Riding After Broken Wrist

"Bob C" patnbob@unwired wrote in message
.. .
| Comments on Riding after broken wrist. Got tipped off on a pothole
| yesterday, and face 6 weeks in plaster. Didn't take the advice about
| not stopping the fall with hands - it all happened too quickly! How
| soon did others get back on the bike?

I had a few problems following my scaphoid fracture - it was initially
misdiagnosed, and I spent 3 months (May-August) thinking it was a
bruise/sprain, and I continued cycling, but it was increasingly painful.
Eventually when my wrist started swelling, I saw my GP who organised an
X-ray, the fracture was found, and there was a rushed series of
consultations and I had a bolt fitted to the bone. This was done in day
surgery - into hospital at 6am, out at 2pm.

It's usable, but I can't open jars, and cycling on flat bars with thumb
round the bar is a bit uncomfortable - I tend "grip" the bar with base of my
hand - but this is because of the delay in treatment - apparently it's not
uncommon for scaphoid fractures to be undiagnosed, since you've had rapid
treatment, you should be tickety-boo.

Drop bars, USS 'bent bars, and Dutch style bars (flat but curved backwards -
I don't know the correct name) dont give me a problem, so I'm okay with 2/3
of my bikes, [soon to be 3/4]

pOB

On Feb 20, 6:25 pm, "Gags" wrote:

About 6 years ago I also rode for 6 weeks in Canberra with a cast on my
lower leg. This was actually a bit easier as all I did was replace the SPD
pedal on the LHS with a flat pedal and then I strapped an old reef sandle
over my cast.

Shame, I thought you were about to say you screwed a cleat in to the
bottom of your cast

Graeme

In article , Bob C
patnbob@unwired says...
Comments on Riding after broken wrist. Got tipped off on a pothole
yesterday, and face 6 weeks in plaster. Didn't take the advice about
not stopping the fall with hands - it all happened too quickly! How
soon did others get back on the bike?

Broke wrist (off roading), cycled to hospital, wrist plastered, cycled
home (which probably didn't do the plaster back slab much good). Went
back a couple of days later for a resin plaster, which survived OK apart
from the bit looped around the thumb which soon crumbled - I cut that
bit off because it wasn't doing anything apart from getting in the way
and the plaster was staying in place pretty well anyway. Of course I
was sternly reprimanded by the people at the fracture clinic, they also
told me that I shouldn't be using that hand but there was no way I could
take time off work just before Christmas with hundreds of bikes to be
prepared. I don't think it causes me any particular problems now, but
it's hard to tell because I've broken both wrists and carried on
working, so I don't know if the aches are caused by the initial trauma,
failure to rest and heal, or age. :-)

On Feb 20, 1:03 am, Bob C patnbob@unwired wrote:
Comments on Riding after broken wrist. Got tipped off on a pothole
yesterday, and face 6 weeks in plaster. Didn't take the advice about
not stopping the fall with hands - it all happened too quickly! How
soon did others get back on the bike?

Scaphoid fracture?

I'm in plaster with one of those at the moment. Was tentatively back
on bike after a week but I had the easy cast without my thumb in it.
Went for a check up after 2 weeks and had a new cast with my thumb in
it which makes rapid fire gear changing virtually impossible and
riding isn't as much fun. Doctor said it was ok to ride though as
long as I was sensible but I'm spending more time in the gym because I
don't want to get knocked off again so soon and because it's been cold
and icy in the evenings!

I've found that writing causes much more pain than riding does.

Get well soon - I assume you've reported the pothole to the
appropriate authority?

peter

Bob C wrote:
Comments on Riding after broken wrist. Got tipped off on a pothole
yesterday, and face 6 weeks in plaster. Didn't take the advice about
not stopping the fall with hands - it all happened too quickly! How
soon did others get back on the bike?

Recumbent trike - (I use a Trice)

On Feb 19, 10:21*pm, Mike Rocket J Squirrel
wrote:
On 2/19/2008 9:34 PM Jay Beattie wrote:

Oh man, I wish I had an X-ray of my left knee! Titanium from the mid-femur
to the upper tibia. Hurts to walk sometimes, limited range of motion, but
never troubles me riding. I lucked out.

Did you have a break just above the femoral head?

Hi Jay, my Lt knee, distal Lt femur, and proximal Lt tibia and Lt fibula
had multiple fractures. The original fix was to paste things together as
well as possible and tack the femoral head to the femur with a couple
plates and what appeared to be a random collection of lag bolts and wood
screws. When the meniscus in the knee finally wore out (messed up bearing
surfaces) resulting in bone-on-bone grind-o-fun, they sawed off the
femoral head, shaped a nice keyed surface atop the tibia, and mounted the
prosthetic with a long hex cross-sectioned titanium rod up the inside of
my femur. Looking at how the femur could shatter with too much torsion
from the lower leg, my surgeon said "no skiing." That was about 10 years
ago. I limp (also multiple fractures in Rt ankle and broken proximal Rt
femur), but compared with the pain of walking on a trashed knee, it's a
serious improvement.

Man, what happened? Were you hit by a train? Please tell me this was
not a skiing injury. -- Jay Beattie.

Andrew Muzi wrote:
Bob C wrote:
Comments on Riding after broken wrist. Got tipped off on a pothole
yesterday, and face 6 weeks in plaster. Didn't take the advice about
not stopping the fall with hands - it all happened too quickly! How
soon did others get back on the bike?

I could not manage to push a file or put weight on the handlebar with
mine for 4~5 weeks after I got my new bionic metal wrist.
http://www.yellowjersey.org/xray.html

I did ride one-handed though!

Titanium or stainless steel? Too bad there was not a version with a
Campagnolo logo on it!

That intersection [1] is actually good looking compared to what most of
the streets will look like a month from now.

[1] http://www.yellowjersey.org/wrist.html

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

PoB aka Person on Bicycle? wrote:
[...]
Drop bars, USS 'bent bars, and Dutch style bars (flat but curved backwards -
I don't know the correct name)[...]

North Road bars?
http://www.bikemannetwork.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/product_images/HB/HB1008.jpg

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

Pete Whelan wrote:
Bob C wrote:
Comments on Riding after broken wrist. Got tipped off on a pothole
yesterday, and face 6 weeks in plaster. Didn't take the advice about
not stopping the fall with hands - it all happened too quickly! How
soon did others get back on the bike?

Recumbent trike - (I use a Trice)

A Trice would be nice, but oh what a price!

I want a Trice Micro to keep my Dragonflyer company.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

On 2008-02-20, (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
had a right wrist fracture about 2 years ago (dominant hand) workplace
accident; 9 months later I still had trouble opening a jar with that
hand. I was riding after the cast came off it was very tender and
sore; not fun especially on climbs, also my hand was very weak pulling
the brakes (big safety concern there). I was warned a reinjury could
cause premanent disability so be mindfull that warning might extend to
yourself. my wrist is still stiff doing pushups and I still lack
torque with that hand.

I think I might have had a fractured wrist in a fall, but never went
to the doctor for it. Every now and again, 5 months later, I am
reminded of this when I try to pick up and maneuver an awkward
dichroic into the spectrograph, but only sometimes.

--
TimC
Ah, so many of life's little problems can be solved by head
vaporisation. -- Zixia in ARK