Numb fingers following broken wrist
 

I'm new to this forum and am not sure which sub-forum I should be posting this issue on. So I'll start here.

Two months ago I tripped and fell. I cracked my left ankle and broke my right wrist. The ankle turned out to not be serious and is already pretty much healed. But the wrist and hand are in bad shape.

I had surgery to repair the break 5 days after the fall - I'd broken the tops off both the radius and ulna. The ER docs reduced the breaks and put on a cast, and referred me to a surgeon. Normally I'm a very effective advocate for myself, but I don't think I was at my best this time. I did a little googling to check out the doc, also checked Angie's List, and the doc got mixed reviewers. Suddenly unable to drive and dependent on a limited support system, I went with this referral. He seemed ok and had what seemed a good plan for the surgery. So I went ahead.

After the surgery the doc told me my bones were osteoporotic and soft, so for maximum stability he'd placed plates and pins in to hold both bones together as they healed. I've suffered some other breaks in The past - broke my R shoulder in a fall in 2008, my L elbow, also in a fall, in 2002 (no, I'm not normally a clutz). I'd healed well from both and, though not fun experiences, have recovered well. So I had no reason not to expect good results with the wrist.

But not having use of my dominant hand was initially, and continues to be, devastating. I'm a fine-beading artist and since I am otherwise physically disabled (severe scoliosis), my fine-motor skills have been a critical function in both my physical and mental health. When I broke my shoulder, though that was tough, I still had full use of my hand.

I was in a post-op cast for 2 weeks, then moved to a molded plastic cast for 4 more weeks as the doc was concerned about the less than optimum bone mass. I could take off the plastic cast to bathe, and do gentle flexing of the fingers, but that was all. I was in terrific amount of pain, both in the wrist and in the hand and fingers. My thumb, index and middle fingers felt like they were on fire, and at times so did my palm.

Once I got the cast off I started OT. this was 6 weeks post-op. By that time, it was clear that my hand was severely effected. I feel like I have more of a claw than a hand. OT has focused on building strength with theraputty, but this week she's having me pull back a bit because of increased pain. My OT is pretty surprised at the amount of numbness I have, and could only suggest that a nerve was somehow nicked. She could't give a prognosis, of course.

I saw the doc this week, and I have to say I'm totally unhappy with him. He's not a communicator, just wants to do the exam and shove you out the door. Any doctor that you have to ask questions as he walks away from you after a 5-minute exam is a bad doc, in my opinion. His assessment at this is point is that "you're basically healed now, let pain be your guide as to what you do." And he doesn't think I need to return for followup exams. I had to really push to get copies of my X-rays.

So, my current condition: the wrist doesn't feel too bad, feels like its healing and I've been doing the exercises to improve flexibility, and those seem to be working. But the fingers are the big issue. I have what I call "numb and painfulness" at the same time in the thumb and first two fingers, with a little numbness in the third finger. I'd had a little numbness prior to the break, due to carpal tunnel, and part of the surgery was supposedly a carpal tunnel release. I don't think it worked, rather that it made it worse. The thumb is almost totally numb, but at times feels like its on fire, especially at night if I try to rest it on a pillow. The fingers are a combination of numbness and pain, with the ability to feel a slight amount of surface texture, but if I pick up something cold it feels like ice, and anything warm feels scalding hot. Things like edges of rigid items, like plastic boxes or stiff paper, feel like knives are cutting me. The prickly part of Velcro feels like a million tiny needle poking holes in my skin when I grasp a Velcro strap to undo it from the brace on the opposite hand.

The hand overall feels but does not look swollen. The muscles of the palm and the palm-side of the fingers twang like an electric rubber band is being twanged if I move them a certain way. Very unpleasant and painful. Working with the theraputty loosens things up a bit, but I have to be careful to stretch the digits after doing the exercises to reduce the twanging.

I'm emotionally devastated and scared. I would welcome input from anyone who has been through hand and wrist injuries, and insight into treatment modalities, quality of life issues, length of recovery, etc. While I realize that two months is early days in this healing process, I can't help but think that I need to consider getting a second opinion at least, and that if I don't address the nerve damage issue early on, it will be too late.

I want my life back!

Thanks for any and all feedback.

help
 

Please contact me, i have exact same wrist,finger problems as you,] i am in a living hell and would greatly appreciate talking to you. How are you now? Have you fixed your hand?

Welcome french333. :Wave-Hello:

I would appreciate a chat
 

Could you please contact me? Sunfollower. I had the same surgery on August 8th and I'm in so much pain I can hardly cope. Would like to know if you are recovered and if so, how. Thank you

Hi Sunfollower, welcome.

According to her user profile, Beadingmypassion hasn't logged on since early March. This is not uncommon on forums.

If you post your story and symptoms on the New Member Introductions, someone may be able to help or point you to another forum depending on your symptoms/situation.

Doc

Welcome Sunfollower. :Wave-Hello:

Good news!
 

Sunflower, I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this very painful experience.

When I wrote my first post I was, obviously, in a state of great despair. All the medical professionals I was dealing with offered little hope for a full recovery, in fact they were downright gloom and doom! And right after I posted a family situation occurred which required a great deal of time and energy from me, so I just never got back to updating my status. I'm also a very private person (my Facebook page has my name, and that's about it) so I was probably not of a mind to bare my soul anymore than I had, and also I had little response to my post, for whatever reason, so I simply put it out of my mind.

But I have good news to report: I am totally recovered! Today it is exactly 9 months since I broke both bones in my right (dominant) wrist. I have two plates and numerous pins holding everything together, but you'd never know it to look at it from the outside. I have regained all normal feeling and coordination in my right hand, and seldom experience any pain in that hand or wrist (and when I do, it's usually because I've overworked it, or haven't done my therapy exercises for a couple of days).

There have been four primary things I've done to achieve this level of recovery: 1) therapy exercises - one part the exercises prescribed by the OT I met with for about 5 weeks, and one part exercises I added through research and trial-and-error; 2) consistency - every single day, twice a day for the first 5 months, now at least once a day, doing my exercises; 3) self-advocacy - if you think you're not getting adequate treatment, or you think the treatment is inappropriate to your situation, you must speak up and/or go after what you need; and 4) don't give up! I've lost count of the number of times, over the past 20 years, when doctors or other health professionals have told me "you'll never be able to do (this or that) again". I'm happy to say I've proven them wrong in every instance. Luck or self-determination? Maybe some of both, but as I've been a widow for 20 years raising two special-needs kids while battling my own health issues, I felt I didn't have a choice - I could give up and lose control of my life, or I could fight the good fight and recover to the best of my ability.

I felt my OT was inadequate and, at times, dismissive of my concerns. So I stopped OT and built my own therapy program, part that which was prescribed and the other part based on researching therapy sites on the internet and trying out different things. Once I had a list of things that I thought were appropriate for me, I made myself follow through.

A significant issue for me was the pain and numbness, plus swelling which both my surgeon and therapist ignored. When I started driving, and the weather was cold, I bought a pair of inexpensive one-size-fits all stretchy knit gloves (Perri's Magic Gloves, One Size) which kept my hands warm and also gripped the steering wheel better, as they had sticky dots on the palms and the palm-side of the fingers. They also provided some compression, which felt good, so I looked for compression gloves on Amazon. I found Isotoner compression gloves (Isotoner Full Finger Therapeutic Gloves, only $19.25), and wow, what an improvement. Within a week of wearing those gloves the swelling decreased and for the first time in 4 months I started to get good tingles of feeling back in the numb thumb and two fingers.

By the end of the 5th month, I'd been doing my revised therapy twice a day and wearing the compression glove as often as possible (removed it for therapy). My thumb and the two effected fingers had partial feeling back, and the pain was greatly reduced.

By the end of the 7th month, I had full feeling back in my whole hand, the swelling was gone, and the pain in my wrist almost totally gone. I learned that I had to be careful not to over-do, and if I missed a therapy session I started to hurt, but not nearly like it had been. It was at this time that I dared to pick up beads, needle and thread, and voila! I was back to my beadwork! Yahoo!

I forgot to mention that while I was still in a cast I went online and ordered an automatic jar opener (Hamilton Beach Open Ease Automatic Jar Opener) and a one-handed can opener (Smart Touch Handheld Electric Can Opener, maybe you've seed ads for them on TV). Since I live alone I knew I'd need them, especially since cooking was going to be a problem for awhile and things like canned soup, fruits and vegetable were sure to be part of my diet until I could shop and cook normally.

I also bought a set of foam tubing for inserting handles of cutlery and other tools (Ableware Closed Cell Foam Tubing, Bright Color Assortment, $15.00) as for the early months I simply could not hold so much as a fork or knife, and even as I improved it was painful to hold anything and the large diameter of these tubes made it possible to do so. Even now, I've got foam tubing covers on some of my beading and needlework tools, and that's been a great help in making it possible for me to return to normal activity. Even though I can hold onto things without that assist, the tubing reduces the stress and makes it possible for me to work longer. So, total cost for gloves and adaptive equipment: $80 over a 4-month period. Not a bad investment in making it possible to recover to a normal life.

Today I adjusted my contact settings to accept private messages and friend requests directly in my email. I've accepted your friend request as well. Feel free to contact me directly. There's so much more I could have included in this post, but I didn't want to overdo it!

Forgot to mention, my left hand, which got over stressed doing righty's work, and which, of course, the doc said would never get better, is in the best working order in the past 20+ years, as I did all the same therapy with it that I did for the broken right. I have carpal tunnel in the left as well, but the exercises have improved that a lot, and I seldom have pain or numbness in the left any more. A nice side bonus!

In the meantime, best wishes it your recovery. Keep in touch as it suits you.

Welcome back, and thanks for the update. Very often, when someone gets better or has a positive outcome, they're (understandably) so delighted to get on with their lives that relating the positive experience slips through the cracks.

Thanks again!

Doc

Thank you for your "hope"
 

;) currently I'm on my way to Tucson area for a few months so will contact you when I have wifi and am settled...about 2 weeks. I am so excited to hear from you and about your recovery. Thank you!

