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Sports related injuries- I'm falling apart

Akoto

Akoto

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
3,208
Location
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
I hurt all the time from what I do and it's only ~12h activity a week.

In particular my right wrist was broken for 7 months 3-4 years ago and it's started hurting again. This is affecting my biking, and especially climbing. A couple times I during climbing I've done an open palm hold and my wrist feels like it pops out of place or it stretches the joint and hurts for a while after. I can avoid the wrist popping out by pinching in every move with my thumb or being really careful which makes it not hurt, but it's not getting any better.

I've mostly stopped climbing, but it seems like even the trauma from commuting 1h on my bike is enough to prevent it from healing completely and it's getting to the point where I can't put any weight on it. I'm concerned about long term damage or if this will be a problem again and again. Furthermore, my knees hurt a lot of the time when I'm not active and my neck kills after a long bike ride.

I don't think this has anything to do with how much I'm doing, but how I'm doing it. Like the ergonomics or posture on my bike for example, or the types of exercises I could do to prevent or improve such injuries without having to stop completely. Wrist brace perhaps?
 
22, light build, v high metabolism. You're typical tall lanky while male with almost no body fat so when I break I shatter, and I can't just stop moving to recover or I'll go nuts. I know it's a joke but a 22 yo shouldn't hurt this much from just being as active as he wants to be :(
 
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My boyfriend is 23, tall and thin, high metabolism rate like yourself, and he broke his knuckles twice in a row maybe a year and a half ago, and now has permanent damage to his hand. He never got it fixed and let it heal on it's own so the bones healed all messed up and wrong and it has limited his ability to lift weights, bike, and climb as well. It really sucks but I'm not sure there's any kind of solution besides painkillers :( if you find one please let me know
 
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^Go to a hospital, have the bones re-broken and re-set.

Akato, if I was you the first thing I would do is find a chiropractor who practices ART and have him work on you as often as you can afford. Second would be to get an x-ray and make sure nothing is out of whack. Then I would work to strengthen the problems areas with any exercise I could do that doesnt cause pain. For your wrists you can do rice bucket, wrist rollers, wrist curls, reverse bicep curls etc. Ice after use.

Posture, with your wrists, basically there in there strongest position when they're extended, there weakest when there at their most flexed. Same with the spine.

Squatting and plyometrics (pain-free) can relieve knee pain by strengthening the affected areas so long as they dont contribute to a recovery problem. Message/foam roll of the quads, hamstring, calves, flexors etc, will help alot aswell.

For strengthening your neck I think pressing would be the way to go, paying attention to keeping your neck straight. Pressing always made my neck feel good anyway.

Oh, athletic tape could help your knee, taped tightly across the patella.
 
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try restoritive (not power) yoga

eat a lot of colorful fruit for the phytochemicals and antioxidants

glucosimine and fishoil

good luck!
 
Hi Akoto,

Two of the above are good suggestions, but not certain how they will help the repositioning of the bones, which have healed in the wrong place! Only surgery will assist you on that!
You are young, and if you let it go without repositioning it now, it will catch up with you in the later years!

First of all, you need to X-Ray the area, to see what is going on, inside.
Secondly, you need to see an Orthopaedic Surgeon to reposition the bones.
Then you need to take proper time to heal, after proprly looked after post surgery, to support and protect until it strenghtens.
Other additional action can be taken, I write some below and hope you find them useful!

They will assist you after surgery!

They may use metal screws alone, or with a metal plate, or a rod-or simply a cast to support.
Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy may assist after surgery, so that you don't have to wait long for healing like the first time which took you so long.
Also some amino acids (as well as vitamins) may assist the healing-L-Arginine and L-Ornithine can assist connective tissue during healing.

I had some Internet links for you on all the above, but the ones who are running bluelight-prevent me from posting them???? Beats me why!!
 
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^The bone I broke is my right scaphoid which was only a hairline fracture. The trick is that the break was right in the middle of the bone, and the bone has progressively worse circulation as it goes towards the top. Basically I wasnt very careful with it and kept stressing the bone enough justify staying casted for 7 whole months with a very real chance of necrosis. Eventually I got a CT scan and a speciallist said over the phone that I had a "full union" and don't need a cast any more. About 10 seconds later I hung up the phone and began sawing with a steak knife to free by very very sore stiff wrist and I had no followups or rehab after that.

From what I understand about the bone, it's not something that can be pinned or re-set and I'll need to seek continued therapy. I also live in Canada so doctors don't take kindly to unnecessary surgery. Either that or I'll be on the wait for months to talk to a specialist on the phone.

