Post-broken scaphoid frustration

Probably not the best place to come looking for sympathy, but you never know...

About 5 weeks ago I came off my bike thanks to the reckless driving of a delivery lorry (although technically because at the point at which I came off he was in front of me I don't think I have cause to bring the weight of the law down on him... even if he'd slowed down enough for me to get up off the tarmac and get his rego) and I broke a tiny bone in my wrist (the scaphoid) which had to be fixed by the finest carpenter the NHS could offer with a screw.

Over a month later and I'm still being told that cycling on the roads is completely against the consultant's advice. I'm going out of my mind! And the fact that every evening when I get home the first thing I see is my beautiful bike resting in the lounge almost taunting me just makes it worse.

Anyone had a similar injury and can offer me any consolation? And I'm not sure HTFU counts!

S.

Never had such an injury and I'm an unsympathetic git to boot but I'll borrow your bike for a few weeks if that help.

Just kidding - Heal soon!

Its a small bone, that it it doesn't heal properly its painful and may affect mobility of the thumb.

Do what your body tells you and if it hurts stop.

can you ride with your hand in the splint/glove thing they give you? i used to go skating after i broke mine on a mini-ramp. think you'll be fine if you support it good n proper. but that's just me. :)

I broke my scaphoid years ago and I can still feel some pain if it's really cold. I was in a cast for three months and was told not to ride a bike for four months. After four months I tried to get on a back and the pain was massive. Partly because I didn't have any muscles any more and I guess because everything was stiff. It's fine now though but I did let it heal properly for the full four months.

Luckily I can use my thumb and everything, full sensitivity and all, so really glad it turned out well. Don't take this on the light shoulder, the scaphoid is a tiny little bone with almost no blood going through (that's why it's healing so slowly I was told).

Wait and see! Good luck, it'll be better soon.

C:V thanks for that - I was wondering whether the doc was telling me to stay off the bike in order to be extra cautious and because she doesn't know how important cycling is... but it sounds as though she is giving me sound advice.

wvm... that is quite touching!

What I keep thinking about is those folk on here who need to be able to cycle to make a living and how they'd cope with an injury like this. Just read a story about a chap called ‘BBQ’ Mike who wwas knocked off his bike whilst working as a courier and smashed his elbow to pieces and has been told to stay off the bike for 10 weeks. Maybe I do need to HTFU!

I've done this twice. The second time I rushed it and had to back into plaster for another month and off the bike for another month after that.. DO NOT RUSH A SCAPHOID! The fact is you can't rush a scaphoid.

The blood flow through the scaphoid is a key point. If you don't let it heal properly the blood-flow won't get to the end part of the bone and then the fun starts. To repair that bone they will take a bone graft from your hip, that will be the most painful day of you life so far.

Take the medicine now and enjoy a healthy hand for as long as you can.

I broke mine playing rugby at school and still get pain sometimes when it's cold. I agree with the previous post about giving it the full time to heal as the vibration of cycling on roads and the angle of your wrists on the bars will definitely inhibit healing. I feel for you mate, it's a bitch of a thing to break. My mate's dad had to get a bone graft from his hip when his didn't heal....now that really fucking hurts. In the meantime, turbo trainer to keep fitness up?

Heal soon mate.

I broke my left scaphoid 2 years ago and if I forget to switch my hand position regularly it hurts like fuck. Good gloves help a lot, and when riding on the hoods, try to keep your thumbs uppermost, almost in a thumbs up position, so the pressure isn't going through the first metacarpal, through the trapezium to the scaphoid.

[...] going through the first metacarpal, through the trapezium to the scaphoid.

That's deep man. :thumbs:

oh and the scaphoid isn't tiny, it's the second largest bone in your wrist and transmits almost all of the pressure of the thumb in a fall, hence the reason it cracks.

G. Trapezium
H. Scaphoid

Always learn something new. Still small though :-)

Yeah I read up on it shit loads when I was in bed for two weeks after the break wondering why something so small could hurt so much for so long! it's also essential for leverage in a grip, which is the reason why your gripping power will be halved for up to six months. Oh and if you ever go snowboarding wear wrist guards...

