What to expect during physiotherapy after a colles fracture. How long before my wrist and hand feel normal?

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I had a slip and fall accident two months ago and now I'm starting Physiotherapy. My hand is still swollen and the joint in my fingers and wrist are so painful after only one session. Please share your experience with me. What else can I expect?
Please pay close attention to what is being said here. The hand after such a fracture is often stiff and swollen. Movement of the fingers can be painful and scary. Follow what the therapist is asking of you especially at home. There are things that can be done to ease the movement of the hand and fingers. One such technique is to use a system of mirrors. This system actually fools the brain in what it is seeing and makes the hand more easier and with less pain. There are modalities that can also be used to improve movement and drain the swelling. The important part of this is to see that there is progress being made. If for some reason the hand just refuses to get better to the point where touching it is just too painful you are going to have to see a pain specialist. Do not fool with this as it can lead to major problems. The vast majority of these fractures respond nicely and just take time to get over the swelling and stiffness. The more that you work the hand and treat it as normally as possible the faster one recovers from this. Just keep those fingers moving as much as possible all of the time.  (+ info)

I still have pain and swelling from a colles fracture at 8 weeks- please help?

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I also have 2 smallbones cracked im my hand and wrist
In my personal experience, smaller bones take longer to heal than bigger ones. give it some time.  (+ info)

what exactly (nerves, muscles, anyting) causes the pain with ppl whos suffering from colles fracture?

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what exactly (nerves, muscles, anythingg) causes the pain with pppl who's suffering from colles fracture?
An interesting question. And one that I have always wondered about.

In a clean break you could say that the pain comes from the sharp pain and impact impacting on the nerve endings causing pain.

But with a Colles the bone is not actually broken as such but so deformed that it is broken with broken bone.

I have seen lot's of kid's with Colles after falling off flying foxes at schools. The kid's don't ever seem to be in as much pain as someone with a clean fracture.
They have a tendency, as I would too, to be more upset and freaked out at the site of the 'fork' break.  (+ info)

colles fracture in a male age 58?

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okay well my parent, got a colles fracture today slipping onto cement. Now the diagnosis is four to six weeks, but longer if he needs surgery. Now how long in your expericnes, hopefully an older crowd will answer for him to take. If he needs surgery how long will it take to get him back to work? all detials and more please
says he broke two bones or something lke that
  (+ info)

tennis after colles fracture?

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I broke my distal radius 5 weeks ago. Recovering is going well and I only needed a cast. I had colles fracture on the left hand. I'm right handed and I only use left hand for tossing ball while serving and for backhand. wonder how long do I have to wait to play tennis again?
just ask your doctor! trust me, my brother had a similar fracture in his hand and he played tennis as well....unfortunately he ignored the warnings and practiced with his bad hand anyway, and now the damage is permanent. he can still play today, it just costs him quite a bit of pain...don't do anything without being sure!  (+ info)

colles fracture cost?

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Hi. I broke my distal left forearm playing soccer. It's called colles fracture. That happened on sunday and I went to the ER. I had to finance this hospital payment because I have no insurance. they want me to follow up with an orthopedic, and I wonder how much money extra will I have to spend?
I live in Georgia. I'm going to atlantaorthopedics
  (+ info)

colles fracture pain in movement ?

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well i broke my wrist two week ago and had to hav a operation to put my wrist back in place well now my thumb is stiff at the joint and ive been told to keep moving my thumb and fingers around but when i do this it is a bit painful and feels weird. will this knock my wrist out of place ?
I had a Colles fracture 2.5 months ago from a snowboarding accident and had surgery too. I also had stiffness and mild pain near the base of my thumb joint. I think I sprained something in that joint at the time of injury. I flexed my fingers and thumb frequently to keep them from getting stiff as. In occupational therapy they also gave me some soft 'putty' to exercise my fingers and thumb. The thumb symptoms have completely resolved now. You usually can move your fingers and thumb after having surgery but you should confirm with your orthopedic surgeon as every fracture and surgery is a little different. Moving your fingers also helps circulation and swelling. Good luck.  (+ info)

Advice for a Colles wrist fracture?

