I broke my wrist snowboarding, on January 28th, 2017, a distal radius fracture which had to be reduced (the ski patrol had a doctor on hand who reset the bone).
Long story short, I had surgery (2/15) with Dr Lohse at Proliance Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, he put a plate on the radius, and 3 days after surgery (2/18) (literally less than 72 hours) I started typing this blog with both of my hands! Absolutely incredible recovery time! Note that I’m an athletic 24-year old, experiences may vary. But I strongly recommend going with surgery… it’s fabulous.
Long story: For the first two weeks, I was in a splint that Proliance put on. The bone was initially in a good position such that it would heal naturally. However, the 1-week x-ray showed that the bone shifted slightly. It was still in an ok position, but there was a good chance it would continue moving. I had the choice of either getting surgery ASAP, or waiting another week and seeing whether it moved again.
They didn’t have any surgery slots open for that week anyways, so that made the decision simple: Get an x-ray next week while also scheduling the surgery for next week… if it stayed in position we can cancel the surgery, otherwise I need to be cut open. But looking back, if getting surgery instantly was an option, I should have simply gone for that. The surgery is WAY better than being casted.
So the 2nd week rolled around… a few days before that, I could actually feel the bone moving around inside my wrist… sure enough it moved some more. Dr. Lohse describes the pros and cons very well, and makes sure that you understand both options. He claimed that if I was a 65-year old, he would likely just keep it splinted and attempt to let it recover naturally, since there’s not as much active years in your life left. However, as a 24-year-old active and physically athletic adult, there’s so many years left such that we should make sure the bone heals correctly so that I can do all the activities I want.
Therefore, my surgery was two days later. Thanks to anesthesia and everything, I don’t remember any pain or any of the surgery.
The first day after surgery was painful – but I managed to avoid taking the narcotic pain meds, and only used Tylenol/Advil (I’m not a fan of pain meds, and I also have a decent tolerance for pain). It felt like my arm was ran over by a steamroller. Sleeping was difficult. The first day was rough.
The second day after surgery, they set up an appointment with the hand therapist for me. I went in there, and within less than 48 hours after surgery, they removed the wrist brace!! My arm was naked other than the last remaining bandages on the stitches! The therapist did some massaging of my soft tissues to help redistribute the swelling (the wrist brace was on quite tight, it felt nice to get rid of that pressure), and then we started some wrist movement exercises! The pain was almost completely gone after this – getting everything moving and the brace off made a huge improvement.
The third day after surgery was even better. Sleeping is still difficult, that’s when I experience the most pain, but otherwise I’ve stopped the Tylenol and only took some Advil in the morning. I can touch my thumb to my pinky today! Yesterday I could only reach the ring finger. And additionally I CAN TYPE!!! I’m not back to normal speed yet, coming in at 54 words per minute, but I’m sure tomorrow will be even faster.
Day 5, I went back to solid strenuous hikes, like an 8 mile, 2,700 ft gain hike!
Day 7, I went for a 2 mile run!
Day 9 was 80% normal daily activities (excluding weight bearing).
Day 12 was 90% normal daily activities, including lifting a heavier cup of water, eating with my right hand, zipping up my jacket decently normally, etc
Day 17, I went for a 9 mile run!
Day 19 was 99% normal daily activities! Able to pour milk, open heavier doors, use door knobs, pull open drawers, use phone one-handed, hold a bag of groceries, and nearly everything else without a second thought!
Day 24 – If I healed naturally, I would have just been coming out of a cast at this time, and would barely be able to rotate the wrist. Instead, I’m running 100% normal, hiking 100% normal, doing pushups on my fists, doing assisted pull ups, and 99% of my normal daily activities!
Note that I’m a rock climber, so I really wasn’t worried about my fingers losing strength… I knew those would be okay thanks to the accumulated strength from rock climbing. Others might have more trouble getting back that strength. And in general, I’m fast/strong/ahead of the curve, so others very well might take longer to recover.
Day 1 after surgery (Thurs 2/16/2017)
- The night of sleep last night was really poor. Laid on my back with the sling still on, arm resting on my chest. At 3:00 am I noticed I was able to slightly move my finger, meaning the nerve block was wearing off just 11 hours after surgery. The arm was still numb though. At 7:00 am the nerve block was completely gone (15 hours after surgery) and the pain was pretty bad. Luckily it never got worse, and it was bearable with ice and Tylenol/Advil.
- Two extra strength Tylenol (1,000 mg) and two Advil every 4 hours
- Frequent icing
- No oxycodone
- Pain definitely bad, but bearable. Almost feels like the wrist is just numb. Feels as if a steamroller ran over my wrist.
- Can slightly move my fingers, but not eager to try moving them out of fear of pain
Day 2
- I actually got some sleep last night. 5 hours of actual sleep out of 8 hours of being in bed. Still very uncomfortable, and if the wrist is lying flat down on a pillow, it’s painful since it’s pressing on the stitches through the brace. But it can be comfortable on the side, since that doesn’t put as much pressure on it.
