Also they are out of place and must be “set” (Reduced) to make them straight. Just had a splint applied, cast will be in a day or so. Doc mentioned possibility of surgery. And the radio carpal joint appears to be intact. Intercarpal spacing is maintained.
More specific jargon: comminuted impacted distal radial metaphyseal fracture, with associated , nondisplaced ulnar styloid fracture.
I was training for the birkie so I’m pretty bummed. Put in a LOT of skiing miles this winter. Now I’m just hoping these are easy injuries to heal so that my ability to do tris and ski will not be affected.
Any advice or recovery stories?
If you’re curious how I did it…was going down a large hill on skate skis and hit a patch of dirty snow. So then I got catapulted forward.
Ouch! Hope you heal up quickly.
I had a similar injury after coming off my motocross bike that required a couple of surgeries (9 k-wires to put everything back in place and hold it there).
I’m not a doctor, but recovery times with busted bones (I understand) can be quite variable and can be related to your age.
Anyway, I have 2 tips for you…
See if you can get a thermal plastic cast. It is great for being waterproof and you can whip it off after a shower to dry etc. Still very strong and protective. After a few weeks you will get some muscle atrophy and a bit of heat will allow the cast to re-mold and fit better to your arm.
DO ALL YOUR EXERCISES that you get given by your therapist when you get the all clear. My injury was at the wrist/joint and my exercises were a little painful to start with. As a result of doing the exercises meticulously I have almost all my movement back, which was better than expected given the damage. I have a friend who had a similar injury and didn’t bother with his therapy and has lost over 30% of his original movement from a non-complicated fracture.
At fatbike birkie last year, I experienced a displaced distal radius fracture. The good folks in Rice Lake did the reduction, then I waited 3 weeks to get surgery back home, not sure if I could have gotten it done sooner. My ortho put in a plate and 7 screws, ORIF open redution internal fixation. I was on the couch for a total of 8 weeks, at the advice of the ortho. That sucked more than the fracture.
I’ll reiterate the other response to follow the recovery/pt protocol. I never got full range of motion back, and use barbells/handles to do pushups now.
Since I broke my other radius a few months before this, my family talked me into getting a bone density test. It came back low - currently treating it with vitamin D.
Also - where was the hill that you were training on?
Thanks for the replies. When I left the ER doc he sent x-rays to an ortho after setting my bones in place. Ortho said it looked excellent. He will check x-ray again tomorrow at followup (The ortho) before casting.
I thought I read something about moving my fingers around within first 24 hr or so as it would affect future range of motion? Not sure where I read that.
I was at Lapham Peak in Delafield, wi. Right at the very bottom of the Big Slide. Still can’t believe it happened, I tried to avoid ice in the middle of trail and went directly into some dirty snow Ive been down that hill many many times and have 300-some miles of skiing this winter. Blah.
Broke my right radius and ulna when I was 14. The break was probably 3-4 inches from the wrist area. Because they were both broken all the way through, I had to get a cast bent at 90 degrees, which meant my elbow was pretty much entirely immobilized for 6 weeks.
Current side effects:
-That wrist doesn’t like doing pushups - maximum comfortable bend angle is probably like 80 degrees.
-Range of motion on the arm is very slightly reduced - my left arm can easily palm my left shoulder, but my right arm can only touch 4 fingers to my right shoulder. I can’t get my pinky to the shoulder.
That’s about it long-term. The arm was healed in 6 weeks, and I got all personal bests when I returned to swim meets a few weeks after that. Range of motion was atrocious immediately after getting the cast off. I don’t remember perfectly, but I think it took a couple weeks to get it to where it is now. I didn’t do any physio after, though I was swimming like 8 hours a week at the time. I think I did 3-4 hours a week of all-kick workouts with the cast in a plastic bag (I do remember my parents being overjoyed at not having to drive me to 5:30 morning workouts), but my memory is fuzzy.
One interesting bit is that since I had been in quite good swimming shape at the time of the break, my cast gradually become a worse and worse fit as my bicep and tricep atrophied.
I broke both bones in both wrists several times as a child. And one more time for the left wrist at age 45–this was a much more severe injury than the ones I had when I was younger. The bones were in multiple pieces. The doctor that treated the age 45 break considered surgery and plates, but ultimately decided that the emergency room doctor’s reduction was sufficient. The healing time was a bit longer at 45 but otherwise all of the fractures healed well. I have no significant/noticeable range of motion or strength issues. I do strongly urge you to follow the advice of and program prescribed by the PT/OT, once the bones are sufficiently mended to allow rehab work.
Good luck and best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.
Ive been down that hill many many times and have 300-some miles of skiing this winter. Blah.