broke my 5th metacarpal, boxers fracture, crashing at ukge this weekend

gutted ,now in a cast been told 6-8 weeks, interweb reckons more like 4-6
anyone else out there done the same?
heal quickly, lasting problems ?

etc

cheers

Well if the internet says so…. 😀

cant answer your question, but if any one who can answer, could also answer regarding dislocated fingers I’d appreciate it.

Fell off last night and dislocated little finger, managed to pop it back into place on the trail, but now its stiff as a board, and moderately painful.

I’ve broken a few- both second metacarpals, a third, and I think both proximal phalanxes on the thumbs (that sounds bad- only one of them was from punching! Bike crashes and circle pits did the rest)

Anyway, never been casted up so I guess you’ve maybe broken it worse than me. Though one of my seconds is bollocksed, it displaced and healed in the wrong place so probably should have had it reset and casted, ah well.

Biking outcome- both the thumbs were from riding and I never stopped riding at all (well, I dropped out of a race for one, the other I stopped riding for several seconds while I climbed out of a tree), but moaned a LOT. The second metacarpals, I wasn’t riding at the time but I’d have been off for a month at least, 6-8 weeks probably, I had potatoes for hands. Absolutely no chance of just manning up, it wasn’t just sore, it was debilitating.

The main thing is good nutrition and not trying to use it in any manner which is unhelpful I’d have thought, though I gave myself sore kidneys briefly, from eating too much protein when I broke my wrist.

Sleep well, too, because that’s good for body recooperation and heeling and things.

The time away will make you appreciate riding again all the more. 🙂

Having broken several bones from fingers to big stuff over the years it’s typically 6 weeks for the bone to fully heal. The cast is there to keep things aligned while this happens. I’ve found that after about four weeks things are stable and the next couple of weeks are for things to “harden off”.

I broke two metacarpals (3rd and 4th), both fingers and a tiny wrist bone. Cast up to knuckles was 4-6 weeks, I forget exactly.

Hand was (and still is after 18 months) weaker – there isnt a great blood supply to that area.

Bones set slightly squint so I now struggle slightly with jars, screwdriver, etc, using ‘The Claw’. But it hasn’t noticably weaked for riding.

(They can’t really set the bones without an op to pin them but everything being equal one would not want to undergo an op because there isn’t much free room for a surgeon to digging around in there and there are nerves that need avoiding.)

Get one of those squeezy balls to build strength initially. I got a 661 wrist guard but didn’t need to bother with it after few rides

About 7-8 years ago I broke my two outer knuckles & fingers plus hand bones. Needed to be wired up internally & in plaster for a few months. The feeling of 30cm wire being pulled out had me on the edge of fainting, then had months of physio building the muscles back up and getting some dexterity back. Even if I knock it now it hurts, I often where armour gloves for riding. Hand has limited movement, I can only bend the broken fingers a bit, they dont do anything grip wise while riding.

Still, could be worse !

I broke a phalanx yesterday. Doc said 2 weeks with it strapped to its neighbour, then reviewed, when it might be better. It’s not a particularly bad one I don’t think, from my non-expert perusal of my x-ray when it was on the screen.

Thumb 2 1/2 months to full riding and that was due to a holiday/race booking that I wasn’t going to cancel. Strict instructions not to fall off so only did it twice.
Down side is that it’s not set properly and I’m still having problems especially on the road bike so make sure it’s right.

Lots of hand physio did all the excercises got out of the main cast early (physio direction) then worked with it.

As for dislocation did the finger tip, hurt like hell went solid, could ride but it was hard going (mega) got 95% movement back.

I broke a bone in my hand (metacarpal, I think). Doc originally said 4 weeks, then kept the cast on for another 2, so 6 weeks in total. I had cast from knuckles to almost elbow and as such, my muscles had all but given up in that arm. Took me quite a while to strengthen them up for lengthy rides.

Never broken my hand, but guy who works at my LBS broke both his legs a few months ago (motorbike) and now he’s back up again from not being able to even walk in just a few months! So you’ll be fine 🙂 I would say watch every film you ever wanted to watch, and make the most of it! And thanks for the cranks they’re awesome!! 😀

fractured both hands and neither were potted (long story), as a result took ages for them to feel normal again..many months before the twinge pains disappeared. breaks are a pain as the cast helps the healing but weakens the muscle, but would think thats quicker to recover from? (4 little girls and all that 😯 )

I broke my fifth meta carpal falling up the stairs at home 😳
Wasn’t put in a cast and carried on working and riding as normal. It was painful but healed fine.

Broke my 5th metacarpal near the knuckle, dislocated my little finger and had a tiny crack in my wrist some where (according to Peterborough hospital) in a motocross crash about 6 years ago. had a temporary cast on for a week then went to fracture clinic in Boston a week later, they took my cast off strapped my little finger to my ring finger and sent me on my way. Was back on a motocross bike two weeks later all strapped up and some pain killers. God I’m hardcore. 😀

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/broken-wrist-recovery

I Broke my scaphoid and hamate earlier this year, I have had pretty good recovery. Still aches a bit, but strength and mobility wise is great. Personally I think having the shortest time possible in plaster helped a lot.

