Back to Health A to Z. Get medical advice as soon as possible if you think you have broken your arm or wrist. Any possible breaks need to be treated as soon as possible. It's not always clear if your arm or wrist is broken or just sprained so it's important to get your injury looked at by a healthcare professional. They can tell you the right place to get help if you need to see someone. Go to Urgent treatment centres are places you can go if you need to see someone now.
Find an urgent treatment centre. When you get to hospital the affected arm will be placed in a splint to support it and stop any broken bones from moving out of position. An X-ray is then used to see if there is a break and how bad that break is. A plaster cast can be used to keep your arm in place until it heals — sometimes this may be done a few days later, to allow any swelling to go down first. You'll be advised to keep your hand above heart level as much as possible to reduce swelling and pain.
To reduce pain, your doctor might recommend an over-the-counter pain reliever. If your pain is severe, you might need an opioid medication, such as codeine. NSAIDs can help with pain but might also hamper bone healing, especially if used long-term. Ask your doctor if you can take them for pain relief. If you have an open fracture, in which you have a wound or break in the skin near the wound site, you'll likely be given an antibiotic to prevent infection that could reach the bone. After your cast or splint is removed, you'll likely need rehabilitation exercises or physical therapy to reduce stiffness and restore movement in your wrist.
Rehabilitation can help, but it can take several months or longer for complete healing. With external fixation, a metal frame outside your body immobilizes the fracture with two or more pins that pass through your skin and into the bone on either side of the fracture.
You might need surgery to implant pins, plates, rods or screws to hold your bones in place while they heal. A bone graft might be used to help healing. These options might be necessary if you have:. Even after reduction and immobilization with a cast or splint, your bones can shift. So your doctor likely will monitor your progress with X-rays. If your bones move, you might then need surgery. In some cases, the surgeon will immobilize your fracture by using an external fixation device.
This consists of a metal frame with two or more pins that go through your skin and into the bone on both sides of the fracture. Explore Mayo Clinic studies testing new treatments, interventions and tests as a means to prevent, detect, treat or manage this condition. You might first seek treatment for a broken wrist in an emergency room or urgent care clinic.
If the pieces of broken bone aren't lined up properly to allow healing with immobilization, you might be referred to a doctor specializing in orthopedic surgery. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Go to the emergency room if the injury is very painful, the wrist is deformed, you have numbness, or your fingers are not pink.
You may want to protect the wrist with a splint and apply ice to the wrist and elevate it until you get to the doctor's office. There are many treatment choices. Your orthopaedic surgeon will describe what options are right for you. The choice depends on many factors, such as the nature of your fracture, your age and activity level, and your surgeon's personal preferences. The following is a general discussion of the possible options, just so you have a better idea of what your orthopaedic surgeon might recommend for you.
One choice is to leave the bone the way it is, if the bone is in a pretty good position. Your doctor may apply a plaster cast until the bone heals. Or if the position alignment of your bone is not good and likely to limit the future use of your arm, your orthopaedic surgeon may suggest correcting the deformity the medical term for correcting the deformed bone is reduction. If the bone is straightened out reduced without cutting into the skin incision , this is called a closed reduction.
After the bone is properly aligned, a splint or cast may be placed on your arm. A splint is usually used for the first few days, to allow for a small amount of normal swelling. A cast is usually added a few days to a week or so later, after the swelling goes down, and changed two or three weeks later as the swelling goes down more and the cast gets loose.
X-rays are taken, depending on the nature of the facture, either at weekly intervals for three weeks and then at six weeks if the fracture was reduced or felt to be unstable , or less often if the fracture was not reduced and thought to be stable. The cast is removed about six weeks after the fracture happened. At that point, physical therapy is often started to help improve motion and function of the injured wrist.
If your orthopaedic surgeon feels that the position of the bone is not acceptable for the future function of your arm, and that it cannot be corrected or kept corrected in a cast, he or she may recommend an operation. There are many ways of performing surgery, including reducing the fracture in the operating room without making an incision closed reduction , or by making an incision open reduction to improve the alignment of the bone.
In the operating room, your orthopaedic surgeon may choose to hold the bone in the correct position with only a cast, or by inserting metal usually stainless steel or titanium pins, a plate and screws, an external fixator, or any combination of these techniques.
This is a very simple question. Unfortunately it does not have a simple answer. The kinds of distal radius fractures are so varied and the treatment options are so broad that it is hard to describe what to expect. Most fractures hurt moderately for a few days to a couple of weeks. Many patients find that using ice, elevation holding their arm up above their heart , and simple, non-prescription medications for pain relief are all that are needed. The combination of both ibuprofen plus acetaminophen is much more effective than either one alone the medical term for this is synergistic.
If pain is severe, patients may need to take a prescription strength medication, often a narcotic, for a few days. Discuss these options with your doctor.
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