Broken scaphoid ……a year ago!

Fell on my hand last december. Day after it swelled up to twice the size so went to A&e and they did an x-ray, said it wasnt broken, gave me a wrist splint, said it would hurt for a while and sent me on my way.
A week later I got a call asking me to go back for another xray ‘just to be sure it wasn’t broke’. Went for x-ray, consultant saind it wasn’t broken, but better to be safe than sorry.
It hurt for a good few months but I presumed this was normal.

Anyways..went to docs this week cos it was playing up again, she sent me for another xray…turns out it was broken and it hasn’t ‘united’.
No wonder I was in so much effing pain – it should have been in a cast for 8 weeks!!!
Radiographer that I saw yesterday also told me that they spotted the break on the first x-ray AND informed the consultant – who chose to ignore them!
So here I am 10 months on with a still painfull wrist and the possibility of surgery in the near future.
I’ve normally only got good things to say about the NHS – theyve put me back together a few times now, but I find this a bit hard to swallow….

Mild rant over

when I broke mine they spotted it and pinned it and cast it for 10 weeks. the doc who checked it said they can be hard to be certain are broken and he had met somebody once who came in with a sore wrist and recogised the guy had the same broken, he’d broken it 15 years earlier!

I ended up with 3 surgeries, deep joy. Nice scar and as you know chicks dig scars! No doubt arthritus will arrive later in life! 🙂

FWIW, I broke mine a few Summers back, had to wear a cast for 6 months, and it still bothers me quite a bit.

Similar situation myself, my fracture went undetected to nearly a year, after months in a splint it wouldn’t unite so surgery was he only option, luckily I had private health insurance so was well looked after by a great surgeon. I’m now well over a year post op and I still feel the odd bit of pain from biking, rigid forks haven’t helped, I also got a small lump appear under the scar, which I’m getting checked out, hopefully it’s nothing to worry about. Good luck.

luckily I had private health insurance so was well looked after by a great surgeon

who’s probably also a great surgeon when they do their day job with the NHS 😉

Notoriously difficult to spot. Notoriously difficult to heal.

I broke mine over 20 years ago. 3 months in plaster. Still get grief from it. Pretty sure I’ve re-broken it at least once, sometimes I can’t even lift my fork to eat my dinner!

Mate did similar, and has the same amount of fun.

Good luck 😉

Not broken but had scare a couple of months ago. The Xrays didn’t show anything conclusive though it didn’t look quite right which was put down to the bruising. The docs, consultants were great though as they were adamant they would not take a chance where a scaphoid is concerned, i did half expect to be sent away with some painkillers and thats it. Some hospitals good, some bad…. Still for “just” a badly bruised/over extended scaphoid it flippin hurt for a while.

Mine was similar. Not even sure when I broke it, but every now and then I would catch it and it really hurt. Three doctor’s visits over a couple of years before it was diagnosed and refered for surgery. Waiting for surgery was another 18 months. They put me under, cut me up and decided it was OK now so didn’t do anything. Seems OK now.

I landed on it again recently and went straight to the minor injuries unit. They seem much better at diagnosing this sort of thing as they must see loads every day.

Same here, was not spotted initially, so sent home with a sprain and after 3 weeks of failing to MTFU went back and was told I’d broken it, NHS stalled hoping it would heal but after 3 months they admitted defeat and grafted and screwed it. Twang it occasionally or catch my wrist on an edge and that hurts but other than that almost as good as new 10 months after the op.

Just wanted to post my story of a broken scaphoid as it doesn’t always turn out like the above posts.
I broke my left scaphoid about five years ago in a BMX accident. I recognised it was broken myself, as I have broken a few bones over the years, so went to A&E and told them it was snapped. They cast it within the hour, I rested it for three or four months (no riding at all) and then the consulant declared it healed.
I ride a lot and have fallen on it pretty hard a whole bunch of times since plus I do a fair bit of sledge-hammering for work too so it is thoroughly tested!
They are hard to spot as a break and they are prone to not healing without surgery but the outcome can be positive.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience BFITH. Good luck with the recovery.

Am actually about to phone docs for results of the xray I had last Fri.
I came of the bike about 3 years ago (practicing wheelies) and think I fractured a bone but never bothered having it checked. 3 years on it still hurts when I knock it or fall off bmx so I had it looked at. Probably tell me I’m a pillock and should have sorted it at the time but thats life.

I’ve currently got my wrist in a cast with a suspected scaphoid fracture.. the stories of years of intermittent pain fill me with dread.

the stories of years of intermittent pain fill me with dread.

9 years and counting 🙁

3 years next week. Hurts like a bitch when it’s cold and wet.

i have a similar scaphoid story took something like 4 months and 3 xrays to diagnose then a 6 month wait for an operation. Got a call one day ‘we’ve checked our records and would like you to come back in for an MRI’. Took a couple of years to get better enough to not bother me, but i still get the odd pain 4 years on.

Shit happens i suppose, best not to fall off your bike riding home pissed!

