wrist injury

[jcphockey7 0]

I was playing in a travel tournament over Labor Day weekend. I took a fall and slid into the boards, and my wrist hit first. I'm surprised I didn't snap it (it pulled back) and two weeks after the fact it still hurts. Every time I take a fall and my wrist absorbs any kind of shock it just seems to get worse. I'm wondering how I should treat it. (it doesnt seem fractured, definitely not broken, most likely some pulled muscle or bruising) I can play OK with it, but my shot is hampered and of course I don't want to do any permanent damage done because I didnt take necessary precautions.

[SB39 2]

I had almost the same thing happen to me last October, and my wrist is still not 100%, so get an X-Ray and an MRI if you can, and make sure a specialist, not an internist or general practitioner, deals with your case; I forget the name of the specific specialty name for this type of problem, but get it checked out pronto, and ice it daily.

[hip check 0]

I'm no doctor, but here's my experience. With a bad sprain you can often feel the affects for several months - easily irritated or re-injured, feels weaker, not as much isolated strength...

I taped mine well for the remainder of the season after a sprain, it helped support and stabilize the wrist. Get it checked out to make sure you know what kiind of injury you have. Ask for a rehab program to follow, to get you headed in the right direction to full recovery.

[biff44 0]

You want an orthopaedic surgeon to look at the xrays. If it is fractured, you do not want to play with it for quite a while.

If it is not broken, go to a good medical supply pharmacy and get a wrist support wrap. They attach with velcro, and keep you from re-injuring it while it heels. My kid sprained a wrist, and was able to get one that fit underneath his hockey glove.

[jcphockey7 0]

Does the wrist glove hamper stickhandling? I can imagine it does but I'm asking anyways

[MDE3 0]

Not to be pessimistic, but you really need to have an orthopedic surgeon specialized in hand and wrist injuries take a look at some x-rays....it is common, to have what is called a "scaffoid" break occur from bending your wrist this way. If left untended it could become "non union" which means the separate parts begin to erode and separate slightly, becoming much more difficult to repair and requiring serious surgery to fix. In fact this is known also as a "skater's break" where a skater will break their fall while holding out the palm of their hand....very common in "extreme" skating, and "bmxing".

The bone is a small "L" shaped bone within the wrist bones, and to notice the fracture, it often takes a specialist to see it.

I have been through this with my own son, had the x-rays done originally by a GP at a private clinic..after a couple of months of him not being able to take a shot properly, but it not being all that sore either. This doctor did not see the break. We only found it about 4 months after the fact when he broke some fingers in the same hand in another accident, and an orthopedic surgeon pick up on it while looking at the x-rays of his broken fingers...his was "non union".

After four months it required a 4 hour operation including a bone graph and pin to be properly repaired. Recovery time was 6 months....get it looked at early.

[blackhawks4ever 0]

Very good reply MDE3, that is an excellent discussion of scaphoid fracture. I'm impressed!!

JCPhockey7......see an orthopedic surgeon, a hand specialist if possible. You will probably need an MRI. Hopefully its just a bad sprain in the ligaments in the carpel (wrist) bones, but if you have made no healing progress in over a week its time for further investigation to rule out other badness such as Scaphoid fracture. good luck

[biff44 0]

Yeah, with the hand brace on, he was able to stickhandle and shoot. He is a D man, and does a lot of checking, and kept falling on it and re-aggravating it. The brace allowed him to play, maybe not at 100%, but I could not tell the difference from the stands.

[slapshot2 0]

Actually, I pulled my wrist muscle 2 weeks ago. I went up to a guy and my wrist went backwards. It still is a little bruised up but doesn't hurt too bad. It hurt about 5 days ago. I used alot of that ICeHOt sleeve stuff. I think that helped alot. You might want to try those.

[SB39 2]

MDE3: you just scared me real bad. My wrist is still off and weaker from a year ago, so my parents are going to have my X-Rays and MRI results sent up from SB to the Bay Area so they can have a specialist look at them. If my wrist is the worst case scenario, ie I have to have surgery that would cancel teh rest of this season when I get back, I am going to have a serious talk with the internist that looked at my data originally and set him straight on athletic injuries. Dammit, now I´m gonna be preoccupied until I get those results looked at, but at least I can have that done while I´m overseas cuz both my parents work at hospitals...

