Broken wrist/arm how long before playing

[cak]

I tried to catch myself during a fall (on the tennis court) broke a small wrist bone and the end of my arm near the wrist. Any one have any experience on how long it will take before I can use a two handed backhand again?

Ironically, it was during a lesson on the two handed back hand, which I started this summer because my one handed slice was giving me a bad case of tennis elbow. I was thinking laying off tennis would also be good for my elbow. But driving with one arm seems to make it worse.

[Phil]

Didn't you see a doctor for this injury? If so, didn't HE tell you how long it's going to take? Without x-rays or any knowledge of your condition, or any way to examine your arm, NO ONE on this board can answer your question. Ask your DOCTOR. He gets PAID to provide this information to you. This is a TENNIS chat board.

[cak]

Sorry, I thought this was the health and fitness tennis chat board. I was wondering how long it took others to get back a two handed back hand after breaking their less dominate arm. Did you start playing as soon as the cast came off? (Note, my doctor says you can do whatever you feel up to doing.)

[Cruzer]

I fractured my wrist on my playing arm from a fall while playing tennis a few years ago. The doctor did not put a cast on it, I had a brace which effectively did the same thing as a cast, kept the wrist straight and immobile however my docter said I could and should take it off while bathing or showering so the wrist could get some movement while healing. It was fully healed in six weeks but it still hurt a lot when I tried to play with it. I went to PT twice a week for four weeks since I wanted to get back to playing ASAP. Overall it was about 9 nine weeks before it felt OK to play and about 12 weeks before there was no pain at all particularly afterward.

[cak]

Thanks Cruzer. Now I know I need to line up a few more weeks of tennis replacements.

[netman]

Sounds like a scaphoid break. Little bone shaped like a kidney bean right? Its a very common fracture, usually from putting your hand out to catch you when you are falling. See lots of them after ice storms and during ice and roller skating seasons.

Problem with the scaphoid is that in most people it only has a single blood vessel supplying it and the vessel terminates in the bone. This makes a scaphoid fracture take a long time to heal. Worse, if the vessel is broken at the fracture, blood can't get to one piece of the bone and you can end up with a non-union, the unnourished piece dies and you end up with a permanently fractured bone. Its not terminal (pro athletes play with them all the time), but a non-union will lead to a seriously arthritic wrist in 5-20 years. You need to give it time to heal. Patience is key because it will take more time than you want.

If it doesn't heal they have a new surgical technique that pins it with a tiny pin the size of a grain of rice. Hopefully you won't need to go this far.

[cak]

Actually, I broke my radius bone in my arm, at the end my wrist. Weird.

[netman]

That is different. You must have hit at a funny angle. Definitely give it plenty of time to heal. It is no fun to be dealing with an arthritic problem a few years down the road when you know you could have prevented it by taking the time to let the original injury heal properly.

Good luck.