Top 5 Mistakes to AVOID after a Wrist Fracture or Injury — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Hi everybody, this is Michelle from
2. 0:01Virtual Handcare. And in this video, I'm
3. 0:04going to share with you my top five
4. 0:06mistakes people make after a wrist
5. 0:08fracture. So, in this video, I'm going
6. 0:10to talk more about right after you have
7. 0:13maybe a wrist fracture, maybe you had a
8. 0:14surgery, or maybe you didn't and then
9. 0:17you're put into a cast. These first
10. 0:19several weeks are very important and can
11. 0:22affect your outcome. Mistake number one
12. 0:26is that many people are afraid to move.
13. 0:30And I can completely understand that.
14. 0:32You had an injury and you don't want to
15. 0:35go through that again and you don't want
16. 0:36to disrupt any healing. However, I find
17. 0:39that sometimes people are overall just
18. 0:42very afraid to move. They're afraid to
19. 0:45move their arm, they're afraid to move
20. 0:47their elbow, their fingers, their hand,
21. 0:49and they just kind of go into this
22. 0:50protected position. That can have very
23. 0:55detrimental effects down the road if you
24. 0:58are afraid to move for a longer length
25. 1:01of time. And really, it can take just a
26. 1:03couple of days for things to start
27. 1:05stiffening up. So, typically, when you
28. 1:08have a wrist fracture, you just have the
29. 1:11wrist immobilized, right? If you weren't
30. 1:14supposed to move other parts of your
31. 1:16body, then you would be in a big old
32. 1:18body cast, right? So, I highly encourage
33. 1:21you to avoid that mistake and to move
34. 1:24the body parts that are not immobilized.
35. 1:27Though, you do want to make sure that
36. 1:29you don't overdo it. And so, that's why
37. 1:31it's very important to get some
38. 1:33exercises from your doctor or perhaps
39. 1:36see a therapist to get the right amount
40. 1:38of exercises for you so that it's not
41. 1:41too much for where you are at in your
42. 1:42healing process. Now, mistake number two
43. 1:45is kind of goes along with number one,
44. 1:48but this one is waiting for your
45. 1:50swelling to go down to move. So, this is
46. 1:53something I hear a lot of. I often will
47. 1:56ask people why why haven't you started
48. 1:59moving? Why aren't you doing your
49. 2:00exercises?
50. 2:01And a lot of the times they will say,
51. 2:03"Well, I'm waiting for the swelling to
52. 2:05go down because I can't move because of
53. 2:07the swelling." Now, that is a very
54. 2:10common myth, but motion and exercise and
55. 2:14mobility is actually what's going to
56. 2:16help get your swelling down. Your
57. 2:18swelling is probably going to be around
58. 2:21for several weeks, several months. It
59. 2:24can even be around up to a year
60. 2:26depending on the injury. So, you
61. 2:29definitely don't want to just wait to
62. 2:32move until your swelling goes down. And
63. 2:35so with that, you want to actually use
64. 2:37movement and exercises to help decrease
65. 2:42the swelling. So, mistake number three
66. 2:45is not communicating with your doctor or
67. 2:48the nurse if the cast is too tight or if
68. 2:51it feels very uncomfortable or if it's
69. 2:54sitting too high to where you can't move
70. 2:56your fingers.
71. 2:57I hear this a lot as well. Some people
72. 2:59feel like, "Well, you know, I don't want
73. 3:01to bother them or I don't want to go in
74. 3:03there just for this and and I don't want
75. 3:05to be a pain. Um but my fingers are numb
76. 3:08and I can't feel my fingers and it's
77. 3:11really rubbing and it really hurts and I
78. 3:13can't move my fingers or do the
79. 3:14exercises they told me to do."
