HY 01/06: Wrist Injury? Do the Right Thing!

Avoid long-term problems by making sure you get proper treatment

When Deborah Rabuck of New Tripoli slipped on her stairs last year, she automatically reached out a hand to break the fall. The impact broke one of her wristbones. Rabuck’s experience as a registered nurse prompted her to seek out an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand and wrist injuries.

The surgeon, Jay Talsania, M.D., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, attached a permanent plate on the palm side of Rabuck’s badly broken wrist. This “internal fixator” secures unstable fractures like hers and promotes faster healing. For other fractures, specialists like Talsania may use splints, casts or external fixators—rigid bars that screw into the bone during the healing process.

“The biggest challenge in treating wrist fractures is keeping the bones in alignment during healing,” Talsania says. “If bones shift, the wrist can become misshapen and not function well. Long-term, that can cause problems like arthritis and loss of motion.”

Rabuck regained some wrist mobility within 10 days and started hand therapy to help her recovery. “My greatest fear was being out of work for months,” she says, “but I was back in a month, and now my wrist is completely healed.”

Wrist sprains can be as difficult as fractures to treat, says Talsania’s colleague, hand and wrist surgeon Lawrence Weiss, M.D. “Every wrist motion requires the smooth functioning of eight small bones along with ligaments, nerves, tendons and muscles. Sprains result when the ligaments are stretched and strained.”

“Whenever you grip something with your hand, you put stress on the ligaments of your wrist,” Weiss says. “Like fractures, if a serious wrist sprain or ligament tear is not treated properly, it can affect how your wrist functions and cause long-term problems.”

For both fractures and sprains, hand therapy plays an important role in the healing process, helping you recover faster and regain full strength and mobility in the wrist.

Many wrist injuries can’t be prevented because of the natural reflex to use your hand to break a fall. The best course is to prevent the fall in the first place. Here’s how:

Make sure wrist guards are used if you or your children snowboard, rollerblade or skateboard. Available in most sporting goods stores, this simple, inexpensive protection can cut the risk for fractures in half.

If you’re an older adult, keep your body strong and fall-proof your house. Older adults are more susceptible to falls due to medication side effects, inner ear problems, certain diseases and the natural changes that come with aging.

Have an osteoporosis screening if you’re a woman past menopause. Wrist fractures in older women may be a sign that bones are brittle.