Broken wrist/scaphoid

[HmmmCat]

My ds at uni has a probable broken scaphoid and possibly another break in a growth plate at the wrist. X-rays unclear, but pain and swelling very clear, so is in a cast and will be x-rayed again in 3w.

It happened on Wednesday night and he went to Minor Injuries on Thursday afternoon, where he was out in a temporary cast. He was seen again on Friday and had a permanent cast put on. He is still in a lot of pain.

Any advice for him?

Any idea how long he’ll be in pain for? Doesn’t immobilising the break ease the pain?

I had a scaphoid fracture years ago but it took a long time to get diagnosed as back then if it wasn't obvious on an x-ray then it was often missed. It's a difficult injury that takes a while to heal as the blood supply to the bone is limited and you use your thumb so much. Plus it's only been a few days for your DS so it'll take a while for it to settle down.

Alternating ibuprofen and paracetamol should help, and keeping his hand elevated as much as possible will help reduce swelling. After a week or two he'll hopefully be feeling a bit more comfortable but unfortunately these things just take time.