Scaphoid Fracture Treatment

The Scaphoid is the scary bone in the wrist. So, I'd like to talk about scaphoid injuries today, and maybe we can understand them a little bit more. The scaphoid is a funny bone. It only has one blood vessel, and that blood vessel starts at the top of the bone and makes its way down towards the bottom of the bone. So it moves from the tip of your hand down towards your wrists. This makes scaphoid fractures quite complicated, but only certain types of scaphoid fractures are really bad. The really bad scaphoid fractures are those that are either in the waist of the scaphoid or anything proximal, which is towards the wrist of the waist. These sort of fractures, because they're a long way away from the blood flow, can mean that they don't get enough blood supply in order for them to heal. So they're the scary sort of scaphoids. They are the ones which doctors wanna try and do something about. But ironically, they're only 10% of all scaphoid fractures. So most scaphoid fractures are not scary, and most scaphoid fractures can be treated simply with a splint or early rehabilitation in order to make sure that the patient regains all of their motion. This is actually really important because some scaphoid fractures, especially scaphoid fractures which are closer to the distal end, they heal really, really well and don't need a giant great big plaster or a fiberglass in order to be able to help them to heal. These sort of fractures are relatively stable. They can be treated in a wrist splint, and you can move your thumb, which most GPs and most emergency departments won't let you do when you've got a scaphoid fracture. But it's all about the type of scaphoid fracture. Micro-trauma in any fracture is really important to improve healing. So holding a scaphoid completely still in this fiberglass or a plaster is not necessarily the best treatment for that type of scaphoid fracture. So next time you've got a scaphoid fracture or your friend's got a scaphoid fracture or you know of someone who's got a scaphoid fracture, give Action Rehab a call because it might be that you don't need to be in that fiberglass or that plaster cast. And in fact, being out of the fiberglass and being out of the plaster could help you to heal faster.

Action Rehab provide assessment and rehabilitation for patients who sustain an injury or are living with an upper limb condition.

We are a team of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists who specialise in the rehabilitation of the upper limb (hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder).

https://www.actionrehab.com.au/scapho...