Broken Wrist question?!
Question: I was diagnosed with a non-displaced fractured radius and ulna 2 weeks ago. My wrist was casted. Today(2 weeks later) The doctor told me I now had a displaced fracture and that it would require surgery to fix it. The doctor said that I did nothing wrong. I explained all my daily uses of the hand and he said they were all fine. My cast is very loose and there is a bump near the broken area. I was just wondering if anybody knew what was going on and whether the loose cast is to blame or if this happens sometimes.
Answers: I was diagnosed with a non-displaced fractured radius and ulna 2 weeks ago. My wrist was casted. Today(2 weeks later) The doctor told me I now had a displaced fracture and that it would require surgery to fix it. The doctor said that I did nothing wrong. I explained all my daily uses of the hand and he said they were all fine. My cast is very loose and there is a bump near the broken area. I was just wondering if anybody knew what was going on and whether the loose cast is to blame or if this happens sometimes.
I also had a wrist that was broken in 3 places from a fall, and they casted it. The problem is that if the wrist is swollen when they cast it, when the swelling goes down (like when you sleep and are laying down), the cast is no longer supporting anything - the broken bones are free to shift and move around, especially if you are assuming daily activities with the casted arm. Once the initial swelling goes down, it would have been ideal to re-cast it with you new-sized arm. The loose cast is to blame. The broken bones were able to shift in a bad way while in the cast so that is not healing straight. The cast is not the sole cause though - most likely, you were overusing the arm too - typing or doing sports. It might FEEL better in the cast, but hte bone has to heal back together and be STILL. That's the whole reason for the cast.
The cast should not be loose! If it's loose, it won't support the wrist, and it might not heal correctly. Go back to the doctor and ask them if they could fix it.
Swelling went down.
Why the wait of 2 wks before it was casted???..usually a cast is placed on about 3 days after fracture when swelling is down...You should have been in a rigid molded wrist splint for the 2 wks almost like a cast...
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