Broken Wrist...

Finally proving that I am the ultimate klutz, I managed to break my wrist at a physical therapy session for a leg injury. So, I'm in a cast and out of the pool, I would guess, for at least the next 4-6 weeks. Anyone else return from a broken wrist/hand injury? Any words of wisdom? And yes I know, follow doctors instructions. Rachael If you can get in the pool and do some kicking, that would be helpful. I injured my wrist when I was 12(back in '89) and had to wear my cast above my elbows so I couldn't swim. But, if it is not above your elbows, due to the advances in medical technology, Just get in the pool with a kickboard and do some kicking SO you don't lose total swimming feeling.

There are plenty you can do w/ a kickboard if you can avoid ruining the cast. I lacerated my tricept tendon in college and kicked to stay in shape, and I ended up doing times equivalent to the previous year, and I did nothing but kick for 3mos. My current coach says that the legs are underrated and are the first thing to soften when you stop swimming, so he works the legs hard when everyone comes back from the summer off. I'd check out some of the workout blogs for kicking ideas if you need to- Fortress', Chris Stevenson's, and others. I hope this helps, and try not to break anything else!

When this first happened the doc originally put me in a splint which I was excited about as i certain to be able to get in and do some kicking, but after seeing a specialist, I'm in a cast I cant get it wet. Unfortunally, the water proof covers seem to all have a very small opening which causes me great pain when i try to pull them over the cast. Regardless, once this monstrosity is off i expect i will be transitioning in by kicking more than swimming.

oh me me me! I broke both within a year! If you're stuck with your non-water-friendly cast for a couple weeks, take some time off, but if you get a chance to get a new one, ask for the gore-tex lining stuff. I was in the water for all but a few weeks with mine. When you get back in (with or without the cast), work your kickboard HARD for a few weeks and slowly bring in the arms. do some really challenging kick sets - bust out the fins and monofins - and when your cast comes off, do sculling in warmup and warmdown so you can help bring your feel back. if you get some of the gore-tex lining, bring a hair dryer to the pool with you to help jumpstart the drying process. oh, and beware of some interesting arm hair growth. :D

I did this two summers ago. The surgery was lots of fun. It is possible to over do the physical therapy. I would work on the exercises they gave me for hours at the house after surgery. My strength and flexibilty were not returning from over use. Lesson learned. There is a plastic cast they can put on your wrist that is held on with velcro which you can get wet. You then can do super kick sets etc but my doctor would not allow me to pull. Read the first paragraph. At about 10 weeks he let me resume a "normal" practice which was very painful without the cast. He allowed me to pull very easily for just a little while a couple of times a day. The progress the 11th week was amazing. Very easy pulls only and I worked on body position and extension. At week 12 I got the green light to resume regular swimming activities. I did about a 200 warm up and thought better of continuing as the pain was not a lot of fun. Lesson learned. I am self coached so I worked my way up to a full practice in about 6 more weeks. I hope you do not have to go the screw and plate route as it is not a lot of fun. Good luck

Luckily the fractures are not disoplaced much and the doc expeccts them to heal well with out surgery. I sure hope thats the case. The PT place i was going to is multidiscplinary and my doc there initially wrote me a Rx for one of the plastic/velcro splints you descrbed. That doc is a lower extremity specialist however and the hand doc said the splint wasn't supportive enough. I hope that I'll be able to transition back to that one though after I get the fiberglass one off. If they want me to stay in a cast at my June follow up, I'm going to certainly ask about the goretex liner another poster mentioned. Thanks to all for the advice and success stories. Its helpful to hear that there is hope to getting back in the pool.

Finally proving that I am the ultimate klutz, I managed to break my wrist at a physical therapy session for a leg injury. So, I'm in a cast and out of the pool, I would guess, for at least the next 4-6 weeks. Anyone else return from a broken wrist/hand injury? Any words of wisdom? And yes I know, follow doctors instructions. Rachael Start wearing a helmet. All the time.

I did a thread on this last October. Didn't break my wrist; broke the outside of my hand. I asked people about waterproof casts on this forum. I got the waterproof cast but it made me claustrophobic, insanely so. I felt my arm was rotting inside (it wasn't). I wasn't supposed to pull while I had the waterproof cast, I was supposed to get in the pool and kick, but, I am not a good patient, so, I tried out pulling gently a few times, then harder, then went to doctor (he was x-raying me every week because break was in hard to heal place), who said, "You've been swimming, haven't you?" The x-rays never lie. Extra bone buildup around the break. That was after one week with waterproof cast. I had him take it off because it was making me insane(er). He then put a splint on my hand, which was really stupid of him, because of course I could take it off and swim as much as I wanted. Which I did. As long as it didn't hurt too much. My hand healed a little crooked but I was told that was not from swimming. This is the truth. The doctor told me this. It sucks, is all I can say. Right after I'd healed my hand, I fell on the ice the day before the one-hour swim in January and broke tip of my thumb. Then walking to get in the pool to swim anyway (though thumb hurt like hell), I stubbed my toe. Team decided I needed to be wrapped in bubblewrap. Good luck. It will pass. The helmet does sound like a good suggestion.