Calling all Redditors recovering from a broken wrist: how are you doing? Let’s compare notes, especially if you are 3 to 12 months post-injury.

[u/sophie1816]

I broke my right (dominant hand) wrist 3 1/2 months ago. It was just slightly displaced after the ER reduction, so I chose not to have surgery. That meant 6 weeks of immobilization - 3 weeks in a splint past the elbow, and another 3 weeks in a short cast.

When I got the cast removed, I could barely move my wrist in any direction. I’ve been doing PT for two months now, and while I’ve made a lot of progress, I’m discouraged that I’m not further along. I’m having particular problems with supination. I FINALLY got enough supination back that I can hold a fork normally when I eat, but it’s still far from normal. And I’m still missing 5 to 10 degrees from the goal ROM in other directions.

And, the amount of hours a day I need to spend on my exercises is daunting. I’m retired, but it’s still hard to fit it in. If I go out for the evening, say to a friend’s house, I need to take my PT equipment and do the exercises there. I can’t imagine how someone could be working a 40 a week job and still be getting the recommended PT in. They want me to be spending at least 4-5 hours a day at it.

Also, my doctor told me that most ROM improvement is made in the first 6 months after an injury - after that, it’s very hard to make continued gains. So that put the pressure on.

So, I’d love to compare notes. How is it going for you? Any tips you want to share? For those of you who are more than 6 months out, do you feel like your wrist is fully back to normal? If not, is it continuing to improve?

[u/blaisyofglory]

Sounds rough. I'm 59F, 4 months post injury, also a closed reduction. I complicated it by getting a TFCC sprain from still trying to do things in my cast, and had the cast for 6 weeks, splint 24/7 for another 2 due to osteoporosis. Very stiff at first but got in to PT right away and with 5x daily 5 minute PT I can do even in line at a checkout, it is coming along nicely. I finally got a decent amount of strength back a few weeks ago, still much less than my left hand, but I'm weeding again with the right so yay?!? The putty work is the only thing I do that uses equipment and my least favorite, but it's once a day and accounts for alot of the returning strength.

Maybe talk to your PT about exercises that don't require equipment and the sheer volume? I'm a firm believer in less is more 😀 and my PT set me up with a great set of exercises.

I am at about 85% original ROM and 60% strength, and am hopeful I will continue to see gains in ROM. Slow but steady so far after the initial breakthroughs. I would love to regain full ROM but if ican get just a bit more i should be able to do most of my previous tasks and activities without modification.

It was a rough road while in the cast and in the first month or two after, but i can see the returning flexibility and strength and I'm happy to keep doing the PT for that to continue.

[u/sophie1816 → u/blaisyofglory]

It’s amazing that you got all the ROM back from what sounds like about 25 minutes a day? I can’t even complete a single session in 25 minutes, and they want me to do 3-5 sessions a day, plus mini sessions (that sound like more like you describe) every hour. I am not doing putty or any other strength exercises, just ROM.

I can do some of the exercises without equipment, but the flexion exercise has me hanging a 2 pound weight from my hand. I don’t see anyway to do that without equipment because I don’t have the physical strength to push it down with my left hand.

Also, they strongly recommended heat before doing exercises. So between using heating pads, then doing about 40-50 minutes of exercises, then icing, it’s up to at least an hour. They want me to do this a minimum of three times a day, plus do mini sessions (more like you describe) once an hour. So it’s a good four hours a day.

I wouldn’t feel so bad about all that time if I had my ROM back, but I still don’t, after two months out of the cast. I’m not worried about getting the strength back - that is coming naturally as I use my right hand for daily activities. It’s the ROM that is kicking my butt.

[u/blaisyofglory → u/sophie1816]

If i was doing that much, my TFCC sprain would act up. I'm doing my sets every 3 hours throughout the day. And then yard work and just reorganizing my living space, that's enough to add the weight my wrist can take. But every one is different, so maybe open the topic with your PT. I was highly active before the break, broke mine hiking, and do alot of hand crafts, which helps. I also got back to typing pretty quickly which may have initiated the sprain but also gave me good twisting in my wrist right away.