Possible broken scaphoid – any experiences?

After parting company with the bike after a wet, off-camber root jumped out of nowhere, I’ve just seen the consultant and he reckons I’ve a fractured wrist, more than likely the scaphoid. I’ll find out what’s damaged in a couple of weeks time when I have an MRI, but anyone experienced the same? How long until riding again?

I broke mine – it took 4 months to repair…

…but you didn’t want to hear that!

😕

3 months in a cast.

Still hurts now on occasions (5 years on)

Massively over rated bone. I’m still riding on mine after breaking it in November.

Both answers I didn’t want to hear but thanks anyway 🙁

Mine took 10 weeks to heal a bit longer than the normal 6 to 8 weeks for an “average” fracture. A couple physio sessions after that and I was back on the bike a few weeks after that. So maybe 15 weeks from breaking till easy riding and maybe 20 weeks before I was back to normal strength and riding confidently. I’m absolutely fine now and the recovery could have been quicker if I did more training on the bike but I’m a weekend warrior so not a huge problem if I’m a bit slow for a while.

Its a bit of tricky bone to heal as one side doesn’t get good blood flow so hard to get nutrients to allow it to heal. I was told to regularly wiggle my fingers as this will promote blood flow.

I have a better one. Broke mine 26 years ago and it still hasn’t fixed!

Have you not got any sort of cast on it then?

Good luck with that one Dave.
Broke mine around ten years ago and was too impatient to rest it until it was fully mended, fast forward to now and my wrist is a total mess. Operation next year to remove bone growth from where it shouldn’t be and attempt to re graft the scaphoid which is now a 50/50, failing that they are going to remove the bone totally and pin the rest together. My wrist clicks, locks and is fairly painful.

It’s a shite thing to happen to you but really important that you allow it to heal popularly.

Welcome to the club mate. Did mine a year ago. Very clean break on the X-ray, some apparently don’t show up straight away so can take a while to diagnose. In pot 6 six weeks, many said I would be straight back in pot as once initial pot is off, they re X-ray it and usually not healed properly. Anyway, didn’t get re potted…thank god! I bought a power ball as recommended by a physio, gave it plenty of exercise , then about a month after the pot was off, back in the saddle. Heard people suffer for months / years with pain etc. felt nothing of the sort, suppose the moral here is to look after it and don’t rush back. Good luck.

Yes, I have a full cast which they’ve split and then re-strapped so it can be removed for the scan.

26 years 😮 Wish I’d not asked now!

The scaphoid is the most undetected broken bone, and one of the hardest to heal, due to low blood supply. Early diagnosis and treatment is key. Mine was 2 1/2 months in plaster, back at work (pilot) after 3 months. It took a while to get full strength and flexibility, but no issues now.

I predict trouble for Dave down the road, unless he is very lucky.

Did mine 25 years ago still gives me gip but got used to it, it’s debilitating but sometimes makes you wince.

jairaj – Member
Mine took 10 weeks to heal a bit longer than the normal 6 to 8 weeks for an “average” fracture. A couple physio sessions after that and I was back on the bike a few weeks after that. So maybe 15 weeks from breaking till easy riding and maybe 20 weeks before I was back to normal strength and riding confidently. I’m absolutely fine now and the recovery could have been quicker if I did more training on the bike but I’m a weekend warrior so not a huge problem if I’m a bit slow for a while.

That’s more promising, thanks.

dsb181 – Member
Good luck with that one Dave.
Broke mine around ten years ago and was too impatient to rest it until it was fully mended, fast forward to now and my wrist is a total mess. Operation next year to remove bone growth from where it shouldn’t be and attempt to re graft the scaphoid which is now a 50/50, failing that they are going to remove the bone totally and pin the rest together. My wrist clicks, locks and is fairly painful.

It’s a shite thing to happen to you but really important that you allow it to heal popularly.
Sounds nasty, but good advice and I won’t be rushing back after hearing that.

nickclift – Member
Welcome to the club mate. Did mine a year ago. Very clean break on the X-ray, some apparently don’t show up straight away so can take a while to diagnose. In pot 6 six weeks, many said I would be straight back in pot as once initial pot is off, they re X-ray it and usually not healed properly. Anyway, didn’t get re potted…thank god! I bought a power ball as recommended by a physio, gave it plenty of exercise , then about a month after the pot was off, back in the saddle. Heard people suffer for months / years with pain etc. felt nothing of the sort, suppose the moral here is to look after it and don’t rush back. Good luck.

Thanks, good to know there is hope!

If broken you will need a plastic bag and an elastic band.
When I broke mine years ago it jumped, I was held down flat on my back on the floor with a nurse on each shoulder, told it was going to hurt, had a leather strap place in my mouth then the consultant put his foot on my chest and pulled my hand till the bones stopped overlapping,then they stuck a cast on it and sent me home on the train, however that was 30 years ago and no probs since

A week in a cast for me as they could not agree if it was broke or not.

Fractured mine years ago (at least I think it was the schaphoid). Usual 6 to 8 weeks as I remember, though cast was on longer mainly due to long wait to get a fracture clinic appointment to remove it. Over a decade later I still get wrist ache from time to time, and it used to even seize up and couldn’t bend the wrist, then it’s fine again a day or two later.

Someone I know I think was saying his had effectively died or some bit of it had! Not sure if he ever had an op for that.

