Scaphoid fracture

[jimmy3645]

hi everyone, just a bit of advice needed really, i fractured my scaphoid bone in my wrist playing football 5 weeks ago, i have read some pretty bad stories on different forums about this and just wondered if any of you other throwers have had it and if it healed ok, i went to the hospital after 1 week, they put it in a splint and i had to wait 2 weeks for a scan, i then had to wait a further 2 weeks to get the scan results, the scan showed a fracture, so they put it in a cast on friday (after 5 weeks, which i though was a bit of a joke), they said i will be reviewed in about 6 weeks and, if no healing has occured they will consider surgery, the cast i have on now is totally useless in my opinion, i could quite easilly pull it off and the amount of support is minimal so i have my doubts. to add to my annoyance they told me if had gone privatly or if i was a "serious" athlete, they would have usually pinned it together straight away
just wanted your views and advice really if you have any to give!!!, any help much apprichiated

[benfisher]

hey jimmy, i fractured my scaphoid bone about 2 year agobut it was my left arm, when i went to the hospital they told me that fractures like this only usually show up after about a week or so but when they x rayed it thay could see the fracture straight away, anyways i had me hand i cast for around 13 weeks and it took around 4 week after that to get back to full strength but have no problems with it at all now, hope this helps

Ben

[jimmy3645]

ok thanks, that doesnt sound too bad, i suppose it depends how bad its broke, just a waiting game i guess!

[sam]

it's very important for this bone to heal because a blood supply to the thumb passes right through that bone. if it heals badly it can affect the blood supply to the thumb!!

be patient with it and hope it heals properly!!

[dutch]

Apologies for a very late addition to this thread but I have just joined.

Scaphoid fractures can be very problematical. Usually if there is marked swelling around the wrist then a fracture may not be visible on xray immediately. Quite often you return for a picture anything from 48hrs to 5 days post injury to get it confirmed. If the fracture is displaced then it may well be pinned.

However, this may compromise the blood supply to the distal end of the scaphoid (the bit nearest the thumb). The blood supply to this part of the scaphoid comes through the proximal part of the bone (the bit furthest away from the thumb).

If this is compromised then the distal portion may become necrotic ie dies and may have to be removed. Quite often scaphoids do not need pinning. Time will be the healer here and it is an awkward bone to fracture as the thumb function can be affected. As the thumb is the most important digit on the hand this must be avoided.

The blood supply to the thumb does not come through the scaphoid bone!

Dutch (MSc Chartered Physiotherapist)
Specialist in sports injury therapy and javelin thrower

[sam]

thanks for the late response there dutch.. why not go to the "Who are you" section in general chat and introduce yourself!

[lusis]

DUTCH,

Check your pms

[jimmy3645]

hi there, thanks for the interest from lots of people, sorry i didnt reply sooner to update, but basically what happened was, i had broke my scaphoid quite bad, initially it was mis, diagnosed because it wasnt giving me too much problem, i went back to the hospital again and again to see specialist after specialist, my arm was in cast for 6 weeks, then it was put into a splint because it was said to be too long to be in cast, after 10 weeks i was given the news i had a broken scaphoid, but the surgeons were not willing to operate because of my age and how i could cope with having a bust bone better than others (baring in mind i hadnt been back to work for 10 weeks), so he told me to go hokme and ther was nothing they could do (i got the impression that the surgens had used up their quotas for wrist surgery for that year) so i turned to the guy with my dad, at the royal shrewsbury hospital (i will name names) and said i cant work with this injury and he shrugged to basically say there is nothing they could do, i was due to have a review in 6 months time which was around febuary time, to see if the bone had healed at all which i thought was a complete joke. so they took my splint off and off i went, as soon as we got home we started trawling the internet for info on sports surgery etc etc because at this point i was willing to go private to have my wrist fixed, but lickily my dad got in touch with someone in the north who had contacts with a good sports physio named lee halftec, who works a lot at manchester and at the rugby club too, we went to see him and immediatly we were put onto a surgen from writington hospital, who we went to see (all free and still on the NHS) , we had to be reffered to him, but the surgeon in shropshire was not too willing to refer me, but luckily my doctor by-passed this guy to refer me straight away to the new surgeon from up north, so we went ahead with the op in mid july, 5 months after breaking my wrist i had a bone graft, which was packed over the break, and the bone was fixed, i was back in cast for 6 weeks, then in a splint for 4 weeks, started pretty intense physio with lee, which went on till xmas, i started winter training then and it was all ok, i threw for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it was fine, but i still get a fair bit of aching pain and i only have about 80% movement in my wrist. i can do all the training except wide bench because of the angle of pressure on the wrist otherwise its great!! thanks for your responses and good luck to everybody this season!
jim

[sam]

i feel a claim for negligence coming on!

[hollingworth]

Good to see your back training Jim if you ever fancy a training session I train sunday afternoons at birchfield indoors or out its a good facility I knackered my wrist to so am only able to do light weights also, but can throw still.

[jimmy3645]

yer im game one night, we would certainly learn a fair bit from each other cos we are so different, deffo nearer the season it would be good to get down and have a chuck when we are a bit fitter, i will get in touch on here or send us your email!!

[hollingworth]

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