Hand & Wrist Care

The orthopedic surgeons at Great Lakes Orthopedics & Sports
Medicine, P. C. can evaluate your hand & wrist condition or injury and
provide a customized treatment plan to get you back to enjoying life!!

Wrist Fracture Surgery

Hand & Wrist Specialists In The Greater St. John, Crown Point and Lowell, Areas

The orthopedic surgeons at Great Lakes Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, P. C. treat hand & wrist conditions and injuries at their 3 convenient offices in
St. John, Crown Point and Lowell, Indiana.  Our orthopedic physicians are specially-trained in treating hand & wrist conditions and injuries.  As leaders in orthopedic care, we provide minimally invasive and innovative treatment options, as well as utilizing state-of-the art technologies, to create unique and individualized care plan designed to get you back on your road to recovery and regaining an active lifestyle!!

FAQs on Wrist Fracture Surgery

Wrist Fracture Surgery

Your hands and wrists are essential tools that allow you to work, play and perform everyday activities. How well the hand and wrist interact depends on the integrity and function of the ligaments, tendons, muscles, joints and bones.

Problems in any of these can affect upper extremity function, causing disruptions at home and work and negatively impacting quality of life.

The human hand itself is very complex and delicate in structure.  At some time in life, you may experience hand or wrist pain.

The scaphoid is one of the small bones in the wrist. It is the wrist bone that is most likely to break. The scaphoid is located on the thumb side of the wrist, in the area where the wrist bends.

The scaphoid is located at the base of the thumb, just above the radius bone.

It can most easily be identified when the thumb is held in a “hitch-hiking” position. The scaphoid is at the base of the hollow made by the thumb tendons.

Pain or tenderness in this area can be a sign that the scaphoid is injured.

Cause & Symptoms

Cause

A scaphoid fracture is usually caused by a fall on an outstretched hand, with the weight landing on the palm. The end of one of the forearm bones (the radius) may also break in this type of fall, depending on the position of the hand on landing.

Fractures of the scaphoid occur in people of all ages, including children. The injury often happens during sports activities or a motor vehicle accident.

There are no specific risks or diseases that increase the chance of having a scaphoid fracture. Some studies have shown that use of wrist guards during activities like inline skating and snowboarding can decrease the chance of breaking a bone around the wrist.

Symptoms

Scaphoid fractures usually cause pain and swelling at the base of the thumb. The pain may be severe when you move your thumb or wrist, or when you try to grip something.

Unless your wrist is deformed, it might not be obvious that the scaphoid bone is broken. In some cases, the pain is not severe, and may be mistaken for a sprain.

Any pain in the wrist that does not go away within a day of an injury may be a sign of a fracture.

A simple “sprained” wrist is very rare and it is important to see a doctor if pain persists.

If your scaphoid is broken at the waist or proximal pole, your Great Lakes Orthopedics & Sports Medicine doctor may recommend surgery.

Procedure

During surgery, metal implants—such as screws and wires—are used to hold the scaphoid in place until the bone is fully healed.

Where your doctor makes the surgical incision, and how large it is depends on what part of the scaphoid is broken. The incision may be on the front or the back of the wrist.

Sometimes, the screw or wire can be placed in bone fragments with a small incision. In other cases, a larger incision is needed to ensure that the fragments of the scaphoid line up properly.

In cases where the bone is in more than two pieces, a bone graft may be needed to aid in healing.

A bone graft is new bone that is placed around the broken bone and is used to stimulate bone healing. It increases bone production and helps broken bones heal together into a solid bone.

This graft may be taken from your forearm bone in the same arm or, less frequently, from your hip.