PM links are always welcome :)

try restoritive (not power) yoga
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Will investigate. Anything specific? I don't know anything about yoga.

RE: Diet: I eat extremely healthily and always have. I also eat dark coloured fruit like crazy and get a really good mix of fatty acids and protein.
 
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Amebix said:
^Go to a hospital, have the bones re-broken and re-set.

Akato, if I was you the first thing I would do is find a chiropractor who practices ART and have him work on you as often as you can afford. Second would be to get an x-ray and make sure nothing is out of whack. Then I would work to strengthen the problems areas with any exercise I could do that doesnt cause pain. For your wrists you can do rice bucket, wrist rollers, wrist curls, reverse bicep curls etc. Ice after use.

Posture, with your wrists, basically there in there strongest position when they're extended, there weakest when there at their most flexed. Same with the spine.

Squatting and plyometrics (pain-free) can relieve knee pain by strengthening the affected areas so long as they dont contribute to a recovery problem. Message/foam roll of the quads, hamstring, calves, flexors etc, will help alot aswell.

For strengthening your neck I think pressing would be the way to go, paying attention to keeping your neck straight. Pressing always made my neck feel good anyway.

Oh, athletic tape could help your knee, taped tightly across the patella.
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Is it reasonable to see a chairopractor for a one time for advice? Or are there any online resources you can point me towards for such information? There's literally no way I could see a therapist of any kind on a regular basis.

As I said in the above post I had a CT scan done of my wrist which was seen by a specialist who said I had a full union of the fracture and I can take the cast off. It hasn't been re-broken since and I'd recognize that pain, but it does still beg the question of why my wrist might have been permanently weakened because of this. I'm fairly certain they would never re-break this particular bone and that surgical options are limited.

Can you elaborate on any of these exercises and what a patella is? Any pressure directly on the palm or down the wrist affects this bone (and that's how it got broke). Wikipedia is awesome if you know what you're looking for, but doesn't really tell you where to apply tape.
 
^Re: 1 chiro visit: Nah, chiros are only usefull insofar as their physical manipulations of your body. ART for example is basically squeezing a muscle/tendon and then stretching that muscle. You can and should be doing massage on your own, but ART and some other techniques give faster results. Look for sore spots and then press down hard, put a stretch on it if you can. For your spine, there is no DIY manipulation possible, at least I seriously would not recommend it. Even 1 visit should have you seeing results though, at least in the spine. FIY beware of bad chiros, and remember that theres no reason they cant do a manipulation on your first consultation.

Squatting and plyometrics and wrist exercises - google. Squatting is squatting, plyometrics is like box and broad jumping. Rice bucket is placing your hand in a bucket of rice and the turning it through full range of motion. I remember seeing a vid on youtube. Start with light weights, do not push through pain. And stop doing things that aggravate it, find an alternative.

The patella is your knee cap. http://www.hughston.com/hha/a_13_4_5.htm
 
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^The knee taping is still a bit complex and I don't think I'll attempt it myself.

What I'm really looking for is some sort of general exercise or basic therapy I can perform on any affected joint or my whole body as sort of a daily preventative therapy to strengthen my joints and tendons.

Google is invaluable for any information like this, but I was hoping the experience and expertise of the people on this forum could point me towards good guides they use themselves or know to work.
 
Akoto said:
^The bone I broke is my right scaphoid which was only a hairline fracture. The trick is that the break was right in the middle of the bone, and the bone has progressively worse circulation as it goes towards the top. Basically I wasnt very careful with it and kept stressing the bone enough justify staying casted for 7 whole months with a very real chance of necrosis. Eventually I got a CT scan and a speciallist said over the phone that I had a "full union" and don't need a cast any more. About 10 seconds later I hung up the phone and began sawing with a steak knife to free by very very sore stiff wrist and I had no followups or rehab after that.

From what I understand about the bone, it's not something that can be pinned or re-set and I'll need to seek continued therapy. I also live in Canada so doctors don't take kindly to unnecessary surgery. Either that or I'll be on the wait for months to talk to a specialist on the phone.

