Howdy:

About 20 years ago I broke my wrist and took the cast off 2 weeks early (yes, I was an idiot). The doc was mad because it was not completely healed, but he did NOT re-cast me provided that I went to physical therapy.

To make a long story short, I never did go to PT and blew off the excercises. As I result, I've never had full range-of-motion in my wrist (I can't rotate it all the way over in either direction).

It never really bothered much until now, when I started lifting weights at the age of 37. As you can imagine, not being about to rotate your wrist without pain is not much fun when you're lifting.

So, is there anything I can do in terms of healing this OLD injury or I am stuck with it for the rest of my life? I don't know much about how broken bones heal, but I'm guessing if it healed wrong I am flat out of luck.

Thanks for any advice.

Tim

Howdy:

About 20 years ago I broke my wrist and took the cast off 2 weeks early (yes, I was an idiot). The doc was mad because it was not completely healed, but he did NOT re-cast me provided that I went to physical therapy.

To make a long story short, I never did go to PT and blew off the excercises. As I result, I've never had full range-of-motion in my wrist (I can't rotate it all the way over in either direction).

It never really bothered much until now, when I started lifting weights at the age of 37. As you can imagine, not being about to rotate your wrist without pain is not much fun when you're lifting.

So, is there anything I can do in terms of healing this OLD injury or I am stuck with it for the rest of my life? I don't know much about how broken bones heal, but I'm guessing if it healed wrong I am flat out of luck.

Thanks for any advice.

Tim

Uh, ask a specialist doctor. And maybe this time do what he suggests.

If it wasn't fully healed, there's a chance that it didn't set completely right and has healed improperly. You may have to have your wrist rebroken and then allowed to heal properly.

If it wasn't fully healed, there's a chance that it didn't set completely right and has healed improperly. You may have to have your wrist rebroken and then allowed to heal properly.

Ouch! That sounds unpleasant. More than likely you've got some calcium build-up there. A shot of cortisone MAY help.

If you have some calcification build up, which you probably do then you're going to have loss in ROM because that extra bony prominence is going to get in the way. Not a lot you can besides get it removed or live with it.

Usually when you break a bone your body will grow it back with calcifications that turn to bone and then you go to PT and the work they do helps mold that new bone into the shape it should be to allow proper ROM ect, however since you didn't do this you most likely lost that ROM because the bone did not mold.