Did the very same thing 4 years or so back, slammed doing a (somewhat lubricated, I admit) hill bomb in Edinburgh and took most of the skin off my arm too, along with a big chunk north of my elbow where I could see the fatty tissue seeping out, like a kind of yellow cottage cheese. Yum. Despite sharing a flat with a doctor, she was too pished to diagnose it, so constructed a dressing from hemming fabric and Woolworth's budget Sellotape. Slept on it that night (and the doctor's mate, also a doctor, there's a theme here) but woke up and and realised I had to go to casualty. Plaster up to the elbow and express instructions not to overdo it, since like lynx and madillness say above, you could fuck blood supply to your thumb up good and proper. Still, you can skate with a stookey on. Even write "JAMIE THOMAS IZ GOD" on it in biro if you like, but take 'er easy as they say.

Broke my left Scaphoid and fractured my right elbow after an emergency stop that went horribly wrong. Some cnut turned left in front of me as I was barrelling down the road up by Angel.

It was in plaster for about 4 weeks, during which I was still using my hand somewhat, just stopping if it was a bit sore. After the 4 weeks and further xrays the consultant declared that it hadn't knitted very well and back in plaster for another 4 weeks and if it was still not right it'd have to get pinned.

That caused a bit of a panic TBH and for the next 4 weeks I did NOTHING with it regardless. Luckily it did knit, so there was no pins required but I was still another month or so before I was back on a bike, and then carefully. And even after that it would still get sore if it got jarred on the road. That lasted for months after it was healed.

Not much in the way of sympathy I'm afraid. It just takes time to fix properly and that's just how it is.:(
Couple of years on and I feel it occasionally but I think it's pretty much back to as normal as it'll be now.

11 wks in plaster for my scaphoid fracture... still isn't 100% 20 odd mths later though totally serviceable... do go easy on it!

Heed the advice of the cautious, there is a common complication of avascular necrosis as the distal part of the bone takes its vascular supply from the proximal portion. What this means it that the bone can die off if it lacks a blood supply.

Members of the LondonFGSS forum, all your comments have made me realise two things:

1) I need to take the doctor's advice and just wait it out - I understand now that a couple of months of public transport will mean in the long run that I should fix-up just fine
2) I am a bit of a pillock for waiting so long to post on the forum. Thanks for all the support and advice (and dare I say it a fair old bit of sympathy). I'm feeling much more positive now that I know I'm not alone!

At least I can still run... can't I?

And other scary complications related to the interrupted blood supply in your wrist caused by the surgery. I had the tendon which pulls the thumb back(extensor polysis longus) snap. Broken scaphoid is quite a common motorbike racer injury which is how I broke mine. Because of the post-op complication, it took 33 months before I could stop going to outpatients and now, 18 years later, I am still suffering the consequences of the damage caused by the injury and by the surgery. It will never be the same again, so take the best care now and do what the consultant suggests.

Broke my left Scaphoid about six years ago boxing (just to be different). I was originally put into plaster for six weeks, had the plaster taken off went about my business for a couple of weeks in quite a lot of pain until I went back to see another doctor who told me the bone hadn't knitted at all, and the two weeks without plaster had made it worse. Had to have the bone pinned, very very painful stuff. My wrist still isn't right - for example I can't do ten pin bowling, and have to wear a wrist support for any strenuous exercise, and it generally goes very stiff for most of the winter months!

So my advice is to do nothing with it - literally don't use that hand - you really want it to heal the first time.

I had a crash about a year ago where I unknowingly broke the scaphoid.I kept on doing my job(courier)for three weeks before the pain became too much.I had an X-ray and what an idiot I felt when I saw the results,the bone was split in two!Had a pin put in but I feel it'll never be the same again,it's still painful even now.The surgeon told me I was lucky that I got it seen to when I did as the blood supply to the thumb can be affected which can result in amputation!!!

That would have seriously scuppered your chances of piloting the Venus lander.

That would have seriously scuppered your chances of piloting the Venus lander.

Or circling Uranus.

althought a scaphoid is something risky to do, even on a dutch bike when your body weight is on your saddle, not on the handlebar.

when I broke my wrist, I was told it's okay to ride as long it's something like a sit-up and beg bike.

I have broken the scaphoid in my right hand once and didn't get it treated. Just strapped it up and dealt with it. It is badly healed but seems to have some blood flow. When i visited the doctors 2 years later and they saw x rays of it they generally did that weird teeth sucking thing that builders do when looking at damp. Think I have been lucky with that as it seems ok just.

Broke my left scaphoid twice this year, once falling off bike and the other playing football although the second time was because the bone was weak from the initial break. whatever happens your scaphoid will be weak so make sure you let it heal and when it does if you are doing any sports or activities where you might fall over (like football) then get a wrist guard for £20 from snow and rock which has metal supports in it.