- Decreasing pain meds to every 6 hours
- Started hand therapy… removing the brace and wrapping, and the massage they did, dramatically reduced the pain I previously had. The wrist brace was on too tight, removing that felt fabulous.
- Able to touch my thumb to my ring finger but not pinky. Can form a decent fist. Finger movement all pretty good as I figured.
- Wrist movement is very limited, can’t bend it forward or back, or to the side very well. And rotating as if you’re a waiter holding a plate is impossible, I can only get a little past 90 degrees there, nowhere near flat.
Day 3
- Sleeping last night was better, however the wrist is still painful when it’s laying on the stitches for a long time. So I woke up a number of times with pain, and unfortunately you can’t really find a comfortable position. Got 6.5 hours of actual sleep out of 8.5 hours of being in bed.
- Only down to Advil’s at this point and will probably stop the Advil today. Mainly took it due to the pain I was in when I woke up from sleeping.
- Able to touch my thumb to my pinky now! Just barely, but I managed it the first time in the day so it’ll get even better today!
- Typing with two hands now! 54 words per minute… slow, but better than just one hand
- Wrist movement still very limited, no noticeable improvement from yesterday.
Day 4
- Sleeping still difficult, wrist is most painful while sleeping. Didn’t use any pain meds this time, which didn’t make any difference. Got 6.5 hours of actual sleep out of 9.5 hours in bed.
- No pain meds today. There’s slight soreness and whatnot, but overall not bad.
- Up to 61 words per minute now.
- Wrist movement still very limited.
- Able to play video games with the Playstation controller. I’m just about as good at Uncharted as I was before!
- Can mostly write with my hand! Can sign my name! Print writing is messy and slow, but way better than my left hand already.
- Walked 3 miles round trip to the grocery store.
- Upper arm noticeably thinner than my left arm. Can’t imagine what 6 weeks in a cast would have done.
Day 5
- Sleeping the same, difficult. 6 hrs out of 8.75 hrs in bed. I realized part of the pain is simply the muscle soreness.
- Wrist movement slowly improving, but very slowly improving.
- Can pick up a light cup of water and other light stuff. Grip strength is decent… not open-a-jar strong, but slightly functional.
- Went on an 8 mile, 2,700 ft gain hike today, with an average heart rate of 120! Some good exercise that should get the blood pumping! Wrist felt fine through it.
- Feel some popping of the bone when doing wrist exercises (I think it’s the smaller bone, not the radius)
Day 6
- 5 hours of sleep out of 8 hours
- Able to shift through most of the gears on my manual transmission truck with my right hand! Moving the stick to the left for 1st and 2nd is difficult so I still use my left hand for that, but 3rd, 4th, and 5th are all possible with my right hand!
- Second visit to hand therapist, did some more stretching and hand exercises, and massaging which felt great and some therapy with ultrasound. Big improvement in wrist movement compared to the first day!
- Therapist took the bottom two bandages off, revealing some of the incision, but when she started to take off the next bandage, she said it still looks a bit open and isn’t ready to be taken off yet. From the bottom of the incision, I don’t have any visible stitches! She was saying that they might be internal stitches with a fish hook at the top which they pull out. Either way, looked a whole lot better than what I was expecting!
- Still feeling some popping of the bone, therapist said that’s ok as long as it’s not painful
Day 7
- Slept a bit better, 6.75 hours of sleep out of 8.5 hours, with more deep sleep. Close to normal.
- Able to shift through all of the gears on my manual transmission truck! Moving the stick to the left for 1st and 2nd is still hard, but it’s possible today.
- Able to turn the ignition on my vehicle with my right hand to start it!
- Able to tie my shoes! Didn’t try till today, but it was pretty easy today. Able to button pants too (was previously just wearing athletic shorts).
- Still feeling frequent popping when doing wrist exercises. Seems like my other bone (not the radius) is becoming a little less prominent. That bone felt like it’s sticking out more than normal, which the therapist said happens since that bone often takes more stress when the radius fractures and shortens.
- Door handles and knobs are difficult and sometimes impossible to open with injured hand. But the fridge door is fine since that’s simply pulling.
- Went for a run! Just a 2 mile run, bit slower than normal pace, and wasn’t swinging my injured arm while jogging, but it felt fine.
Day 8
- Slept for 6.5 hours out of 8.5 hours.
- Bone isn’t popping frequently while doing wrist exercises. Only pops a few times a day now.
- Went on another run, just 1 mile this time, but started swinging my arm like normal, felt fine!
Day 9
- Sleep is slowly getting more close to normal, but I still wake up in the middle of the night with my elbow quite sore if I was sleeping with my arm stretched straight out for a few hours.
- Feels like I’m 80% back to normal daily activities (not including weight lifting activities).
- Another therapy appointment… more fun games and stretching and improvements. Measured the grip strength…
- 41 lbs of grip strength with my injured hand, compared to 72 lbs of grip strength in my left hand. I’m a rock climber… normal grip strength required for daily tasks is apparently only 20 lbs haha…
- 8 lbs of pinching force between my thumb and index/middle finger, compared to 18 lbs of force in my left hand. So overall I’m halfway to rock climber strength between grip and pinching!
- Typing at 73 words per minute, basically 100% normal.
- Bending the wrist forward, and rotating the wrist to the “waiter” pose (holding a plate with your palm) are my two least flexible positions and still have lots of room for improvement.
Day 10
- Went on a 13 mile, 3,800 ft elevation gain hike through steep snow, arm felt fine!
Day 11
- Daily activities are feeling quite normal.
Day 12
- Feels like I’m 90% back to normal daily activities. Can pull some doors open, can lift a heavier cup of water, can zip up my jacket quite normally, can eat with my right hand pretty normally, etc.
Day 13
- Bandages completely off and the scar is naked! Started scar massages!
- Ran my normal 3 mile route, all felt good. Swinging my arm pretty normally while running.
Day 15
- Follow-up x-ray with Dr Lohse looked good
- Officially have no restrictions other than no impact activities (like chopping wood), although obviously I shouldn’t do something that’s painful
- Able to mostly do a pull up – I’m mostly using my left arm, only putting a small amount of weight on my right arm to help pull up
Day 16
- Can use my phone one-handed just like I used to before, which means my thumb and finger articulation is almost completely normal
- Hiked an 8 mile, 3,150 ft gain hike
Day 17
- Went for a 9 mile, 1 hr 15 min run!
Day 19
- Wrist/hand is at 99% functionality for daily activities (excluding weight lifting/other intensive activities). Able to pour milk, open heavier doors, use door knobs, pull open drawers, use phone one-handed, hold a bag of groceries, and nearly everything else without a second thought! There are only a few moments where I feel a little difficulty, for example I don’t wash my hair as vigorously with my recovering hand, or I won’t lift extremely heavy items.
Day 21
- Grip strength is at 68 lbs compared to 80 lbs in left hand, almost there! Pinching strength is at 15 lbs compared to 18 lbs, so similarly almost there!
- Rotation (hand palm-up) and flexation (bending hand backwards) are within 5 degrees of my left hand!
Day 24 – 6 weeks after broken wrist / 3.4 weeks after surgery
- Rotation (hand palm-up) is basically all the way there, I’d say it’s 0-1 degrees within normal
- If I healed naturally, I would have just been coming out of my cast today! Crazy to believe how much faster surgery is!
Day 25
- Able to do pushups on my fists! Can’t do palms since can’t bend back 90 degrees yet, but fists felt perfectly fine! Full normal weight on the hand and everything!
- Went on a 7.5 mile, 2,000 ft gain trail run!
Day 27
- Grip strength 100% normal! 75 lbs grip strength. Pinching with the thumb and index finger is still only at 12 lbs out of 18 lbs
- Wrist rotation (hand palm-up) is 100% normal. Bending palm backwards still needs a bit more but is close.
Day 29
- Can do pull ups with 30% of weight on my injured hand. Haven’t tried full 50/50 weight distribution yet.
Day 30
- Can do push ups on my palms! It’s not 100% normal, but I can put probably 30-40% weight on my injured hand.
Day 33
- Biked to work today! Hand felt fine, although over rough bumps I kept my right hand loose to avoid vibration in the wrist (road bikes aren’t very smooth over bumps).
Day 35
- Went rock climbing! Felt pretty normal. Didn’t do any one-handed hangs, but it feels like my strength is all there and I could probably do a one-handed hang if I had to!
Day 38
- Ran a half marathon! Running has been unaffected for a while (which isn’t surprising since you don’t use your wrist that much while running).
- Push ups are probably 95% normal. I can place the normal weight on my hand (equally distributing the weight between my hands), but my hand isn’t at the normal right angle yet, it still has some backwards flexibility to go. But I can do my normal sets of 10 pushups without a problem!
- Daily activities are definitely 99.9% normal. There’s some rare occasional things that I’ll hold back on, like shaking a drink before opening it, since the shaking slightly aggravates it, but overall I never have to think twice!
- Scar is slowly improving in appearance. Using Mederma 4x a day, medical tape during the day, and silicone scar pad overnight. It still is slightly raised with some slight bumpiness, but 90% normal. Wrist still seems a bit thicker than my left wrist.
Day 59
- I went mountain biking! Downhill semi-technical riding with some small jumps! Wrist felt fine!
Day 74
- Rock climbing is definitely quite normal. Occasionally there’s an awkward-positioned hold that requires some more difficult wrist flexibility which might feel a bit sore, but overall I can confidently hang one handed and climb normally!
- Push ups are 99% normal, I’ll notice a slight soreness/slight pain in the wrist if I really try to get my palm perfectly at 90 degrees.
- I’ve noticed if I start exercising the flexibility more, like doing more pushups in proper form, my wrist feels a bit sore the next day. Hoping that by still exercising it I’ll get it back to full 100% flexibility!
- Daily activities are 100% normal, no second thoughts about anything.
- Scar sure takes a long time to fade away! I’ll have to upload another picture…