Advice and exercises Scaphoid fractures
Date issued: December 2022
Review date: December 2024
Ref: A-572/AH//Physiotherapy/Scaphoid fractures advice and exercises
PDF: Scaphoid fractures advice and exercises final December 2022.pdf [pdf] 667KB
Advice for patients with a scaphoid fracture who are in a cast.
This information leaflet has been given to you to provide some useful advice while your wrist is immobilised in a cast. Following the advice in this leaflet and performing the exercises shown should help your break to heal and prevent the unaffected joints in your hand and arm from becoming stiff.
Why has my wrist been put in a cast?
Your fractured (broken) scaphoid has been placed in a cast to make sure that the wrist is kept still while the fracture heals. The cast will stay on for between 4-8 weeks. Once the cast has been taken off, your wrist may well feel stiff, sore, and weak. It can take a good number of months to improve, and there can be small improvements occurring for up to a year from injury. Sometimes, all your movement doesn't return.
While your wrist is in the cast
? Keep the injured arm elevated with your hand above your elbow as much as possible, especially for the first week.
? Avoid standing or sitting with your hand down by your side. If you can, you should place the affected hand on the opposite shoulder whenever you are standing. When sitting you can place your arm on several pillows. At night, you can rest the arm on two pillows to keep it elevated. This helps to reduce swelling in the arm and prevent the plaster from becoming too tight.
? Move the unaffected joints. You should be able to move your fingers fully when in the cast and your elbow and shoulder.
? Perform the exercises on the attached leaflet four times a day.
? Use your affected hand for light activities only, do not lift anything heavy.
? Keep the cast dry.
Please contact the plaster room team immediately if you are affected by any of the following:
? Increased pain.
? Increased swelling.
? Numbness or pins and needles in the affected arm/fingers
? Inability to move your fingers.
? Blueness of the fingers.
? If the cast becomes loose or uncomfortable.
Do not:
? Do not cut your cast, or try to adapt it in anyway
? Do not wet the cast, instead if wishing to bath or shower cover the plaster with a plastic bag or specialist cover when in the bath or shower. (e.g., LIMBO)
? Do not poke anything down the cast as you may cut your skin or cause a wound to become infected.
After 6-8 weeks your cast will be removed in the scaphoid clinic. You will have another x-ray which will be reviewed by the orthopaedic team and a decision will be made as to whether you can start moving your wrist and hand or need further treatment in a cast.
If you are advised that the fracture has healed enough to start moving the wrist, then please start the exercises below:
