cracked wrist rehab

[TsPoet]

Where to go but TE for medical advice?
About 5 weeks ago I got a hairline fracture in a bone in the "anatomical snuffbox" in my wrist - just below the thumb. I had a splint, mostly to keep the thumb immobile for 3 weeks. It was swollen and discolored for an additional week, but felt OK.
This weekend I went out to photograph hummingbirds - I have a massive lens that weighs a lot (3 lbs), and was shooting one handed to follow flight paths. Two days later - my wrist is swollen (but not discolored) and very achy. There is a knot right over the cracked bone...
No big deal and stop being a wimp?
Go back to the doctor?

[TsPoet]

Doctor. :)

not the answer I wanted, but probably right.
Good thing I ride a recumbent, I think it would be very difficult to ride a DF right now.

[Crankin]

DH cracked one wrist and fully broke the other one about 9 years ago. He had 6 weeks of OT after he got out of the sling. Riding was very painful. Probably the only time I've ever dropped him.

[Irulan]

I would so follow my orthopedist's or PT's advice for how to best rehab this injury if it were me. I know it's tough to figure out where the limits are but you want this to heal properly.

[Wahine]

Definitely go back to the doctor. It sounds like you had a scaphoid fracture and these fractures are notorious for being poor healers. If it is not adequately healed you can refracture this bone and because of a weird twist of evolution, these fractures can sometimes lead to interruption of blood flow to part of the bone resulting in permanent bone damage. So, even though it's a crack, get it checked out!

I had one of these, funny story how I got it. But it took 8 weeks of immobilization to heal, then about 4 to 6 weeks of PT to get to about 90% of normal function.