Gymnasts wrist injury

[bigbluewhale]

hello all!

not seeking medical advice but wondering if anyone has any comeback experiences to share to help lift my spirits a bit. just injured my wrist and the hand doc is thinks I tore my scalpholunate ligament. mri will confirm but if its fully torn, surgery is the only option for recovery. i did some research on google and there are multiple stories of people never regaining full range of motion after healing, and now I'm worried.

anyone on here ever had this injury before and were you able to get back into previous shape eventually? or at least close? and what was the recovery process/timeline like?

 

[HopefulGymnast]

Hi,

I don't have any experience with this injury, but I do have some facts and advise that you might like to hear:

- First of all, I advise you to discuss your worries with your doctor, they will know the most about this and they know your situation best. Also, other trusted adults in your life may be able to help you with your worries.

- Second, about looking on google: I would not worry too much about what you find on google if you're not experienced at researching. If I stub my toe and google it, I will probably find people whose uncle stubbed their toe and happened to die the next day (so to speak). I am scientifically educated, and I've had a quick google search and look at some research papers. It depends on the type of surgery, but most stories I have found are hopeful (weeks to months recovery for return to sport). I can't make any promises, but my point here is that google will always have doom stories. Just like I'm not looking at these papers and telling you "you'll definitely be fine", I don't think you can read much into those negative stories either. Things you don't know about those people: if they had other damage in their wrist too, if they had an athletic background, if they followed all the doctors instructions well during recovery, if they are telling the truth, if they're still in the recovery period, etc... You just don't know a lot, so try not to doom-scroll and compare yourself to all the worst cases.

- Finally, give yourself the best chance and listen to the doctor: Sometimes we deal with a fear like this by trying to pretend we arent hurt trying to do too much to soon to force 'being okay'. Or we get too scared to do our fysio exercises when the time comes. Whatever issues may come, discuss them with your doctor and listen to their advise. That'll give you the best chance of recovery. (and if for some reason you really don't trust the doctor, ask for a second opinion rather than just ignoring the doctor)

PS. I hope none of this counts as medical advise. I belief this isn't medical advise but if it is I apologise.

 

[cehx2]

This is not medical advice, just sharing our personal timeline for a similar injury. My daughter had a partially torn scapholunate ligament, no surgery. Braced for 9 weeks followed by 9 weeks of occupational therapy with a hand specialist. The recovery time required a lot of patience. She still had pain even 5 weeks into PT. She recovered her grip strength and mobility pretty quickly. The OT included shoulders, lats, and core strength after the initial hand and wrist work. This was super important so that she could return to skills without straining or injuring another part of the upper body. Strength for blocking and strength for bars, think vault and giants and shifting the wrist while supporting full body weight. It was an awesome day when she got to do a handstand against the wall! LOL! Then every few days added more skills back. The progressions seemed very slow but she is pain free and it hasn't bothered her since.