Scaphoid fracture

[Dantheman]

That's insane that they stuck you in another cast after diagnosing the nonunion/AVN. Punch that guy in the face if you ever see him again. I agree 100% with boarddad, go back to Alberta, find a good ortho who specializes in forearm/hand stuff and get surgery ASAP.

[roxyfan98]

the shredder- I didn't realize my scaphoid was broken for about 9 months post bike crash. I ended up getting a bone graph, 2 screws and dr tried to re-establish blood supply by routing an artery from down in my forearm up to the scaphoid. I had cast on for 6 months. I was in pretty severe pain for ~2 years after and though it was normal. Through a series of weird events I ended up in a hospital in Turkey and found out the bone was actually dead and the death was spreading to other bones. Scary! I got an operation called four-corner fusion done in Turkey which essentially involves removing the scaphoid and fusing 4 bones together in the wrist. 3 years later I am still living with pain. Biking is fine. Throwing a ball will never happen again which I'm ok with. Gardening, hammering, anything like that is a no-no. Honestly, I just avoid the bad activities and try not to dwell on what I can't do. I would get your issues checked out ASAP to avoid further problems. It's easy to want to ignore the pain but it will only get worse. Soon we'll be able to 3D print joints right??

[Falcon3]

Well this thread has me a bit freaked out. How soon after injury should I be considering going to the doc?

I crashed on the mtb last night and hand pain was pretty substantial last night, has considerably improved today, basically the whole hand now just feels achy with some point tenderness over the joint in the snuffbox (not the solid bone part of sniffbox) and then a bit of swelling out over the body of the scaphoid with some pain when palpated.

At this point, less than 24 hours out, it feels complete fine if not moving, and some tenderness if my thumb is moved in certain ways, mostly pinching motions.

Trying to decide if it’s prudent to see the hand orthos sooner or give it a couple days and see if it improves.

[old goat]

If it's not clearly better tomorrow (Friday) I'd get it xrayed. Don't know that I'd start with a hand surgeon. I've never known an ortho who would see a patient who hadn't already had an xray first. Their time is apparently more valuable than other doctors' time.
I knew an orthopod who wouldn't see his newborn kid until the baby was xrayed.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

You’ll be put in a cast and then have another X-ray in a few weeks. Scaphoid fx usually doesn’t show well on X-ray initially. The cast is preventive in case they fx shows when the callous starts to form on follow up X-ray. Good luck


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[bourbonisgood]

Well this thread has me a bit freaked out. How soon after injury should I be considering going to the doc?

I crashed on the mtb last night and hand pain was pretty substantial last night, has considerably improved today, basically the whole hand now just feels achy with some point tenderness over the joint in the snuffbox (not the solid bone part of sniffbox) and then a bit of swelling out over the body of the scaphoid with some pain when palpated.

At this point, less than 24 hours out, it feels complete fine if not moving, and some tenderness if my thumb is moved in certain ways, mostly pinching motions.

Trying to decide if it’s prudent to see the hand orthos sooner or give it a couple days and see if it improves.

Sorry this happened to you. Any update? I fractured the central third of my scaphoid (scaphoid waist fx) skiing at Schweitzer it 2015. It was fairly evident when it happened, and clear on X-ray a few hours later. My fracture took a long time to heal, I was in a cast almost 16 weeks, then a splint for a while after that. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Or if you happen to need a recommendation for ortho in Spokane.

[Falcon3]

Thanks all,
Went to the walk in ortho clinic Wednesday, got the X-rays, ortho PA poked around and thinks it’s several sprained ligaments, not any breaks.

The snuffbox pain is gone except when I push fairly hard on the tendons and ligaments in the area. No pain on the actual bone. So the sprains make sense to me.

Mechanism was tree impact to knuckles that slammed the hand down in a palmar motion. Most of the pain has resolved but it feels like the tendons that hold your wrist to your radius when say picking up a pan or tea kettle are pretty painful and unstable. No more snuffbox swelling, just point swelling on the dorsal side if my hand where I think it went into the tree.

I’m seeing the hand ortho next week as a follow up; I’ll keep icing and taking it easy until then.

[old goat]

Maybe a brace for comfort in the meantime? This is a non professional suggestion btw.
Glad to hear you're doing better and no obvious fx.
I have noticed that when I suspect I might have an injury that could be diagnosed by pressing on a certain spot--snuffbox, medial knee joint line, etc--I will keep checking until the spot hurts from being mashed on over and over. I'm not suggesting this is the case with you.

[Falcon3]

Got the second set of X-rays today, ruled out a scaphoid fracture! Hand doc told me to take a couple more weeks off the bike and then ease back into it. He thinks I sprained multiple joints in the hand but it doesn’t present as any significant tears.