I think I broke my scaphoid bone...

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

in my hand. Never broken a bone before. Anybody around here with experience....should I go to the ER now at 10:30pm or wait until morning and go to the walk-in clinic? Also may have sprained or hurt my other hand.

Damn steps..

 

[destrekor]

in my hand. Never broken a bone before. Anybody around here with experience....should I go to the ER now at 10:30pm or wait until morning and go to the walk-in clinic? Also may have sprained or hurt my other hand.

Damn steps..

Did you fall up the stairs?

I do that a lot.

 

[Leros]

You'll survive til tomorrow. Don't waste your time at the ER.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Did you fall up the stairs?

I do that a lot.

indeed I did. Got a new pair of flip flops and misjudged the clearance of the toe

 

[Leros]

indeed I did. Got a new pair of flip flops and misjudged the clearance of the toe

I sprained my ankle really bad the night before traveling to Europe because I jumped in the air and landed funny on my flip flops. Really made seeing all those castles a pain in the neck.

 

[Ruptga]

how do you even know which one it is? If you know enough anatomy that you know which it is, how can you not make the judgment on whether to go now or not?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

how do you even know which one it is? If you know enough anatomy that you know which it is, how can you not make the judgment on whether to go now or not?

I fell on both my wrists. The scaphoid is the small bone under your thumb, and that's where my pain is worst and more so on one hand, and a bruise is forming and some swelling.

It's not rocket science.

 

[mugs]

I broke my scaphoid bone, but it didn't hurt too badly. I wasn't sure if I broke it or sprained my wrist (I had never broken or sprained anything before, at least to my knowledge*). It was a Sunday, so I just went to the grocery store and bought a wrist brace. The next day (Monday) it still hurt, so I scheduled an appointment with my regular doctor for the next day (Tuesday). Tuesday morning it didn't hurt all that badly and I considered canceling my appointment, but I went anyway. She sent me for X-rays and they found that it was broken. Scheduled an appointment with a specialist the next day (Wednesday), and he told me I could just keep wearing the same wrist brace for 6 weeks.

So it took me three days to get to a qualified doctor, and he told me to do what I did the first day.

YMMV


* In retrospect I may have broken the same bone (or perhaps the scaphoid bone in my other hand) years earlier on my first attempt at downhill mountain biking on a ski mountain. I came into a clearing and saw my friend stopped for some reason - turned out there was a ditch running across the hill that I couldn't see very well, and he was trying to warn me. My front tire went into the ditch and stopped, but my body kept going. I'd estimate that I flew about 20 feet and my bike landed about 10 feet past the ditch. I went to the ski lodge, got some ice and went back up, but it hurt like hell. It hurt for a while after that.

 

[Locut0s]

If you can sleep with the pain I'd wait till tomorrow and go to the clinic. The ER will make you wait a long time, triage.

 

[bdude]

bone most prone to breaking in the palm

 

[iliopsoas]

No need to go to the ER. But if there's any chance that it's a scaphoid fracture, you should get it xrayed to confirm. Scaphoid fractures are prone to avascular necrosis depending on the location of the fracture. Can give you some problems later on if not addressed appropriately.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

looks like it is just a bad sprain, although of couse she said a hairline may not show up for a couple of weeks. Feels much better today though.

 

[Gulzakar]

put pressure on your snuffbox (on the affected hand). If it hurts, you probably broke it.

Scaphoid is a deep bone. If it did break, your practitioner is correct, it won't show up until you see healing in an xray.