How to ride with broken wrist???

TheDrunkMonk

2012, the year of the bike, ended before it started in a heap on the floor with several others in my second race of the year at Ludgershall.

So, I've had 4 weeks off, and been told it hasn't healed at all, so now I'm getting fidgety. I've tried turning my race bars upside down and moving the brakes to the top to make the bar position as high as possible, but it's still too much weight on the wrist and a bit unstable.

Any ideas? I haven't got loads of money. So I can't buy a recumbent trike... could hire one maybe????

Would a tri position put all the weight on my elbows, or is it along the arm as well?

Oh, I have a cast on......

neilo23

If you don't have one already, I would suggest a turbo trainer. You'll be able to train safely until a doctor says you're ready to go out on your bike. Riding in a cast wouldn't be a good idea. Hope you're coping well with the lack of wrist action.

thegreatdivide

Turbo, gym bike, end of.

If you go out on your bike with a broken wrist - esp after just 4 weeks - you will fuxk it up. Take all the advice the Doc gives you seriously and do the physio.

cyco2

If your Doc has said the break has not healed then you should take that as a precaution and not do any thing to hinder it's healing. The broken joint has to be kept still to allow the calcium + to build up. Any movement will mean the process will produce more calcium and a lump around the joint will develop which could be detrimental.
Very short tri bars could help because you have the wrist in a position that has less movement in it. If you see my bikes picture on the left I have a pair of bars inside the break levers. This position off road or on rough tracks is very easy on the wrists.

ddmrcp

To not ride.....

Cleat Eastwood

maybe you need some of this

timmyturbo

TheDrunkMonk wrote:

2012, the year of the bike, ended before it started in a heap on the floor with several others in my second race of the year at Ludgershall.

So, I've had 4 weeks off, and been told it hasn't healed at all, so now I'm getting fidgety. I've tried turning my race bars upside down and moving the brakes to the top to make the bar position as high as possible, but it's still too much weight on the wrist and a bit unstable.

Any ideas? I haven't got loads of money. So I can't buy a recumbent trike... could hire one maybe????

Would a tri position put all the weight on my elbows, or is it along the arm as well?

Oh, I have a cast on......

I have not done a TT for years , but if you take into account that your 2 wheels are giroscopes, the faster you pedal , the less the the need to rely on yours hands and arms to assist you . (-:

fizz

You know what I think...

You should be resting, your body wont heal if you are trying to exercise. I was told by the Dr & the Physio that I should be resting and just doing my physio exercises and not cycling. I even got told off because I was walking to work / being at work.

Doing to much to soon, IMHO is just going to hinder your recovery give your body the best chance you can and rest.

Also are you not worried about being knocked off and damaging it again /further than you already have. I realise that we spend to much time trying to wrap ourselves up in cotton wool in modern society, but you are supposed to be getting better not making or risking things being made worse for you.

At the most I'd be looking at some gentle spinning on the Turbo trainer, Physio told me that was OK to do when I was towards the end of my recovery period.

I've a set of Tri Bars under my desk ask me about them tomorrow if you want to borrow them.

Gazzetta67

Maybe get your wife/GF to go "on top" 8)

TheDrunkMonk

Aaaaaargh!! I just want to ride my bike!!

Damn you scaphoid!! I've seen on the web they screw about 30% of them together. I've got a pack of self-tapping turbo golds out in the garage......

fizz

Nah some no more nails will see you right !

Seriously just rest it, I know its frustrating, but you'll be really really p*ssed off if you do damage to it now by cycling when you should be resting that stops it from healing ever or just delays it even more.

Big Hairy Wallapers

I know the feeling as I was equally frustrated when I done mine.
I had an awkward break into the joint as was plastered in a normal position.
A few days later they cut the plaster off and pulled it into a very wierd position, then pulled it again as the plaster was setting, that smarted a bit!
I waited 5 weeks before riding again, on the Mtb on the road and could rest the edge of my cast on the end of the bars but the road buzz was 'alarming'.
Gladly I didn't fall off.
Two weeks after the plaster came off I slipped on an icy pavement and landed on it, bending it right back.....
It held together ok.
If you wanna ride then do it.
But one step forwards could lead to many steps backwards!