Now I get a bit of wrist ache in the other hand from my off a few months back. Fractured fingers but ligaments are the main issue. Doing physio to get things bending properly again and it’s almost all back to normal, though aches when clenching fists, but wrist sometimes aches too briefly.

towzer – Member

I was held down flat on my back on the floor with a nurse on each shoulder

How much would this bit cost nowadays, I wonder?

Dave – Moderator
Massively over rated bone. I’m still riding on mine after breaking it in November.

POSTED 41 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

You see OP, it really isn’t an adequate excuse to wuss out of the Bonty 24/12 🙂

9months so far for mine, pinned too

Suspected break.. 4 weeks in plaster.. couldnt find a fracture on an x ray but took about another 8 weeks to get somewhere near OK. Probably should have insisted on an mri scan. Prolly about 3 months until your riding again.

If you do end up in pot, get one of these: http://www.limboproducts.co.uk.
Saves putting your arm in a Tesco carrier bag with an elastic band round your elbow when having a shower.
Oh, and another thing, I became a genius at table football while in pot, just used finger tips to turn rods, never been able to generate as much power since pot came off………every cloud etc etc

Did mine a few years ago, about 7 weeks in a cast and the same again splinted. It’s ok now but for the occasional dull ache.

Due to spending so much time with it immobile I had more dramas from the ligaments etc so needed quite a bit of physio to get the full range of movement back into the wrist.

Now Dave tell the boys and girls the rest of the story.

A ray of hope for you: I had a suspected broken scaphoid which they splinted and re-x-rayed after a week or so, at which point they told me it was fine. I was sceptical cos it still bloody hurt but it was fine in another couple of weeks so I guess they were right.

Cheezpleez – Member
A ray of hope for you: I had a suspected broken scaphoid which they splinted and re-x-rayed after a week or so, at which point they told me it was fine. I was sceptical cos it still bloody hurt but it was fine in another couple of weeks so I guess they were right.

Cool. I like rays of hope 🙂

Good friend bust his skateboarding 20 years ago – still gives him grief today – even after surgery. ..

Now Dave tell the boys and girls the rest of the story.

Rode for three weeks with it broken. Then 6 weeks in a cast over winter, gentle rehab of two weeks in Moab, one week in Garda riding. I’m getting a bone graft from my hip and bone pinned next week. Totally worth it.

They usually cast your hand in a shape that’ll grip a bar. Just saying …

That one?
; o)

just to add to the misery / hope… I broke both mine, one snowboarding (in concert with my collarbone) and one skateboarding. both around 10 years ago. Yes they take bloody ages to heal and hurt for ages afterwards but I don’t have any long-term issues. A bone I would not like to break again!

You are Chris Froome and I claim my £5 😀

Broke mine ten years ago. Very painful.

Cast for 8/9 weeks and its been ok since then. Like all bones I’ve broken you do get the occasional ache but let it recover and do your physio and you should be fine

As Kryton says ^^ Rule #5 applies.

Bad enough bailing after 1 lap last year, you should at least show up & start.

Broke both of mine a few years apart it is a bugger of a bone as it does not have an independent blood supply is slow to knit and can easily succumb to necrosis . Exercise is supposedly a no, no, the first one I did was in my right wrist I was signed off work for nearly thread months as I’m a graphic designer and the doc didn’t want me ushering a mouse or anything else ,. I broke my left one last year, could still go into work but was advised not to lift squeeze or basically do anything at all with it. It’s still a bit thingy now to be honest.

Aye that’s the one Dave.

In your case the damage was done by the missed fracture so probably nothing to lose.

After 2 weeks I went for an X-ray confirmed broken scaphoid, after another 2 weeks I got it pinned and cast.
Spent 1 week in the cast and about 5-6 weeks in a splint.
Back to gentle riding 2-3 months from initial break, on the DH bike is few weeks down the line.
Don’t rush it and listen to the doctors.

8) – in my case, as with Dave by the sound of things the issue was not realising I’d broken it – I was 18 and assumed a broken bone would be more obvious and that I’d just strained it (not helped by breaking it saving a kick playing in goal, which isn’t the sort of thing you expect to break your wrist doing). It was 18 months before I had it x-rayed after continuing to have problems, and notably both the doctors I saw didn’t think it was fractured either.

The good news is that it always stayed more or less in the right place and despite having changed the way I do some things it doesn’t stop ne doing anything or cause me any day to day problems. I was once booked in for surgery, but the specialist reckoned it was best to leave alone as cartilage has grown around the bone and stabilised it.

Not that any of that should be relevant to you if you’re getting it fixed properly.

Broke mine 25+ years ago.

3 months in plaster.

Still get a bit of gip now.

Sorry. Look after it and give it time to heal.

Buy some suffer fest videos and sit on the turbo!

Suspected broken with me. 5week’s in plaster xray inconclusive so not replastered. Painful for 2 months or so, more so on road bike with strapping, less so on mtb with support. Still grumbles a year later.

I faffed around for year with various splints, nothing worked so now have a titanium screw in mine, I know a good surgeon in London. He lectures on scaphoid and wrist injuries. No issues with mine now, not sure I’d do press ups or chins up on it though.

Thanks for all the replies – very very useful to get real life experiences. I certainly won’t be taking it lightly after hearing some of the stories.

Oh dear, I think that I broke mine last week in Les Gets, was hoping it was just a sprain and carried on riding with it strapped up albeit a bit gentler than before, but even after a few days off the bike it’s still giving me gip. Best bet myself down the local MIU I suppose 🙁