T Nation

Wrist Sprain/Strain

Injuries and Rehab
#1

So … it’s been a week since I flew over the handle bars on my bike (big men should not bmx.) Anyway, the first day I thought I broke it, pain was not bad but ROM was limited and it was swollen. I went to the urgent care for xrays and the doctor and radiologist appreciated no acute fractures or anything. I chalked it up to a wrist sprain with bruising.

Training lower body is fine. I OHP yesterday and I had minor pain but nothing that made me want to kill myself. I could keep training, but since I am older I became less stubborn and do not mind taking 1-2 weeks off, as much as that is going to blow donkey dick. It is mainly the side of my wrist, where my scaphoid is and the bottom of my palm that is bruised. Bruising is gone, pain is still somewhat there, ROM has improved.

I think I am going to take 1-2 weeks completely off, maintain my usual low carb off day diet, maybe add in some cardio and see where I’m at. I wanted to ice and splint my wrist as well, keep it immobilized, except at work where I have to type.

Anyone have any experience with wrist injuries ? I was wondering if my pain is even bad enough to go see an orthopedic surgeon and get a second opinion or not bother since it seems to be improving. What worried me is that some fractures cannot be seen on xray,so if I am walking around with a fractured wrist and lifting with it, it will heal improperly and never feel correct again.

#2

I am a hypochondriac guys. I thought I had a scaphoid break, which is sometimes not seen on xrays, however, I asked the ER doc I am working with today to do a quick eval for me and I asked him if it was the schaphoid, and where I thought the scaphoid bone was , is not where it was and he confirmed that it was simply a minor sprain/bruised bone since the pain is at the head of my radius, and that would have shown up on xrays. That puts my mind at ease.

#3

can’t hurt to get it checked when ever i come off a bike or anything and land on my hands i usually get sore palms and a little bump on the top side of my wrist just ice it, don’t try and massage it, normally makes it worse for me, should be gone soon if nothing serious more than likely just sprained

#4

thanks brotha. I had it checked at an urgent care, and I really hope they would be competent enough to diagnose a radial fracture/wrist fracture.

#5

Injured my wrist about 3 months ago and it was a grade 2 ligament tear. It might not be a fracture. I was told that icing wouldn’t be helpful for my case so maybe you should hold off on that until you get a professional’s opinion. All the best.

#6

2 weeks post injury, definite improvement , it went from unbearable pain, not being able to turn a door knob, to just sore type pain , no jolting pain with radial or ulnar deviation, which is a huge improvement. I think I am going to go back to training upper body next week. In the meantime, I have been front squatting 4x a week since it is the only thing that does not really involve wrists (cross arm way not elbows up rack position.)

#7

I had a wrist injury a few years ago that made it extremely difficult to do any straight bar upper body work (I developed a cyst that didn’t like my wrist moving in restricted planes as with a barbell, but I also have vestigal bones in my hand because why not) and I couldn’t even properly bench until recently. Definitely babying my wrists helped but also allowed me to forego a lot of lifting that would have benefitted me but I was so afraid of permanently damaging my wrist/hands. After working at it the last couple years I can bench and OHP comfortably, and my squat (weird) often gives me the most wrist pain (only when I’m going really heavy)
If, in the future, you get any soreness in your wrist, I would try doing dumbbell only until the pain subsides, and focus in seeing what angles you have the weights at that put the least amount of strain on your wrist (don’t forget about your shoulders too though)

Dumbbell bench press can feel better with your pinkies angles above the rest of your hand, I do this because if a shoulder injury but it just feels better.
When squatting, your hands can still stabilize the weight on your back, try moving your hands up or down so your fingers carry more of the load as opposed to your palms and see if your wrist angle can change and be more comfortable. I was afraid of doing this and losing control of the bar but my fingers are just as capable and I haven’t had any issues.

Good luck! Hope this helps.