that, splinted nice and straight by all the other bones so it’ll heal fast and not too long in plaster. Cool scar on the back of his hand (chicks dig scars).

Yes. I smashed the outer two metacarpals. Had a couple of pins sticking out of me for 3 weeks.

Advice ? It frakin hurts. Lots. Like somebody knocked you unconcious and hammered nails in your hand. I was fine for 12 hours after the surgery but once the good drugs wore off OMG. Agonising throbbing. Red wine helped, lots of.

Forget running for a few weeks thats a daft idea, the throbbing caused by increased blood flow makes that impossible. Turbo was manageable after about two weeks.

Try to keep it moving as much as you can post-op – I only have about 50% use of that hand due to scar tissue around the joints no amount of physio can help, can’t close the hand properly, grip strength very poor. The only available cure offered is to open it up again….

Yeah, eat well, for sure that will help loads.

Oh yes and the pin removal. I’ll tell you all about that, but might have to knock back a couple of shots of whisky first. You know those Kenny Everitt sketches where the doctor keeps leaving the room and coming back with a bigger set of pliers ?? Like the ones they cut people out of cars with ?? Had his leg up on the trolley for leverage.

When the second pin eventually came out, it had a fair bit of my flesh attached to it. I think I vommed at that point.

Butchers. And the w**k kept calling me “Mrs”.

tinas – you have 2 legs and 1 good arm

Brilliant. Sometimes all it takes is an expert…

The worst bit was when they pulled the pin back out with pliers.

Crikey Moses yes. 1 burly surgeon with pliers, and 2 very attractive junior doctors (clearly chosen for their “soothing” capabilities) holding on to my arm. The first one came out with a reasonable tug. The second required a bit of twisting.

They were perfectly understanding after wards when I asked if I could have a bit of a lie down.

EDIT:

It frakin hurts. Lots. Like somebody knocked you unconcious and hammered nails in your hand.

Oh yes – exactly what what I said too: “It feels exactly like someone has shoved 2 bits of metal through my bones.”

Thanks, don’t think I’ll be showing him this thread…

I know theres things I could do, but the problem is

a) sweat, the last plaster stank after 10 days inactivity, this one has to last 2 weeks. Hopefully the next will be waterproof/washable and I’ll beable to get aon a turbo.

b) motivation, I can’t ride a bike so there’s no imediate reward for doing anything, hopefully with 304 weeks to go and a washable cast I’ll be able to get on the turbo/spinning.

Broke half the bones in my left hand & fingers, its now as useful as Jermey Beadles withered stump.

All the best xxx

Spoony – get a sweat band to wear around the top of it to at least stop sweat running down into it.

Surely not getting fat / unfit is motivation in itself?

I’m sorry but LOL @Scruff

Tea on keyboard moment.

Broke 4th 5th Metacarpals and hamate in Nov 2010 – all missed on x-ray and healed incorrectly with mal-rotation (aka wonky fingers). In Nov 2011, had Corrective Osteotomy – re-cut bone, plate and 6 screws back together on little finger, and two more osteotomies to go 🙂

Anyway, my 2p here – 6 weeks in a cast and 2 days out, regained motion much much quicker than previously and my hand will be stronger than before. There are risks of surgery, but outcome is much much better than chronic stiffness and adhesions caused by prolonged casting. Athletes are treated aggressively with open reduction and internal fixation for a reason…

they put a new cast on this morning and will decide whether to pin it in a week.

I did the same break but to my wedding ring finger.

I did wonder whether they would pin it, but I just had mine plastered up & I was sent on my way.
If I make a fist now, the knuckle of that bone is now considerably lower than it used to be and my hand definitely doesn’t work as well as it used to; I find doing fiddly tasks with my left hand difficult now, which is a pain as I am left handed.

I wonder if having it all pinned back together would have prevented this, although it’s a bit late now!

And while I am passing on advice, some notes on the effects of codeine based painkillers, if taken in adequate enough amounts to slightly dull the agony (did my “weekends worth” in one morning, moved to the back-up meds procured in Spain after that, well OK after drinking myself unconcious, I did phone a GP pal to enquire after contra-indications of codiene and red wine “one glass or two will be fine” I am sure she meant hourly).

It doesn’t matter how much fresh fruit and veg you eat, water you drink etc, you will back up like a scottish rugby scrum.

I came off the back-up meds after 5 days in order to abort the unholy jobbie baby growing inside me. Took about 12 hours, but the pain was worth it. Things calmed down after that, and I lowered the dose and watched all the DVDs again, made much more sense that time, as did certain parts of Trainspotting.

Does hels remind anyone else of Blutone?

I’m convinced that codeine does nothing at all to dull the pain, it just makes you care less about it. And everything else for that matter.