Metacarpal fracture/broken hand bone

From what I can tell, looks like you dealt with fractures in your third and fourth metacarpals.

ruggedtiger63 said:From what I can tell, looks like you dealt with fractures in your third and fourth metacarpals.

Yeah, fair point. My bad.

Spiral fracture. How'd you end up breaking it? Did they finally get you out of that cast? Any follow-up X-rays yet?

Wiped out pretty hard while skiing. Ended up in a cast for three weeks, then they swapped it out for an aluminum splint for another two. Now I’m finally out of the hardware and headed to physical therapy. Here’s the last photo taken on Wednesday—they never actually sent me the earlier ones!

Hand function should get back to normal once the therapy is wrapped up. Honestly, trying to fix those spiral metacarpal fractures through closed manipulation alone is a massive uphill battle if you're chasing a perfect result.

Hey everyone. I broke my fifth metacarpal and had surgery to fix it up. They kept an intramedullary rod in my hand for about six weeks. Once they pulled the rod out, I started doing some exercises with a stress ball, and honestly, my grip strength is coming back pretty well. I can move my pinky just fine now. You can still see a little bump on my hand where the bone healed—kind of a callus—and if you look at the X-ray, the fracture line is still visible, similar to those follow-up shots some of you guys posted earlier. My check-up was 20 days after the hardware came out. I’m trying to figure out when I can actually get back to training. I do Muay Thai and hit the gym regularly. My doctor says hitting anything is definitely off the table for at least four months. I'm also wondering how long it takes for the bone to fully knit together so that the fracture doesn't show up on an X-ray anymore.

Hi everyone, I could really use some advice here.
I had a fall and ended up breaking my third and fourth metacarpal bones. I was in a splint for three days before they finally put me in a cast. Before the cast went on, the doctor at the Mayo Clinic suggested that surgery might be the best way to go, but after looking at my second X-ray, he wasn't quite as certain anymore and left the final call up to me. 🤷
The tricky part is that one of them—the fourth, I think—is actually broken in two places, with a 2mm displacement. My doctor mentioned that this is right on the borderline of whether it needs surgery or not.
For those of you who have dealt with this kind of thing, what do you think?
Unfortunately, I didn't grab any photos of the X-rays. 🙂

frozenridge61 said:Hi everyone, I could really use some advice here.
I had a fall and ended up breaking my third and fourth metacarpal bones. I was in a splint for three days before they finally put me in a cast. Before the cast went on, the doctor at the Mayo Clinic suggested that surgery might be the best way to go, but after looking at my second X-ray, he wasn't quite as certain anymore and left the final call up to me. 🤷
The tricky part is that one of them—the fourth, I think—is actually broken in two places, with a 2mm displacement. My doctor mentioned that this is right on the borderline of whether it needs surgery or not.
For those of you who have dealt with this kind of thing, what do you think?
Unfortunately, I didn't grab any photos of the X-rays. 🙂

It's tough to give solid advice without seeing those X-rays. Honestly, if surgery isn't strictly necessary, just skip it. 🙂

So, like the headline says, I had a nasty fall and snapped this bone. Has anyone dealt with something similar before? It’s actually stopped hurting, which is weird because it's been five days now and I'm still in this brace... if they end up putting me in a full-on cast, I think I might actually lose my mind haha 🙂

I'd really appreciate some advice or if anyone could share their experience with this kind of fracture. Do you guys think I'll end up needing a cast?

http://www.zaslike.com/files/a6sk56f5gggq558x8o2.jpg
Here's a photo of the results from the scan :/

...Greetings...

I’m reviving an old thread since I couldn't find anything more recent.

On October 21st, I suffered spiral fractures to the 4th and 5th metacarpal bones during a car accident. The 5th had minimal displacement. After one week in a splint followed by four weeks in a cast, my surgeon seems satisfied. The cast is off, and I've been doing rehab exercises at home.

For the first two days, I couldn't fully close my hand or straighten it. It’s been eight days now, and I can move everything, albeit with some slight pain and tightness. I’ve started picking up light weights—things like a bucket of firewood, for instance—but I'm wondering if that's wise.
My forearm and upper arm have obviously atrophied; even my right arm, back, and chest have lost circumference due to the inactivity. I've cut back on calories to avoid gaining weight, resulting in a 2kg loss (down from 82kg to 80kg at 177cm and 35 years old).

To give you some context, I've been into weightlifting, martial arts, soccer, and various other sports for as long as I can remember.

The question is: should I cautiously return to the gym? I'm reaching a point where I can't stand being idle, though I can still run. I'm currently on medical leave because my job is physically demanding and requires constant use of that hand, though I might be able to dodge some of the heavy lifting based on my reputation and experience at work.

I'd value your perspective on when to restart training. Should I wait longer? Experience tells me that pushing too hard, too soon, usually leads to another injury.

Given the timeline—fracture on Oct 21, cast removed Nov 26, hand functional but quite weak by Dec 4—when would it be appropriate to start hitting the weights again?

Thanks.