scaphoid fracture - anyone else done this?

[Wahine]

What I really would love to hear about is:
Anyone else had a scaphoid fracture?
How long after you were out of the cast before you could ride comfortably again?
I am (was) training for a century late Nov & am now restricted to a trainer (hurts hand) & spin classes (don't hurt b/c handle bars different angle). 8 weeks will be mid Oct - does it seem realistic to get back on the real bike 5 weeks before a century and plan to take 6-hours, and hand be OK?
I should be prioritising work before riding, so am thinking of another century to do in the new year as a more sensible option, but.......

Thanx in anticipation
L

Ouch.

L, I fractured my scaphoid a little over 2 years ago. I'm a PT and a manual therapist at that so like you I had to take it very seriously. I was in denial and didn't even get it x-rayed until 2.5 weeks after my fall. But then, due to some connections I was able to get into see the best hand surgeon in my City. He re-xrayed, thought he saw something, radiologist disgareed and said there was nothing on the films. Hand surgeon decided to assume the worst and casted me. I was in a cast for 8 weeks and when I came out of that cast....yowza. It felt way worse than it had before we put it on. But, fortunately the bone was healed and I could stay out of the cast. This was great news as my surgeon had told me that it could take 4 months in a cast to heal it and even still that didn't guarantee I wouldn't need surgery.

So I headed off to PT, after 4 weeks I had 90% of my ROM back and I could ride my bike without problems. My bike was not limited by ROM but by significant pain with hitting even slight rough spots in the road. How much pain I had was also time dependent, the longer I rode the worse it was.

I might suggest putting aero bars on your bike and practicing with those on a trainer at home while you heal, then you might be able to tolerate a long ride much sooner after getting out of the cast. I really don't think that it would be possible to do a century, or the training for it without aero bars.

Having said that, your hand are your livelihood and you should probably be conservative. I am also qualified to so spinal manipulation and I can tell you that my scaphoid is still tender when I use that hand for certain manipulations.

I hope that helps.

[maryellen]

When I crashed last August (367 days ago, not that I'm keeping track), I had shoulder surgery for a few fractures but it was only when I continued to complain of pain in my right thumb/wrist that we realized I injured my right hand in addition to my left shoulder (you need special skills and talents for that combo!).

Xrays on two different occasions using different views did not show any fracture. Fortunately, my shoulder surgeon requested an MRI for a possible scaphoid fracture. The MRI showed that it was a fracture of the first metacarpal at the wrist joint (base of the thumb). Off I went to the hand surgeon -- fortunately I was advised to wear a brace (no cast) -- it was more than 8 weeks past the accident at that point.

Good luck!!