What exercises for recently fractured thumb?

[physiofi]

Hi Davey101,

are you having any physio? Generally the best way to go after a fracture is start off slow and gentle - some pain and stiffness is perfectly normal after coming out of plaster. If you make a gentle fist with your hand (palm facing down) and practice flexing and extending the wrist (lifting back towards your forearm and then down towards the floor), moving side to side, and turning your arm over and back. This will help to recover full movement in your wrist. As for making sure your thumb gets back to normal, tapping your thumb to each finger, practice making a fist and gentle squeezing to work on grip strength - can build up to gripping a soft ball or harder object as you improve. Then moving to specific exercises moving your thumb to strengthen and reduce stiffness.

Hope this helps!

[Davey101]

Thanks for the reply!

I will try each of those things. My wrist seems pretty much back to normal now, despite having been pretty bad when the plaster came off on Wednesday. I may break the powerball out of the cupboard to use at low speed later in the week.

No I'm not having any physio, hence my question. To be honest I'm trying to shortcut the process here... I was given a strap-on splint to wear for decreasing periods over three weeks and I assume physio will be discussed after that. It lasted about an hour plus half of the first night and now I just want to get on with stuff.

Thanks again,
Dave

[Davey101]

I've just taken most of the weight off one of my dumbbell sets so it is down to just 2.5 kg and that seems pretty comfortable for wrist work. Bonus.