80. 3:16I really, really encourage you to
81. 3:19communicate with your doctor, with the
82. 3:22therapist, with whoever made your cast
83. 3:24cast or your splint, whatever you have
84. 3:27is feeling like it is very tight and is
85. 3:29causing numbness and tingling, that is
86. 3:31not something to ignore. You definitely
87. 3:34want to contact them to let them know so
88. 3:37that you could potentially get a new
89. 3:39cast. The other thing too is if a cast
90. 3:41is too high, it is going to greatly
91. 3:44limit how much mobility you can perform
92. 3:48in the knuckles. Which you will find
93. 3:51that if you can only do this in your
94. 3:53cast because your cast is too high, when
95. 3:56the cast comes off, you will only be
96. 3:58able to do that. You won't be able to
97. 4:00just do this once you get out of your
98. 4:02cast. And I do have a video here that I
99. 4:06will link that goes into a lot more
100. 4:08depth as far as how important it is to
101. 4:11have your cast at the right length. And
102. 4:14so then mistake number four is not
103. 4:18getting prescribed therapy or not going
104. 4:22to therapy. So, I know one of those
105. 4:25might be a little bit out of your hands,
106. 4:27but I do find that there are still a lot
107. 4:30of doctors that don't send you to
108. 4:33therapy after you have a wrist fracture.
109. 4:36Those that do prescribe therapy, you may
110. 4:39choose not to go to therapy. So, there
111. 4:42is quite a range, um and unfortunately,
112. 4:45there's not a there's not a consistency
113. 4:48across the board. Now, I can understand
114. 4:50that there may be some reasons why
115. 4:52somebody uh can't go to therapy such as
116. 4:55transportation issues or perhaps
117. 4:57financial issues. Do know that there are
118. 5:00therapists that do offer virtual video
119. 5:03sessions, live video sessions, so they
120. 5:05can provide you with some just very
121. 5:08important exercises and even just one
122. 5:11session can make a huge impact with the
123. 5:13way you currently feel as well as how
124. 5:16you will feel down the road and how much
125. 5:19mobility and use that you will have down
126. 5:21the road. Now, as far as not getting
127. 5:23prescribed therapy, it is your body,
128. 5:26it's your wrist, and it's your fingers,
129. 5:28it's your arm. I do again encourage you
130. 5:31to communicate with your doctor, and if
131. 5:34you live in an area where you need to
132. 5:35have a referral, then I would highly
133. 5:38suggest you to request a referral from
134. 5:41your doctor for therapy. Even again,
135. 5:44even if it's for one one two visits just
136. 5:45to make sure you're on the right track.
137. 5:47Now, some states, at least here in the
138. 5:50US, you don't necessarily need a
139. 5:52referral to go straight to therapy, so
140. 5:54you can go see a hand therapist, and the
141. 5:57hand therapist can contact your doctor's
142. 5:59office for the referral. I can't
143. 6:01emphasize enough how important it is to
144. 6:04make sure that you get the right
145. 6:06exercises early on so that you can start
146. 6:09feeling better right away, and therefore
147. 6:11it would really, really will help you
148. 6:13long-term. And finally, my number five
149. 6:17that many people make after they have a
150. 6:19wrist fracture is they stop living. They
151. 6:23stop everything. They stop going on
152. 6:25walks. They stop, um, you know, eating
153. 6:27healthy because they maybe can't
154. 6:29prepare. And I often hear this is that
155. 6:32many people maybe gain weight because
156. 6:34they've had an injury because they're
157. 6:36not doing their normally daily
158. 6:38activities. I understand that you will
159. 6:40have some limitations with what you can
160. 6:42do as far as what your normal life was
161. 6:45like before your fracture. However, I do
162. 6:48still encourage you to get out and move
163. 6:51and go for walks if you can, or move
164. 6:54around your home. Uh, perhaps, uh, look
165. 6:57up some easier recipes, or perhaps ask
166. 7:00family members to help pitch in for
167. 7:02healthier meals. All that kind of stuff
168. 7:05is so important. Staying active, eating
169. 7:08healthy, staying hydrated, all of that
170. 7:11is so important with your overall
171. 7:14healing process. Not only for your
172. 7:17physical health and recovery, but also
173. 7:20for your mental health and recovery. And
174. 7:23creating some type of normalcy can help
175. 7:27with that, too.
176. 7:29Now, if you're looking for some specific
177. 7:30exercises that you can do while you're
178. 7:32in a cast, I will link a video here and
179. 7:35in the description below, so do check
180. 7:38that out. Now, I hope you found this
181. 7:40video helpful. If you did, please
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188. 7:59Thanks for watching.