Good luck.
Oh and get a powerball to build it back to full strength quickly.

andyrr

Doubt outdoor riding is a good idea until you can bear weight on it and have full control of the bike but I'd imagine that turbo could be ok if you can arrange your arm / wrist in a suitable position. Tri bars might work - maybe try out some mates bikes with these fitted to see if the weight is being sorne in the appropriate place, different bars might change this. Also if you get super-sweaty then it might not be too pleasant for the cast (if you have one fitted ?)

wjcrombie

I broke my radius in May of last year. Was back on the bike within 4 weeks (trainer in 1) although i had a dirty great plate and 20+ screws instereted into it which removed the need for a cast and made the healing process quicker.....

I had various debates with the surgeon and physio (who were both very good) and the conclusion is that you are fine to do whatever as long as it does not hurt to much (pain is equated to doing damage) and making sure i did not fall off.....

With a cast you want to get it off as quick as possible so you can start getting range of motion back in it. the longer it stays in a cast the longer and more painful that process will be......

I would advise 1 handed riding on the turbo - best compromise all around...

thegreatdivide

I had my radius shattered in May of last year and had a metal plate and screws fitted (removed in Dec) and the surgeon said no bike for six months. He's also a major roadie and totally understood my urge to get back on the saddle. I don't think I could trust a surgeon that said I was fine to do whatever as long as it didn't hurt too much!

kieranb

get a fixed wheel bike, put front brake on, then you only need one hand on the handle bars to cycle, no gears to change and only one break lever, position for use with the non-broken one. Your balance will probably adjust soon enough, just go slow at first.

wjcrombie

thegreatdivide wrote:

I had my radius shattered in May of last year and had a metal plate and screws fitted (removed in Dec) and the surgeon said no bike for six months. He's also a major roadie and totally understood my urge to get back on the saddle. I don't think I could trust a surgeon that said I was fine to do whatever as long as it didn't hurt too much!

The surgeon was a very good one. I don't have any pain from the break and have full Range of motion so from the point of view of recovering it clearly has not done any damage to me.
In terms of not riding a bike for 6 months, that is bonkers advice, physical activity and using your arm again are both good things. Did he also tell you not to cross the road or drive anywhere or go out of the house for fear of another accident?

thegreatdivide

Just because you have a metal plate in your arm and don’t feel any pain doesn’t mean all is well inside. Might have been fine for you but it’s crazy advice to give to a patient. I did all the required arm physio and spent the off months in a gym working on leg strength and spinning. In the end I was able to get back on the bike after 4 months albeit taking it easy. Not getting back on the bike definitely helped because once my body started to react to the metal and had to be removed in Dec they were confident the bone had fully healed so I’d be OK without the support.

Clever Pun

I broke my wrist just before new years, I used the excuse to get a turbo, even though it's not the best with a cast it means you keep up your level of fitness. I actually found gym bike better as you can sit in an aero tuck and take all the weight off your soon to be disgusting cast.

I took the train for a month, after the first couple of days I was using a bobike much to the disgust of Mrs Pun, but it felt so much better till I had to brake sharply sending quite a lot of pain through the wrist. I started using the brompton for the last 2 weeks (about a mile or so each side of the train) By the sounds of it mine wasn't as bad as yours. Heal Up soon.

Your wrist is rather important, don't push yourself harder than you're told as a week or two now is much better than surgery and months off anything.

wjcrombie

thegreatdivide wrote:

Just because you have a metal plate in your arm and don’t feel any pain doesn’t mean all is well inside. Might have been fine for you but it’s crazy advice to give to a patient. I did all the required arm physio and spent the off months in a gym working on leg strength and spinning. In the end I was able to get back on the bike after 4 months albeit taking it easy. Not getting back on the bike definitely helped because once my body started to react to the metal and had to be removed in Dec they were confident the bone had fully healed so I’d be OK without the support.

I fully acknowledge that riding again so soon was a risk in terms of if I had another accident etc, and I was told that my all the professionals that i dealt with, but beyond that all the advice I had was to start using it as soon as you reasonably could. The Surgeon was not happy that I was riding my bike, but putting aside the risk of another crash the general advice was do whatever you can do and your body will tell you when you are doing to much (as it usually does). I never had any aching or other pain in my arm from my riding so I definately was not pushing the boundries to much from that point of view. my recovery was also twice as fast as expected based on the physio sessions I had so again it definately did me no harm..... As for 6 months off the bike, even you did not follow that advice, so it shows it was overly cautious and unrealistic....

masterchef

ddmrcp wrote:

To not ride.....

what he said

upperoilcan

LOL at this entire thread.......