Fractured Wrist: Symptoms and Treatment, Diagnosis

A Fractured Wrist Overview

A fractured wrist can leave you incapacitated for several weeks if not months if you don’t get the right treatment straight away. However, you could qualify for free specialist orthopaedic treatment and physiotherapy to aid in your recovery.

If you suffered a fractured wrist whether at home, in the workplace or anywhere else, it could put you out of action for a long time depending on the severity and complexity of the injury. Many people who suffer this type of injury are unaware that they may qualify for free orthopaedic treatment and free physiotherapy during their recovery time.

To find out more about fractured wrists, the symptoms associated with this type of injury, your treatment options and to find out if you would qualify for free specialist fractured wrist treatment, please read on.

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What is a Fractured Wrist?

Fractured wrist

Fractured wrist

A fractured wrist can be an extremely painful injury that could leave you incapacitated for weeks or months depending on the severity and complexity of the damage done to bones found in your wrist. It is the sort of fracture that results in an inability to move your hand or wrist, making it impossible to grip or squeeze anything. You may experience a lot of discomfort not only in your wrist but in your fingers and up your arm too, leaving you with the following:

  • Extreme pain
  • Swelling
  • Bruising
  • Tenderness
  • A crooked finger or bent wrist
  • An inability to move your thumb or fingers
  • Stiffness in your wrist, fingers and thumb

Fractured Wrist Key Facts

The wrist is made up of many small bones which when fractured can leave you unable to move your fingers and thumb. This can lead to pain even after recovery, and may also lead to arthritis later on in life.

What are the Signs and Symptoms of a Fractured Wrist?

If you believe you have a fractured wrist, you would find that any movement is typically extremely painful with the most discomfort being at the point of the fracture. However, the pain will often radiate from the point of the fracture to your fingers and it can also go up your forearm. Typical symptoms of a fractured wrist are detailed below:

  • Extreme pain which is often more acute when you try to grip or squeeze anything or when you attempt to move your wrist or hand
  • Swelling
  • Tenderness
  • Bruising
  • Noticeable distortion examples being a crooked finger or bent wrist
  • Unable to move fingers or thumb
  • Stiffness

What Are the Most Common Causes of a Fractured Wrist?

You can sustain a fractured wrist in several ways with the most common being detailed below:

  • When you trip causing you to fall and to outstretch your hand to break your fall
  • When you are involved in a car accident and sustain severe trauma to your wrist
  • If you are involved in a motorbike accident
  • Falling from a ladder

However, if you suffer from osteoporosis, your bones are weaker which includes those found in your wrist and as such as more susceptible to breaks and fractures.

When Should You Seek Medical Care for a Fractured Wrist?

There are eight small bones found in your wrist and any of these can be fractured. With this said, a wrist fracture can be what is referred to by doctors as “non-displaced” which means the break is “stable” because the bones have not moved out of their normal position. When a wrist fracture is “displaced”, this means that the bones need to be put back into place which is referred to as “reduction or setting”.

In some instances, it is possible to treat a displaced wrist fracture by applying a splint or fractured wrist cast. When a wrist fracture is “unstable”, the bone pieces can move into the wrong position during the healing process even if a cast is placed on the fracture. The result is that your wrist would appear crooked.

Wrist fractures can be much more severe especially when a smooth joint surface breaks apart or when the fracture causes the bones to shatter into tiny pieces which is referred to as a “comminuted fracture”. The result is that the affected bones become unstable. This type of wrist fracture requires surgical intervention to put things right and to realign affect bones. An “open wrist fracture” is extremely serious because you run a higher risk of developing an infection of the bone.

How to Get a Free Expert Orthopaedic Assessment for Your Broken Bone Report

If you sustain a fractured wrist, it is essential that you seek expert orthopaedic medical attention and to obtain a report written detailing your injuries. You may be entitled to receive a 100% free orthopaedic report of your wrist fracture from a local medical professional. To find out if you would qualify, please get in touch with our health experts today.

How is a Fractured Wrist Diagnosed?

