Broken Wrist

Headhuunter

I broke my wrist at the end of Jan, it's a colles fracture of the radius of my left arm. The plaster is due to come off on the 8th March and I'm really keen to get back on the bike, back to the gym etc... Has anyone had any experience of getting back on the bike after a wrist fracture? How long was it before you were able to ride regularly? I used to commute in and out of central London every day (about 8 miles each way) and do club rides at the weekend (between 40-100 miles)... I'm just wondering how long it'll be before I'm able to do all that again... I can just feel my fitness slipping away....

rstabler11

What I was always told was "fitness is hard to gain, easy to lose, but reasonably easy to gain again". Make sure your first few rides are really easy and you build them up and I'm sure you be back to full wack within a month or so.
If you're worried though you can try and keep the legs spinning on a static gym bike / turbo, although this probably isn't going to make a very big difference.
Rob

thegreatdivide

I had a really bad comminuted fracture of my radius and a chip taken off the end of my ulna resulting in a metal plate and a bunch of screws drilled in. Because it was a major operation and I had to be stapled up they didn’t put a plaster on and I was unable to do anything for the first 5 weeks, but after the staples were removed I started going to my local gym and working out on the bikes. I couldn’t grip with the arm at first, so adapted a sort of TT position. After 4 months I got back on the bike for short rides and had the bars fitted with gel pads to absorb a bit of road buzz. Doing the gym bike sessions built up my fitness so I wasn’t knackered when I got back in the saddle. I’m almost certain that eating well and doing light sessions helped my healing - oh and double doses of calcium tablets too.

Monty Dog

Get yourself a turbo to maintain fitness

marylogic

What a nightmare, poor you. At least it happened in winter when the weather's rubbish anyway.

Was it just your radius you fractured or did you do your ulna too? Do you have any physio lined up?

I broke my radius 2 years ago and planned to go on my hybrid or the turbo trainer when my plaster came off. But my road bike looked so sad and it was my birthday I thought "sod it" and went out for 10 miles with only a minor ache afterwards. It really didn't hamper things that much in the long run. Try to insist on a physio referral if at all possible and best of luck.

Headhuunter

marylogic wrote:

What a nightmare, poor you. At least it happened in winter when the weather's rubbish anyway.

Was it just your radius you fractured or did you do your ulna too? Do you have any physio lined up?

I broke my radius 2 years ago and planned to go on my hybrid or the turbo trainer when my plaster came off. But my road bike looked so sad and it was my birthday I thought "sod it" and went out for 10 miles with only a minor ache afterwards. It really didn't hamper things that much in the long run. Try to insist on a physio referral if at all possible and best of luck.

just the radius.... No physio lined up yet, will have to speak to the docs.... I've noticed that there is less mobility in my wrist already, I can't rotate it fully...

marylogic

Hopefully it shouldn't be too bad then if you just fractured your radius - the ulna acts as a natural splint.
I was horribly stiff when I got my plaster off but it came back reasonably quickly - that's where the physio really helped.

Bigbud

Not sure what type of break mine was but it looked like a fork :? was 6 months after the cast came off before I was fully comfortable again on the road bike. It does still however ache this time of year with the cold. Wish I had paid for physio as I didnt get it on NHS

Headhuunter

Bigbud wrote:

Not sure what type of break mine was but it looked like a fork :? was 6 months after the cast came off before I was fully comfortable again on the road bike. It does still however ache this time of year with the cold. Wish I had paid for physio as I didnt get it on NHS

6 months?! Why so long?

Bigbud

Got a lot of pain in my wrist after about 20 minutes riding, mixture of vibration and holding weight on it. I'm not a doctor fella, just telling you what mine was like I also do a lot of kite surfing which most likely didn't help :oops:

Hope yours heals nice and quick and your back on the road soon, just don't push it too much

Headhuunter

Bigbud wrote:

Got a lot of pain in my wrist after about 20 minutes riding, mixture of vibration and holding weight on it. I'm not a doctor fella, just telling you what mine was like I also do a lot of kite surfing which most likely didn't help :oops:

Hope yours heals nice and quick and your back on the road soon, just don't push it too much

Ok thanks... Same fracture you had, looked like a fork handle... I'm hoping it doesn't take too long!

Bobbinogs

Monty Dog wrote:

Get yourself a turbo to maintain fitness

I agree with Monty Dog. I bust my collarbone at the end of last year but kept most of my fitness by doing 3 or 4 turbo sessions a week (mixture of sufferfest, recovery and zone 3 work) using a sling and by veing very careful getting on/off the bike, etc. You will lose some endurance (I think I managed one 3 hour session but never repeated it!) but you can soon get that back. Just be careful doing any High Intensity work in case you over cook it and slip, etc.

Headhuunter

Bobbinogs wrote:

Monty Dog wrote:

Get yourself a turbo to maintain fitness

I agree with Monty Dog. I bust my collarbone at the end of last year but kept most of my fitness by doing 3 or 4 turbo sessions a week (mixture of sufferfest, recovery and zone 3 work) using a sling and by veing very careful getting on/off the bike, etc. You will lose some endurance (I think I managed one 3 hour session but never repeated it!) but you can soon get that back. Just be careful doing any High Intensity work in case you over cook it and slip, etc.

I haven't got a turbo, no space for one of those in my little flat! Suppose I could use the spin bikes at the gym...