Keep moving forward
 

You're most welcome!

Good luck on your move and try not to skimp on your therapy in the process. Would love to hear how you're doing once you get settled.

Hello again, finally made it to 'north of Tucson/south of Phoenix. Will be here until mid April then back to home in North Central Washongton; Okanogan valley.
What a journey this broken radius has been. Mentioned I had surgery on August 8th, had the plate and screws "Installed!" And had carpal tunnel release also as the surgeon said it was good to do that along with the surgery since often the tendons contract ??? I sense that's where my problem lies. The was pain before the surgery, obvious from the broken radius...and moderately severe. Although there wasn't numbness until after the surgery. For the first two weeks I thought "must be normal" but when it continued I vegan questioning. At my last visit with the surgeon; September 30th, he agreed there must be a problem. He stated he could have cut or nicked a nerve or ?He gave me a prescription for nerve testing and I'll make an appointment for that tomorrow. I also have not started PT as he wanted me to wait ??? But said to start when I arrived here so I'll schedule that tomorrow as well.
I am so frustrated! The numbness with an unexplainable pain is causing me to be irritable, depressed, frustrated, angry......... I've ordered the compression gloves to be awaiting my arrival but they beat me here so was returned! I reordered and hoping for a delivery early this coming week. Reading your reply has given me hope and some direction and I'm hoping for as positive an outcome as you described. I hesitate to be very active with my hand (thankfully not my dominate hand) because it flares up the pain and numbness. At over 2 months post surgery, I'm still using narcotics!
I am so open to suggestions so fire away ! My husband and I are here, Florence Az, working at an RV resort for the winter season and I'm concerned that my hand will hamper my performance. My job is taking care of their plants which shouldn't required too much manual labor and I can prune and plant with my dominate hand. We'll see!
Thank you for your helpful responses...nice to know I have someone who can relate😳. I'd be happy to give you my direct email if there is a secure way to do that. So far I don't see a place to do that.
Thanks and sending positive thoughts your way!
Shirl

Private messaging? I think it's possible
 

I think there's a way for us to do private messaging. I've had a couple of hectic days but will try to clarify within the next couple of days. I'm in Oregon so maybe when you return to home ground we're not so far away from each other. Hang in there. Hope you've received the gloves by now and that they're giving you some relief. And the sooner you can get going with PT/OT the faster you will start to see results. If I don't get back to you by Saturday give me a nudge.

An observation about doctor comments
 

One other thing before I conk out. Re. Your docs comments about the numbness and pain - the "nerve might have been nicked" comment is word for word what I got from my surgeon when I told him what misery I was in! I think they must learn this stuff in medical school in the class titled "How to cover your (behind, but not so politely)." Not helpful or informative and certainly not designed to give you hope!

Remember, I broke both bones and I'm o.k. now. So don't give up hope.

Hi All

Want to report on my break! :(

I severaly broke my distal radius and chipped my ulna in right hand. 10/26/14

I have surgery 10/28/14, installed a plate and 6 screws.

So, I am out of the casting and have a splint that I wear sometimes. Pain is none when still but when I move the wrist obviously it still hurts as the bone is still healing and tissue ect still healing. ROM is coming back but obviously slowly.

Anyways. Things are going decent but. My main issue is my numb thumb. The left side of my thumb is numb and tingly. I am about 7 weels post op.

Sunflower, how is your numbness doing?

Sunflower - Any luck on regaing feeling in fingers? my thumb is still numb 6 weeks after op. JW THANKS!

Catching up
 

I haven't heard anything from Sunflower since her last posting from Arizona. I hope this means she's doing well.
Knutson, Sorry you're having to deal with this. It took almost 4 months and strictly following my OT therapy before I got rid of all the numbness. In my case I had not only the thumb but also the index and middle fingers which were numb and painful at the same time. As I posted earlier, wearing a full-coverage Isotoner compression glove (bought from Amazon) was a turning point for me. Have you tried that yet? Have you been given Theraputty to use as part of your therapy? I used it daily twice a day as part of my therapy and it helped a lot. I also found using good old kitchen-variety rubber bands very helpful - I bought a bag of assorted lengths and tension levels from the Dollar Store and sorted through them to find very small ones to use between two fingers, and longer less-tension ones to place over all my fingers. For the small band I place it over two fingers, or the thumb and pointer finger, and stretch the bend repeatedly. For the larger band, I place it over the tips of all five fingers and thumb and stretch it out. These are actually standard carpal tunnel exercises that I hadn't done for years but resurrected. Worked really good. I think the thing about all three devices - glove, theraputty and rubber bands - is that using them both strengthens the muscles and ligaments while also improving circulation in the affected areas. Just a word of caution, though, if I tried to move too fast to increase the levels of difficulty, I paid. I had to start slow and increase difficulty slowly.

At this point my R wrist, the broken one, actually feels better than my L, which doesn't have the advantage of the carpal tunnel release. However, if I'm faithful at doing my exercises daily (usually in the evenings while watching TV) both hands and wrists feel good and very functional.

If I can be of any further help, don't hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes to all for a Happy New Year!