You would need to have your injury examined by a medical professional who would carry out x-rays to establish if you have a fractured wrist and which would determine the extent of the damage. You might find that you also need a CT or MRI scan. A complete examination would also help determine the extent of soft tissue ligament, tendon, muscle and nerve damage which typically occurs in fractured wrist injuries.

How is a Fractured Wrist Treated?

The type of treatment you would need for a fractured wrist would depend on the severity and complexity of your injuries which are detailed below:

  • The type of fracture sustained and whether it is open, unstable or displaced
  • Whether the injury is to your “dominant” hand, your age, job, activity level and hobbies
  • Your overall health
  • Whether there are any other injuries
Fractured wrist treatment

Fractured wrist treatment

Depending on the severity of your injury, you may be required to wear a padded splint which would ensure enough wrist support and which would keep unstable bones aligned. Wearing a padded splint would also provide a little pain relief. Should the wrist fracture not be too “unstable”, a medical professional may choose to place a fractured wrist cast on your injured arm. In some instances, fractured wrist surgery may be necessary in order for any fractured bones to knit back together and to ensure they are held in the correct position.

Fractures to a wrist can be treated and fixed using many different devices which includes the following:

  • Pins
  • Screws
  • Plates
  • Rods
  • External fixation

A surgeon may use a tiny camera as an aid to see the joint on the inside and if it is found that a bone is severely crushed that a gap exists it in once realigned, you may need a bone graft.

What Free Private Treatment Can I Qualify For?

Many people do not realise they could be entitled to a range of free treatments which are often available in the areas of the country where they live. Having a fractured wrist specialist care for your injury ensures that you are in the best hands which allows for a faster fracture wrist recovery period.

If you would like to find out if you would qualify for free fractured wrist treatment and free physiotherapy aftercare, please contact us today.

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Caring for Your Fractured Wrist at Home

Caring for a fractured wrist at home once you are discharged from hospital following treatment may involve the following:

  • To raise your wrist using a pillow or a chair back so your injury is above you heart which will help ease your pain and keep down the swelling
  • Place ice on your wrist for 15 to 20 minutes which you should do every 2 to 3 hours for three days
  • Take over the counter pain killers which includes ibuprofen or aspirin (not children) to help with swelling and pain

Caring for a fractured wrist at home once you have been treated by a specialist means making sure that you keep your fingers moving to prevent them from seizing up or becoming stiff. A hand surgeon would show you how to move your wrist and when you should start doing this during the recovery period. You may need to undergo some form of hand therapy which helps strengthen your wrist and improves function.

Very severe wrist fractures may need further fractured wrist surgery or treatment, bearing in mind that it can also lead to you suffering from arthritis in an affected joint as you get older.

To find out if you would qualify for free orthopaedic broken wrist care in your area, please get in touch today.

Is There Any Other Good Treatment I Can Get for Free?

You may quality for several free treatment aids should you have a fractured wrist injury, and this includes the following:

  • A wrist sling
  • A wrist brace

A high number of people with fractured wrists qualify for both or either of the above which are known to speed up a fractured wrist recovery time considerably.

If you would like to know whether you qualify for any of the above to speed up your fractured wrist recovery time, please contact us today.

Follow Up for a Fractured Wrist

You may need to keep a cast on a fractured wrist for up to 1 or 2 months because it can take this amount of time for broken bones to set and heal. However, if the fracture is extremely severe, your cast may need to stay on even longer.

During the time your fractured wrist is in a cast, you should do the following:

  • Avoid putting any strain or weight on your arm – but you should not stop moving your arm completely
  • To make sure your cast is kept dry and to keep your arm raised as much as possible
  • To do gentle fractured wrist exercises which includes stretching which would reduce the risk of any stiffness setting in
  • If you notice a strange smell, discolouration of the skin or unusual feelings in your wrist or arm, it could be a sign that an infection has taken hold which would need immediate medical attention

Recovery from a fractured wrist can take anything up to a few weeks to several months and once the cast is finally removed, you may find that your arm and wrist are weaker than before and that there’s a stiffness in both. At this point, you would need to see a physiotherapist who would help you through this part of your recovery, bearing in mind that you may need several months of physio before things get back to normal providing your injury was not so severe that you may always have restricted movement in your wrist.