PM links are always welcome :)
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Well, I got some (plenty) of links for you, they should keep you busy reading!:D

http://www.mendelsonortho.com/body/scaphoid.html
http://www.hss.edu/conditions_14476.asp
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/a/arm_fracture/intro.htm
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00012
http://www.uwhealth.org/sportsmedicine/scaphoidnavicularfracturesofthehandandwrist/11483
http://www.drfoot.co.uk/wrist_pain/Scaphoid Wrist.htm
http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/arm_and_elbow/proximal_humeral_fracture_sum.php
http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/otherfractures/a/scaphoid.htm
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/wrist_hand/a/aa071703a.htm
http://www.medicinenet.com/fracture/article.htm
http://www.drugs.com/cg/arm-fracture-in-children.html
 
Sweet, thanks. I've got lots to go off now, and I think I'm going to go see a therapist who specializes in climbing and biking related injuries.
 
It hurts again and oh so much.

I've been really good and doing exercises a little bit, and also cut out rock climbing which has made the biggest difference. I just lifted some things today though and now it hurts even worse than it ever did and this is after about two months of treating her gingerly.

It's still at a manageable level, but if after months of taking it easy and trying to strengthen it and it took nothing at all to put it right back in even worse shape than before, then it's a little worrying.

The pain is specifically when I lift things straight out in front such as dinner plates, such that my thumb is on the top (kind of a shooting pain from the base of my thumb down my arm). Everybody says "well don't do that", but that's what I do! It's 1/4 the rotation on 1 of my only two arms. Am I looking at permanent disability in my right wrist or what?
 
For the knees, it could just be a training error. Stretch more before and after biking.

The neck sounds like a posture issue.

The wrist... I'm very skeptical of chiropractors. I think you should see a doctor, particularly if the pain is worsening. The biggest thing you need to do right now, though, is listen to your body. If you're getting sharp pain from doing certain motions while exercising, you need to stop. Period.

It may be simply strain from the way you're biking--perhaps gripping and pulling back with your wrists--or it may be something serious. But don't mess around with it until you've had it professionally evaluated.
 
I guess I will be the adult here (:p) and tell you to stop exercising until you get a true and definitive evaluation of your injury or problem. Pain is a sign your body is telling you something is wrong. Laying off one form of exercise is a temporary, at best, solution. Your age does not matter in this instance because your body has an issue it wants you to address.

I broke my big toe in March and had to do nothing for well over a month. Big deal right? Okay, I'm not 22, I'm 36 but I'm quite active (run, Krav Maga, mountain biking and snowboarding are among my fav activities) and following surgery I went crazy too but your are not Wolverine so you will not heal overnight or even a week. One of the key elements in being active is getting proper rest between whatever it is that you do.

I figure you have 2 options:

1) see a doctor and specialists to get it fixed and take an extended break from your activities to let yourself heal

2) keep doing what you are doing now and enjoy arthritis (or worse) by the time you are my age

If you want to keep active later in life you cannot disregard issues you have right now. Get them taken care of so you'll enjoy a fully active life later on. ;)
 
1) see a doctor and specialists to get it fixed and take an extended break from your activities to let yourself heal

2) keep doing what you are doing now and enjoy arthritis (or worse) by the time you are my age
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This seems to be the general dichotomy :) Thanks for the reassurance that I should do something drastic and get it fixed.

My family Doctor has proven pretty useless when it comes to bones and he will certainly put me through to a specialist and I'll wait up to a year to see him (A whole year to go insane with??).

Is there anybody with experience with such specialists? I know from what my family Doctor has told me, they simply don't care about long term recovery issues when there are people with compound femoral fractures piled up in his office.

"He's going to spend 10 seconds looking at your file and put you on the very bottom of the list, and then when you see him the visit will be no longer than 2.5 minutes and involve little or no eye contact"

I mean shit, I went to see them three times about a swollen throat and ended up getting literally 100% of the same information I got from a thread I made on this very forum LOL. (I actually went down with a typed out list of what I thought it was based on my research and ended up telling the nurse practitioner some facts about mono even she didn't know, and I got a very strong sense that she was reading the exact same step-by-step diagnosis I was. She also gave me the exact anti-biotics I asked for, which as it turns out with even more research was probably totally unnessiary and didn't do a thing...and I got them twice!)

OK OK, I'm done complaining about doctors but still 100% need to see one, right? So what do I say/do/act like in order to get real attention for a real problem?
 
PAIN! Act that you are, in more pain then you are! Only if you see an orthopedic surgeon will you know what is wrong, but act in more pain then you are.

Wear a support on your wrist when you use it, it should take the strain a bit.
Get an infrared light from a pharmacy, and use it when it is hurting, it does work and it is fairly inexpensive. Don't overuse the wrist-it is common sense since it has a fracture, but do use a support when you use it.
I feel that you ignore it when it does not hurt, you use it as if it is ok, then it hurts after you overuse it-and you start being in constant pain because you neglected it.
 
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