[jcphockey7 0]

thx for advice. I tried the wrist brace/velcro sleeve which wasn't tight enough, so I went and saw my school trainer. He checked it out and advised taping it and taking Aleve for the pain, but I'm probably still getting a X-ray or something if it doesn't heal completely. It has improved this past week but every once in a while something cruely ironic happens that causes it to relapse.

[MDE3 0]

Sorry I do not mean to be pesimistic...but a scaphoid break is fairly common as a skating injury as I mentioned earlier..and it's easy to miss it if you are not looking specifically for it with a trained eye. I saw the same x-rays as the original doctor..and obviously I am not the proud possessor of such a "trained eye"(nor am I in the medical profession...just had my fair share of broken bones and torn ligaments and cartelege over the years) as I never saw it either.

It's certainly one of the issues worth verifying if you are suffering from a chronic wrist problem, but by no means the only one to look for.

[tml_bte89 0]

I had a smilar thing happen to me. The pain did not go away for months. I never got it checked. But whenver i took a shot it hurt like hell. So just forget about it and it will go away. If it gets worse then get it checked

[mickz 107]

I hurt my wrist while in the gym. That was a good 3 weeks ago and it still hurts. I've just been taking advils and letting it rest. I think I should go see a doctor = /

[LkptTiger 1]

I hurt my wrist while in the gym.  That was a good 3 weeks ago and it still hurts.  I've just been taking advils and letting it rest.  I think I should go see a doctor = /

I'd try icing it a little bit before deciding to go see a doctor, but that's just me. I usually only go to the doctor if there is a possiblity that something is seriously wrong. I don't want doctors overreacting and telling me and my coaches that I need time off the ice to rest whatever the problem area may be. If I have to sit out, I'll know it.

In my personal experience, I have found that the hand/wrist area is extremely slow to heal. I have had many bad episodes involving my lower arm/hand that took a great deal of time to return to near-full strength. Good example: I badly jammed my finger sliding into second base in the middle of July, damn thing started swelling uncontrolably immediately. I finished the game, went home and put ice on it. Luckily, most of the pain went away, and some of the swelling went down, but the range of motion was almost non-existant for a long time afterwards. Within a few days, pain was totally gone, but I couldn't close the finger. Only last week was I finally able to close the finger all the way.

I'm not telling you to be a hard-ass. If you feel there is something potentially seriously wrong, such as a fracture or pulled/streched ligaments, then I would probably have it checked out. You don't want something that could have been dealt with over a couple of days to ruin the rest of your season should something else happen. Whatever you decide to do, I hope everything turns out okay.

[MDE3 0]

So just forget about it and it will go away. If it gets worse then get it checked

I laud the "we go to the doctor too much attitude", except in the case of an injury like this....it will not "go a way" if you have a break like this.....it will deteriorate to where you could make it almost impossible to repair. The scaphoid break due to it's location and function will simply remain "non union" meaning it won't heal, and as you continue to use it, the separate parts of the fractured bone will continue to erode.

[RadioGaGa 162]

I jammed my wrist last Wednesday and it hurt like Hell Thursday....so I went to the clinic and had x-rays done. No break (According to the on call Dr.).

It was feeling pretty good the last few days, but I played today and it hurts again. The pain is mostly across my palm as I squeeze anything...and in the mucles on the outside of my hand (on the pinky finger side)...I haven't had to take any pain killers because it isn't an all the time kind of pain...just certain movements/motions hurt.

There is no bruising and no swelling and I have full range of motion. I probably won't know for sure how it feels until I have a stretch where I don't play.

I often find that I have sore hands for a couple days after I play...especially if I've had a lot of shots...but this is different than that.

[MDE3 0]

If it continues you would be best to see a specialist..some of those injuries take a good deal of specific experience to identify.