When I broke my right hand a few years back, they took an xray of my left hand to get a comparison. “So when did you break this one?” Er, no idea. “And how about this other break in your right hand” Um. Oh, I remember it was really sore for a while a couple of years ago…

Either as hard as nails, or retarded.

Broke my scaphoid the “worst the doctor had seen”, que cast for 3 months and total limitation of movement for a year. I’m nearly 5 years on and it still aches most of the time.

I have the inconsistent pain too. Seems to have healed though. Took a while to get back to full strength, and it still seems a bit weak sometimes. 🙁

Can I just add my slightly positive story? Sorry it’s a bit long…

I have a scaphoid malunion as a result of not realising I’d broken it myself at the time – I was 18 and didn’t think it could be broken as it wasn’t painful enough (I also broke it when saving a football playing goalie, so not the sort of thing you’d expect to cause a break). Hence I never sought medical advice – I even tried to go canoeing that evening as it was my standard session, though gave up as it was too painful (though I was paddling again a week later!) 18 months or so later after it never really healing properly and keeping jarring it and making it worse (I played water polo and canoe polo and it was my throwing/catching hand) I fell off my bike and landed on that hand resulting in a lot of pain, so finally I went to see my GP. He didn’t think it was broken, but referred me to A&E anyway. The doctor in A&E didn’t think it was broken but sent me for an x-ray anyway. Much surprise when they got the x-ray back – having driven to the hospital I had to get the bus home as my wrist was in plaster. 2 weeks in plaster (I thought that was standard for a broken scaphoid – surprised to see much longer periods quoted) helped a lot to settle it down, though the doctors did appreciate it was an old injury which wasn’t going to heal, so I was scheduled for surgery. In the meantime I got a wrist brace which I wore most of the time and had some physio, the combination of which actually got rid of most of my functional problems.

A few months (IIRC) later I went into hospital. Spent the night before surgery in the morning and got as far as having the wrist shaved ready for incision when the surgical consultant came on his pre-surgery round. A long discussion ensued, with his advice being that given the potential risks of the surgery (I got the impression he thought it was a very difficult job) and that it had settled down so well that he left it alone. The x-rays were now showing the growth of cartilage around the bone which was stabilising it. I was advised that I was likely to get arthritis by the time I was 30, but that was likely to be a risk even if I had the surgery, and overall my chances were better if I didn’t have the surgery. I went home – unfortunately forgetting to tell my girlfriend who turned up at hospital later that day with some flowers 😳 – continued having physio, using a wrist brace and learning to do even more stuff left-handed (I now kayak left handed for example – though I’d started learning that before going in for surgery on the principle I’d be able to start paddling again sooner).

So roll on 23 years, and not having surgery is one of my best ever choices. Yes I do sometimes have a little pain, but usually I only notice if I think about it. Despite being in my 40s I still don’t have arthritis. I do do a lot of stuff left-handed – apart from very fine control stuff like writing I’m effectively ambidextrous – though that’s largely protective, as I can do most stuff right handed without problem. I do have limited mobility in my right wrist – instead of 90 degrees each way of my left I only have ~45 degrees each way – but that’s really not a big issue. All in all it really doesn’t significantly impact my life at all – I can’t think of a single thing it prevents me doing. There is a good chance of a really positive outcome if you sort the rehabilitation right.

Suspected fracture on mine once, Three weeks in a wrist cast with my hand bent back and all the fingered slayed out wide. Looked very odd

Bloomin’ awkward at the time, but no trouble since.

Mines broken at the mo as well.

How much difference do you guys n gals reckon it’ll make in later life if surgery is decided? ie will it likely ache more later if its operated on vs healing naturally? I’m 20, and have a career in product design (so drawing) ahead of me with this.
I’d like surgery to get it healed quicker, but not if its negative in the long run.

And the all important question- how long till you were all riding again? 😀 Road and xc?

Story s….. Broke it – xrays a week later – told it wasnt broken – more xrays another 6 weeks later – clearly broken -( asked to see the initial xrays – was clearly broken – radiographers notes said it was broken, doctor ignored it and told me I was fine… annoying isnt it BFITH).
Got a check up at the end of the month too decide if it needs surgery.

Fell off my bike gunning it on the gap route a few years back in typical style of this type of injury I.e. hands out palm down first. Went into A&E and had it plastered the next day.

Two weeks later the consultant wasn’t sure if I had or hadn’t broken it so said come back in another three weeks.

When I returned another consultant (much younger) said that I hadn’t and that it was a bad sprain. Plaster was taken off and I used a flexible support for another 6 weeks.

Had periods of discomfort if I moved my hand in an awkward manner for the next 3 years or so, but for the last year it has been fine 99% of the time. Still wonder it was a minor fracture, just by the length of time it took to improve.

Thanks for all the replies…Nice to know what to expect etc …….Just wish the consultant had listened to the radiographer who spotted that it was broken. 😡

Next stop …. appointment with orthopaedic specialist ….