4 weeks in plaster and I was riding 3-4 weeks after that

BPW, 4th meta in one hand and an avulsion mallet fracture on the index of the other (same crash). Got a cast at Methyr A&E and then had to go to my local, they took the cast off and gave me finger splints.

The metacarpal one was not much of an issue. It doesn’t move that much and so long as it’s not out of place it should heal easy enough. I just had a soft splint that keeps the adjacent fingers together.

The avulsion one was their main concern. It’s where ligament has pulled the bone and fractured it or worse come clean off. They insist on rigid splint for at least a month and then supposedly wearing splint at night for another month. Then needed physio as the finger won’t bend. It still doesn’t bend quite as it should after 5 months. Other hand also needed physio and still aches when clenching a fist. Physio was telling me how the fracture area builds new bone and can interfere with the normal running of tendons that slide over the bone there, so need physio to sort it out.

Anyway, about barely 4 weeks and I was back on the bike, still wearing the splints and using other fingers to brake with 😀 (no one told me I couldn’t ride yet, and I wasn’t going to ask). Proper riding by 6 weeks. I needed it really as it got my index exercising.

Bones generally take a few weeks to rejoin, but that is not the same as healed.

I am sure Mrs FD said it is something like 6-9 months before you are healed. Fall off before that and you are more than likely going to do the same injury again.

Indeed. Last fracture clinic I think was about 6 weeks after and they said it’s knitted together but wouldn’t really be full strength for a month or two, and then there’s any ligament & tendon damage on top which takes longer. Doesn’t stop you riding, just you decide if you accept the risk.

Given my crashes are through my own mistakes I try not to make the same mistakes again 😀

Demolished (dozens of pieces) my 3rd Metacarpal a few years ago in a riding incident, along with fracturing the 4th finger.
Went to a fracture clinic the morning after and was advised of needing it wired up; not practical, says I, am off to Spain on hols tomorrow. They put it in a cast and told me to come back the following week, so I cut the cast off at home and went ahead and enjoyed a week of riding in Spain.
The pain reduced very quickly after the first day and tying the fingers together outside the glove helped. On returning home, I attended the fracture clinic again as previously booked. Films revealed that the fractures were better than 2/3rd healed and doing fine, with no further intervention needed. I confessed and got a few raised eyebrows, to say the least, as the consultant had never seen healing that fast. I reckon that the vibration and movement of riding had stimulated bone growth and no, I’m no youngster; I was already past 40 by the time this happened.
I have a view that in quite a fair proportion of cases, casts are more about pain reduction than about promoting healing and in some cases can actually slow the natural healing process down. After all, we’ve had millions of years of evolution in the face of survival risks to develop mechanisms to cope with broken bones.
Hand is now fine, although that metacarpal is about 0.5cm shorter than originally. Good luck with healing, OP.

Broke my 5th metacarpal, boxer’s fracture, OTB at Nan Bield a year ago.

Back slab cast was annoying, removed by me after a month and gentle riding soon after.
Still twinges occasionally.

Highland man, you are rock!

I’ve broken the same radius 3 times, lesson learnt, don’t f****** overdo it on the bike too soon, it weakens it. Doa s they say, give it the 8 weeks, do the physio and by then it’ll be December/January and you won’t want to ride anyway.

Also broke a finger in the last crash, not the end of the world, didn’t tell the docs untill the checkup on the arm and they just said leave it as it was now a bit late to set it properly and why didn’t I mention it sooner (I was kinda distracted by the floppy arm on the other side).

highlandman – Member
I confessed and got a few raised eyebrows, to say the least, as the consultant had never seen healing that fast. I reckon that the vibration and movement of riding had stimulated bone growth and no, I’m no youngster; I was already past 40 by the time this happened.

I have a belief that exercising the affected area gets blood flowing and helps bone growth. So long as you’re careful and it doesn’t seem like you’ll do further damage. Keeping things in casts and splints for months causes more long term issues with muscles, ligaments and tendons in my experience. Doesn’t help that it can take ages to get appointments on the NHS to get casts removed.

well ive got a fracture clinic appointment in a week or so, hopefuuly get the cast off and a splint on

at the very least anew cast, i was out in the shed for a few moments sorting out some bike stuff to sell and the cast is looking even grimier now!

I have a belief that exercising the affected area gets blood flowing and helps bone growth. So long as you’re careful and it doesn’t seem like you’ll do further damage.

Six of one half a dozen of the other, some vibration is apparenlty good, too much is bad, mine was put down to too much too soon resulting in the bone being non-vacular (i think that was the term used, essentialy it was dead).