How Long Does a Fractured Wrist Take to Heal?

Many people ask the question “fractured wrist how long does it take to heal”. The recovery time for a fractured wrist would depend on the complexity and the severity of your injury as detailed below:

  • It could take up to 8 weeks or even longer for a fractured wrist to fully heal
  • More severe and complex wrist fractures may take much longer which could be anything up to 6 months to fully heal

The key to making a full recovery from a fractured wrist is to take things slowly and not to rush things which includes not going back to work or taking part in your usual activities until your wrist is fully healed. Should you try to do things before your fractured wrist is fully mended could result in in further damage being done. Any stiffness and discomfort can last for months with extremely severe wrist fractures causing discomfort for years after an initial injury occurred.

How Can I Recover From a Broken Wrist Safer and Possibly Faster?

Many people who sustain a fractured wrist are unaware that they may qualify for free physiotherapy during their recovery period. If you have fractured your wrist in an accident, whether at work or anywhere else and would like to know if you do qualify for free physio fractured wrist treatment from a physiotherapist in your areas, please give us a call today or use our live chat.

What is the Prognosis for a Fractured Wrist?

The prognosis for a fractured wrist depends on the complexity and severity of the injury and whether any bones are so severely crushed that you may need to have a bone graft to put things right. With this said, it’s essential to have a wrist fracture correctly diagnosed and treated as early as possible bearing in mind that you may need to undergo physiotherapy for several weeks and even months during your recovery period.

Should an affected bone fail to knit or heal, you may need to have several bones found in your wrist fused together which can affect wrist movement in the long-term.

What are the Possible Complications with a Fractured Wrist?

The more severe the damage is to a fractured wrist, the more risk there is of complications and although quite rare, this could include the following should a treatment not be as effective as it should have been:

  • An ongoing stiffness of the wrist
  • Discomfort, aching pain once a cast is removed
  • Osteoarthritis – you may suffer from osteoarthritis later in life
  • Nerve/blood vessel damage – any sort of extreme trauma to your wrist can result in damage being done to blood vessels and nerves found close to the injury causing lasting numbness

Do You Think Your Doctor Might Have Missed Something About Your Injury?

It is always a good idea to get your fractured wrist examined by a hand specialist as soon as you can to establish the extent of the damage to your wrist and the blood vessels as well as the nerves found around the site of the injury.

However, if you feel that your doctor may have missed something, we recommend that you get a second opinion. You may find that you qualify for a free orthopaedic medical examination and broken bone report which would then be followed up by specialist treatment for a fractured wrist. To find out more, please contact us today.

Are There Any Long-Term Health Issues Caused by a Fractured Wrist?

Although quite rare and depending on the complexity and severity of your fractured wrist injury, you may find that you suffer from long-term damage to your wrist. A complex fractured wrist may not mend correctly, and you may even need to undergo bone grafts to aid the healing process. Several bones found in your wrist may even need to be fused together should the bones not heal as they should which could mean you lose a degree of movement in your wrist and hand.

To find out if you qualify for free physiotherapy broken wrist aftercare in your area, please get in touch today.

Contact Us to Find Out if You Qualify for Free Private Treatment

If you suffered a fractured wrist and would like to know if you would qualify for free specialist orthopaedic treatment in you area and free physiotherapy for a broken wrist to speed up your recovery, please do not hesitate in contacting us today and we will let you know straight away.

Helpful links

If you suffered a broken wrist and would like to know how private physiotherapy could help speed up your recovery, please follow the link below:

Why physiotherapy for a fractured wrist helps speed up recovery

To find out more about the recovery time for a fractured wrist, please click on the link below:

Recovery time for a fractured wrist

To find out how to care for a broken wrist at home, please follow the link below:

Caring for your broken wrist at home

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