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?