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Basically I fell over while roller-skating and have obtained what I believe to be Colles wrist fractures on both of my wrists. (the hospital definitely said they're broken and have put back plate casts on each but didn't say what type of break they are, but I remember from the x-ray that they looked like this: http://www.ganfyd.org/images/thumb/b/b5/Colles_lateral.jpg/180px-Colles_lateral.jpg). I've not yet had a fracture clinic appointment as it only happened about 24 hours ago and I'm aware that they will probably have the answers to these questions but I'd like to know asap!
1. First of all I'm in a lot of pain (I only slept for 2-3 hours last night because it hurt so much) and was wondering if anybody knew any types of pain relief that would help? I'm taking 2 paracetamol 4 times a day at the moment but it doesn't really seem to be working.
2. Roughly how long will it be before I get the casts off? I know this is hard to say but a rough estimate would be much appreciated! The left hand is worse and looks a lot like the one in the picture above but the right one didn't look that bad.
3. Once I get the casts off how long will it take to get pretty much back to normal? And how long should I wait before doing any heavy lifting?
4. Is there anything that I can do to speed up the recovery time? Lots of people have said rest and drink lots of milk or take calcium supplements, but is this actually going to help a lot?
5. Also how long (roughly) will it take before they stop hurting THIS much?

I know there's a lot of stuff there and I should just wait until I go to the fracture clinic but I really am in a lot of pain and it's also VERY inconvenient. Maybe somebody that's been in a similar situation would be able to answer some of my questions. Thanks!
Lewis,
1. Until the fractures are completely stabilized they are going to continue to generate pain. Once stabilized they will gradually stop hurting.
2. It will be somewhere in the 6 to 8 week range. All depends upon your healing rate. The lesser fracture might heal faster allowing the cast to come off before the other.
3. You are most likely going to need either physical or occupational therapy after the casts come off. The wrists are going to be stiff and often painful when they are moved. The wrists are going to be weak as the forearms have not done any work in many weeks. It might be about 2 months before you are able to start doing more advanced lifting. All of this is going to depend upon what the condition of your wrists are when they come out of the casts.
4. Taking extra calcium may help you. Also if you are familiar with mental imagery imagine your wrists healing multiple times a day. You might find this funny but it does work.
5. The heavy pain will start to subside once the wrists are stabilized. Then it will take about 6 months before they finally stop hurting. The pain will subside gradually with time.  (+ info)

What bone(s) is displaced posterior in a Smith's fracture?

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I am not sure if the radius is displaced posterior or anterior.
Also, in a Colles' fracture, is the radius displaced posterior or anterior?
These websites are confusing me. Ha
http://hphy36208.pbworks.com/Wrist-and-Hand-Pathologies

go a 3rd of the way down the page to Smith Fracture for a good picture of the injuries.

Colle's = anterior
Smith's = posterior  (+ info)

I had 4 pins in my wrist from a colles fracture and yesterday they removed the pins...WHY is the pain so bad??

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how long will this kind of pain last? I was doing so great and feel like this is a huge setback. I havev pain meds, but didn't expext to go backwards when the pins were removed.....the pain is a 10 on a scale of 1-10..esp on movement. Any suggestions welcomed. I have it ace wrapped up to my elbow now and an doing dexterity movements with my fingers to keep them going forward, as I was prior to the pins being pulled out. All the MOA at the Ortho office would tell me is,"It's gonna be bad a few days....then gradually get better. I was doing so good before...I'm bummed.
Think about it. They drilled out the screws that were in your bones. Of COURSE it's going to hurt like h*** for a few days. I had the plates and screws taken out of my ankle a few years back. I was much better about 4 days later.

Keep it elevated, take your pain meds when you are supposed to for the first couple of days. If it says "every 4-6 hours" take it every four. Once the pain gets out of control, it's much harder to get it back down again. Trust me on this.  (+ info)

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