Wrist Pain From Fractured Left Wrist, What Should I Do?

by Patrick
(Chico, CA)

Hi.

I fractured my left wrist 2 months ago and about a half a week later i lifted a really heavy tv with my right wrist and also used it a lot to compensate for my fractured left wrist. I am also right handed.

After the tv incident (which didn't hurt at all at the time but *edited out*) I noticed a slow onset of pain over the next day and the day after.

It's been 7 weeks now and I thought I had a torn ligament or tendon but every expert I'm talking to told me I would KNOW if I had one. I also had no swelling or discoloration or anything at the time of injury and I still don't.

A doctor told me he thought I had tendonitis and gave me a brace which I've been wearing almost all the time. The pain is right under the pisa form bone and is pretty localized there but I feel it all the time, more so with use, but it feels the best after a nights sleep in the brace.

Earlier on in the injury I had a loss of ROM with extension but I seem to have more extension now, it's just painful. I talked to another hand specialist who was pretty certain that I had Flexor carpi ulnaris tendonitis. She said it was hard to get rid of and that I am always using it whenever I move my arm/wrist/hand.

Anyway I'm only 21 and this injury has scared the crap out of me. I thought I had a torn ligament and needed surgery and was looking at shit like wrist fusion and what not. But now I'm feeling like I agree with the diagnosis of tendonitis. The pain is pretty disabling. I can't work or go to school (writing) and it's been 7 weeks already and it's so frustrating.

Am I going to benefit from this dvd with my specific condition? Should I be stretching it? I know its carpal tunnel and MINE is tendonitis and is on the ulner palm side.

I'm only 21 and I felt like my life was over after reading all of this scary shit on the internet (was reading about surgery on ligaments and tendon grafts and arthritis).

I'll probably buy your dvd anyway and I know I'm asking you to help and it's in your best interest to sell this to me but I hope that after hearing this you can give me your honest opinion.

I am so young and I've had so many injuries before but nothing has scared me like this one. I used to race motocross but I've sold my bike after dealing with this injury. I don't want to deal with any chronic pain if I can avoid it, if I can just get through this.

I'm currently doing PT and it feels alright afterwords but its temporary and the pain returns.

Thanks


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Joshua Answers:

Hey Patrick. I went to CSU Chico for two years. I miss Chico.

Tendonitis isn't particularly hard to get rid of when you know what you're doing.

The fracture add some interesting elements though...

The real problem is the Tendonitis dynamic. And, often the injury isn't really the problem, so much as the body's response to injury and preceived injury.


Just from what you have said, here is what I'm thinking.

You fractured a bone somewhere at your wrist. I assume that there was due to an impact from a crash/fall.

So your nervous system is in high defensive mode from the accident injury.

Fractures are painful, generally. So your nervous system is on high defensive trying to protect you from pain.

And you used and possibly strained your structure when lifting and compensating, which probably didn't hurt or injure anything but it DEFINITELY frightened your nervous system and kept it on high alert.

Which means a Pain Causing Dynamic that increases muscle tightness and dumps chemical that enhances your sensitivity to pain.

Which not only puts constant tension on the tendons and whatever they attach to, but leaves you hurting all the time and thinking you are injured.

Maybe you still have injury to some degree, definitely you still feel like you have injury due to how the body reacts to injury.

If you do get a dvd, I suggest 'The Tennis Elbow Treatment That Works'. This will be a base for us to work from, and I'll add in some stuff specific to the fracture.

And of course I'm all for you buying a DVD :)

Having said that, I bet you can knock most of the pain down with Ice Dipping and Ice Massage that you will find on the How To Reduce Inflammation page. If you do what it says to do.

Just yesterday I did a Phone Consultation with a gal that Ice Dipped her ass off, and in one day of 30+ dips, was amazed at how much her 2 years of constant disabling pain was down.


1. Tell me more about the fracture. Where exactly it is, etc.


2. Tell me how you fractured your wrist. The logistics of how and where and under what circumstances will tell me more about what happened/how the body is responding.



More questions, more answers.






Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com