I broke my left thumb (base of first metatarsal) in a night ride fall about 3 weeks ago – been in a splint since. Seems I bent the thumb right back and the ligament has pulled the bone away

Went for a review with the specialist yesterday and two problems – the bone hasn’t knitted properly and more importantly the ligament on one side is twisted so without surgery I won’t have strength/grip in that hand. the specialist said something along the lines of “you could kiss goodbye to holding on to your handlebars effectively”

The surgery involves inserting an anchor (small metal device) that will straighten the ligament and help the thumb function more like it did……I’m booked in for Monday

Anyone else had this done? How’s the recovery gone??

My main concern is that the anchor looks like it’s be right between thumb and forefinger where I grip the bars (or more likely where I grip the hoods on the roadbike – I’ve discovered in the last couple of weeks that the pressure point on the two bikes is actually in a very different place)

Not that specifically but good luck, buggered up both of mine with no surgery due to the wait and swelling.

Sounds very similar to an accident I had, undramatic OTB, forgot to let go of the bars and pulled my thumb all the way back. Luckily I didn’t fracture my thumb just detached the UCL ligament. Surgeon said that it was floating around my thumb knuckle by the time he when digging around!

Assuming you have a similar surgery (had the ligament pinned back into place) to mine recovery will be alright. Had the cast off after a week then had to wear a splint to completely immobilise the thumb for 4 weeks. After that I got to do squeezey foam exercises as physio and was allowed back on the bike as long as it was relatively easy and i wore a modified thumb brace to prevent me doing the same injury again. The brace was a thermoplastic thingy so i moulded it to my handlebars!!

6 weeks after that (so 12 in total?) and I got full strength and full range of motion back, although I’ve still got nerve damage which is likely permanent. The scar goes right between my thumb and finger with the ligament pinned at the bottom so I have found that hoods on my road bike are uncomfortable, but i rarely used them so its not a biggy for me! I’m 100% back to normal on the Mtb which is more what i was worried about 🙂

Hope you have a speedy recovery!

Thanks @vickachu – that’s useful to know – what was the thumb brace you used, if you can remember?

I did pretty much the same thing, slow OTB (although I hit the ground sharp-ish even though I wasn’t travelling fast!) – I still have no idea why, or what I hit as there was nothing obvious on the trail……at least it was at the top of a downhill section and not during it!!!

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Ah i just clipped a pedal in a rut 🙁 did smash my helmet via the light attachment too!

The brace I had was custom made by the physio from a flat sheet of plastic. I ended up going private so I found a physio that really understood how desperate I was to get back on the bike (surgery was xmas eve and was meant to be racing in march!)

This is what the cut down version looked like (linky). A quick google suggests that you should be able to find something like this (linky)

Not as bad as yours but recovering from a thumb injury after dropping a wheel off the trail on a tired last run of the day 3 weeks ago.

Long litany of injuries over the years but not done a thumb before

Hurt like a bstard still 9 days on so went for X-ray. No break but equally no advice to have it in a splint. Just today starting to feel like it’s on the mend.

Thanks @vickachu – really useful links – op is tomorrow so will see how I go over the next couple of weeks – cheers

Sounds like a Bennett’s fracture.  I had a pin/anchor inserted after I went OTB five or six years ago.  Was in a cast for some time and then in a sling before pin was removed. Cast put me in a permanent thumbs up position, so that was fun for all.

Recovery involved grip strength exercises, no brace.  Took a little time but back to normal now.  Can’t remember how long I was off the bike for.

Good luck for the operation, you’ll be back in no time.

Thanks @thomas132 – a bit frustrating but the op has been postponed from today until Thursday – grrrrr. Not to worry – hopefully sorted soon

Yep sounds like Bennets fracture, had the same injury few years ago, very common amongst bikers and skiers apparently, was in plaster for 6 weeks with small pin/hook inserted, getting the pin pulled brought a small tear to my eye, that was about 5 or 6 years ago, can still feel a clicking in my thumb especailly in winter, was told to expect arthritis in later years

ditto

skiing first time

then being extra special did the same hand biking 3 years later

Joint is borked and was told to expect artheritits in 5 years time , and a recall  for fusion of the joint soon after that. This was 5 years ago . ..

have permenant pin in thumb , it causes me no problems and I can ride for hours on the roady and mtb with little or no discomfort. Holding  pint glasses however , that is now an issue. Hitting the thumb end on causes quite a sharp jolt of pain , and my left hand now has more strength  but apart from that its all good,

Had exactly the same recovery as everyone else, pot on for week / 10 days , then thermoplstic mesh thingy for 6 weeks .  3 -4 physio visits ( just do the exercises , ) and got movement and strength back pretty quick ,, and can ride on the hoods for 100 milers no problemo

Been there and got the scar as well, almost the same as vickachu after a simple OTB, funny enough I also lost feeling along the top of my thumb after surgery but now after it’s almost fully come back. Something about the nerv being caught during surgery but a lot of the time the nerve grows back, so I guess mine is 75% there now.

Once the cast came off, the brace went on, here in Sweden they made a custom formed support which had to be changed after 2-3 weeks because the swelling dropped. Overall it fixed ok and was able to bike/ski soon after and now can’t really tell a difference in strength, just the scar and slightly larger thumb nuckle after it all.

I had a fully displaced fracture of the first metatarsal after being knocked from my bike about three years ago.  The break was in the middle of the bone rather than the base like yours and was plated and pinned in the operation.  Took about 5/6 weeks in plaster and then lots of physio exercises once the plaster was off.  I had very limited movement in the thumb initially (could only make contact between the thumb and forefinger – none of the other fingers), but everything is fine now.  Maybe about 3-4 months before fully operational again, although I did ride my bike before this.  I only notice it now when it’s really cold.

This feedback is really encouraging – op has been scheduled for Thursday now so hoping to be taking at least one step forward after that….thanks for all the inputs