Anyone know anything about wrist / thumb injuries?

[notjustamummythankyou]

At the beginning of October, I tripped over in a spectacular fashion and fell on my outstretched hand. I had a suspected scaphoid fracture and a chipped radial head.

After two x rays on my scaphoid, they still weren't sure whether it was broken so I was sent for an MRI, which happened last weekend.

I've now had the results: it isn't broken, but the MRI shows 'minor degenerative changes' in the base of my thumb and wrist. Does anyone knows what this means?

I'm not particularly worried, but curious really. The letter tells me to go back to my gp for referral to physio 'or another pathway'. I'm pleased, because it is still quite painful and I'd like to get it sorted!

I know I'm being impatient, but can anyone shed light on what might be going on?

[CMOTDibbler]

It means mild changes on the way to osteo arthritis - the wear and tear sort.
That could be an effect of your fall, or it could have been there beforehand.

What sort of pain is it?

[notjustamummythankyou]

Thanks for the quick response!

It feels achy all the time - a bit like when your hands get so cold they feel sore. I also get painful sudden twinges if I move or flex it too quickly. And also its simply uncomfortable when pushing the buggy or riding a bike - all those little movements you usually do subconsciously are now quite uncomfortable in a low level grumbling kind of way!

I didn't have these pains before my fall. Can a sprain (assuming that's what I did) cause changes like this?

[CMOTDibbler]

Thing with hands is there are so many ligaments and stuff around all your carpal bones, and connections between the long bones in your forearm (I damaged a membrane between them that I'd never heard of and its caused huge problems), so you can have done stuff thats really hard to see. its like spraining your ankle - they say you recover faster from a broken ankle than spraining it!

[notjustamummythankyou]

Yep, I'm with you there. 15 years ago I had a grade 3 sprain of my ankle. It took months to heal and even now I get the odd twinge!

OK, back to the docs and I'll see what they say. Thank you!